I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 3136

To provide for enactment of the Senior Citizens’ Right to Work Act of

1996, the Line Item Veto Act, and the Small Business Growth and

Fairness Act of 1996, and to provide for a permanent increase in

the public debt limit.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 21, 1996

Mr. ARCHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, Rules, the Judiciary, Small Business, and Government Reform and

Oversight, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To provide for enactment of the Senior Citizens’ Right to

Work Act of 1996, the Line Item Veto Act, and the

Small Business Growth and Fairness Act of 1996, and

to provide for a permanent increase in the public debt

limit.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Contract with America

5 Advancement Act of 1996’’.
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1 TITLE I—SOCIAL SECURITY

2 EARNINGS LIMITATION

3 AMENDMENTS

4 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE OF TITLE.

5 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Citizens’ Right

6 to Work Act of 1996’’.

7 SEC. 102. INCREASES IN MONTHLY EXEMPT AMOUNT FOR

8 PURPOSES OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY EARN9 INGS LIMIT.

10 (a) INCREASE IN MONTHLY EXEMPT AMOUNT FOR

11 INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ATTAINED RETIREMENT

12 AGE.—Section 203(f)(8)(D) of the Social Security Act (42

13 U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(D)) is amended to read as follows:

14 ‘‘(D) Notwithstanding any other provision of

15 this subsection, the exempt amount which is applica16 ble to an individual who has attained retirement age

17 (as defined in section 216(l)) before the close of the

18 taxable year involved shall be—

19 ‘‘(i) for each month of any taxable year

20 ending after 1995 and before 1997,

$1,166.662 21 ⁄3,

22 ‘‘(ii) for each month of any taxable year

23 ending after 1996 and before 1998, $1,250.00,
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1 ‘‘(iii) for each month of any taxable year

2 ending after 1997 and before 1999,

$1,333.331 3 ⁄3,

4 ‘‘(iv) for each month of any taxable year

5 ending after 1998 and before 2000,

$1,416.662 6 ⁄3,

7 ‘‘(v) for each month of any taxable year

8 ending after 1999 and before 2001, $1,500.00,

9 ‘‘(vi) for each month of any taxable year

10 ending after 2000 and before 2002,

$2,083.331 11 ⁄3, and

12 ‘‘(vii) for each month of any taxable year

13 ending after 2001 and before 2003,

14 $2,500.00.’’.

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

16 (1) Section 203(f)(8)(B)(ii) of such Act (42

17 U.S.C. 403(f)(8)(B)(ii)) is amended—

18 (A) by striking ‘‘the taxable year ending

19 after 1993 and before 1995’’ and inserting ‘‘the

20 taxable year ending after 2001 and before 2003

21 (with respect to individuals described in sub22 paragraph (D)) or the taxable year ending after

23 1993 and before 1995 (with respect to other in24 dividuals)’’; and
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1 (B) in subclause (II), by striking ‘‘for

2 1992’’ and inserting ‘‘for 2000 (with respect to

3 individuals described in subparagraph (D)) or

4 1992 (with respect to other individuals)’’.

5 (2) The second sentence of section 223(d)(4)(A)

6 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 423(d)(4)(A)) is amended by

7 striking ‘‘the exempt amount under section 203(f)(8)

8 which is applicable to individuals described in sub9 paragraph (D) thereof’’ and inserting the following:

10 ‘‘an amount equal to the exempt amount which

11 would be applicable under section 203(f)(8), to indi12 viduals described in subparagraph (D) thereof, if

13 section 102 of the Senior Citizens’ Right to Work

14 Act of 1996 had not been enacted’’.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

16 this section shall apply with respect to taxable years end17 ing after 1995.

18 SEC. 103. CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEWS.

19 (a) AUTHORIZATION FOR APPROPRIATIONS FOR CON20 TINUING DISABILITY REVIEWS.—Section 201(g)(1)(A) of

21 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401(g)(1)(A)) is

22 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Of the

23 amounts authorized to be made available out of the Fed24 eral Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the

25 Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund under the pre-
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1 ceding sentence, there are hereby authorized to be made

2 available from either or both of such Trust Funds for con3 tinuing disability reviews—

4 ‘‘(i) for fiscal year 1996, $260,000,000;

5 ‘‘(ii) for fiscal year 1997, $360,000,000;

6 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 1998, $570,000,000;

7 ‘‘(iv) for fiscal year 1999, $720,000,000;

8 ‘‘(v) for fiscal year 2000, $720,000,000;

9 ‘‘(vi) for fiscal year 2001, $720,000,000; and

10 ‘‘(viii) for fiscal year 2002, $720,000,000.

11 For purposes of this subparagraph, the term ‘continuing

12 disability review’ means a review conducted pursuant to

13 section 221(i) and a review or disability eligibility redeter14 mination conducted to determine the continuing disability

15 and eligibility of a recipient of benefits under the supple16 mental security income program under title XVI, including

17 any review or redetermination conducted pursuant to sec18 tion 207 or 208 of the Social Security Independence and

19 Program Improvements Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-

20 296).’’.

21 (b) ADJUSTMENT TO DISCRETIONARY SPENDING

22 LIMITS.—Section 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and

23 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by

24 adding the following new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(H) CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEWS.—

2 (i) Whenever a bill or joint resolution making

3 appropriations for fiscal year 1996, 1997, 1998,

4 1999, 2000, 2001, or 2002 is enacted that

5 specifies an amount for continuing disability re6 views under the heading ‘Limitation on Admin7 istrative Expenses’ for the Social Security Ad8 ministration, the adjustments for that fiscal

9 year shall be the additional new budget author10 ity provided in that Act for such reviews for

11 that fiscal year and the additional outlays flow12 ing from such amounts, but shall not exceed—

13 ‘‘(I) for fiscal year 1996, $15,000,000

14 in additional new budget authority and

15 $60,000,000 in additional outlays;

16 ‘‘(II) for fiscal year 1997,

17 $25,000,000 in additional new budget au18 thority and $160,000,000 in additional

19 outlays;

20 ‘‘(III) for fiscal year 1998,

21 $145,000,000 in additional new budget au22 thority and $370,000,000 in additional

23 outlays;

24 ‘‘(IV) for fiscal year 1999,

25 $280,000,000 in additional new budget au-
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1 thority and $520,000,000 in additional

2 outlays;

3 ‘‘(V) for fiscal year 2000,

4 $317,500,000 in additional new budget au5 thority and $520,000,000 in additional

6 outlays;

7 ‘‘(VI) for fiscal year 2001,

8 $317,500,000 in additional new budget au9 thority and $520,000,000 in additional

10 outlays; and

11 ‘‘(VII) for fiscal year 2002,

12 $317,500,000 in additional new budget au13 thority and $520,000,000 in additional

14 outlays.

15 ‘‘(ii) As used in this subparagraph—

16 ‘‘(I) the term ‘continuing disability re17 views’ has the meaning given such term by

18 section 201(g)(1)(A) of the Social Security

19 Act;

20 ‘‘(II) the term ‘additional new budget

21 authority’ means new budget authority

22 provided for a fiscal year, in excess of

23 $100,000,000, for the Supplemental Secu24 rity Income program and specified to pay

25 for the costs of continuing disability re-
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1 views attributable to the Supplemental Se2 curity Income program; and

3 ‘‘(III) the term ‘additional outlays’

4 means outlays, in excess of $200,000,000

5 in a fiscal year, flowing from the amounts

6 specified for continuing disability reviews

7 under the heading ‘Limitation on Adminis8 trative Expenses’ for the Social Security

9 Administration, including outlays in that

10 fiscal year flowing from amounts specified

11 in Acts enacted for prior fiscal years (but

12 not before 1996).’’.

13 (c) BUDGET ALLOCATION ADJUSTMENT BY BUDGET

14 COMMITTEE.—Section 606 of the Congressional Budget

15 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by

16 adding the following new subsection:

17 ‘‘(e) CONTINUING DISABILITY REVIEW ADJUST18 MENT.—

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—(A) For fiscal year 1996,

20 upon the enactment of the Contract with America

21 Advancement Act of 1996, the Chairmen of the

22 Committees on the Budget of the Senate and House

23 of Representatives shall make the adjustments re24 ferred to in subparagraph (C) to reflect $15,000,000

25 in additional new budget authority and $60,000,000
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1 in additional outlays for continuing disability reviews

2 (as defined in section 201(g)(1)(A) of the Social Se3 curity Act).

4 ‘‘(B) When the Committee on Appropriations

5 reports an appropriations measure for fiscal year

6 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, or 2002 that speci7 fies an amount for continuing disability reviews

8 under the heading ‘Limitation on Administrative Ex9 penses’ for the Social Security Administration, or

10 when a conference committee submits a conference

11 report thereon, the Chairman of the Committee on

12 the Budget of the Senate or House of Representa13 tives (whichever is appropriate) shall make the ad14 justments referred to in subparagraph (C) to reflect

15 the additional new budget authority for continuing

16 disability reviews provided in that measure or con17 ference report and the additional outlays flowing

18 from such amounts for continuing disability reviews.

19 ‘‘(C) The adjustments referred to in this sub20 paragraph consist of adjustments to—

21 ‘‘(i) the discretionary spending limits for

22 that fiscal year as set forth in the most recently

23 adopted concurrent resolution on the budget;

24 ‘‘(ii) the allocations to the Committees on

25 Appropriations of the Senate and the House of
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1 Representatives for that fiscal year under sec2 tions 302(a) and 602(a); and

3 ‘‘(iii) the appropriate budgetary aggregates

4 for that fiscal year in the most recently adopted

5 concurrent resolution on the budget.

6 ‘‘(D) The adjustments under this paragraph for

7 any fiscal year shall not exceed the levels set forth

8 in section 251(b)(2)(H) of the Balanced Budget and

9 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 for that fis10 cal year. The adjusted discretionary spending limits,

11 allocations, and aggregates under this paragraph

12 shall be considered the appropriate limits, alloca13 tions, and aggregates for purposes of congressional

14 enforcement of this Act and concurrent budget reso15 lutions under this Act.

16 ‘‘(2) REPORTING REVISED SUBALLOCATIONS.—

17 Following the adjustments made under paragraph

18 (1), the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate

19 and the House of Representatives may report appro20 priately revised suballocations pursuant to sections

21 302(b) and 602(b) of this Act to carry out this sub22 section.

23 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section,

24 the terms ‘continuing disability reviews’, ‘additional

25 new budget authority’, and ‘additional outlays’ shall
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1 have the same meanings as provided in section

2 251(b)(2)(H)(ii) of the Balanced Budget and Emer3 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985.’’.

4 (d) USE OF FUNDS AND REPORTS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of Social

6 Security shall ensure that funds made available for

7 continuing disability reviews (as defined in section

8 201(g)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act) are used, to

9 the greatest extent practicable, to maximize the com10 bined savings in the old-age, survivors, and disability

11 insurance, supplemental security income, medicare,

12 and medicaid programs.

13 (2) REPORT.—The Commissioner of Social Se14 curity shall provide annually (at the conclusion of

15 each of the fiscal years 1996 through 2002) to the

16 Congress a report on continuing disability reviews

17 which includes—

18 (A) the amount spent on continuing dis19 ability reviews in the fiscal year covered by the

20 report, and the number of reviews conducted,

21 by category of review;

22 (B) the results of the continuing disability

23 reviews in terms of cessations of benefits or de24 terminations of continuing eligibility, by pro25 gram; and
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1 (C) the estimated savings over the short-,

2 medium-, and long-term to the old-age, survi3 vors, and disability insurance, supplemental se4 curity income, medicare, and medicaid pro5 grams from continuing disability reviews which

6 result in cessations of benefits and the esti7 mated present value of such savings.

8 (e) OFFICE OF CHIEF ACTUARY IN THE SOCIAL SE9 CURITY ADMINISTRATION.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 702 of the Social

11 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 902) is amended—

12 (A) by redesignating subsections (c) and

13 (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and

14 (B) by inserting after subsection (b) the

15 following new subsection:

16 ‘‘Chief Actuary

17 ‘‘(c)(1) There shall be in the Administration a Chief

18 Actuary, who shall be appointed by, and in direct line of

19 authority to, the Commissioner. The Chief Actuary shall

20 be appointed from individuals who have demonstrated, by

21 their education and experience, superior expertise in the

22 actuarial sciences. The Chief Actuary shall serve as the

23 chief actuarial officer of the Administration, and shall ex24 ercise such duties as are appropriate for the office of the

25 Chief Actuary and in accordance with professional stand-
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1 ards of actuarial independence. The Chief Actuary may

2 be removed only for cause.

3 ‘‘(2) The Chief Actuary shall be compensated at the

4 highest rate of basic pay for the Senior Executive Service

5 under section 5382(b) of title 5, United States Code.’’.

6 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE OF SUBSECTION.—The

7 amendments made by this subsection shall take ef8 fect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

9 SEC. 104. ENTITLEMENT OF STEPCHILDREN TO CHILD’S IN10 SURANCE BENEFITS BASED ON ACTUAL DE11 PENDENCY ON STEPPARENT SUPPORT.

12 (a) REQUIREMENT OF ACTUAL DEPENDENCY FOR

13 FUTURE ENTITLEMENTS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(d)(4) of the So15 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(d)(4)) is amended

16 by striking ‘‘was living with or’’.

17 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made

18 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to benefits

19 of individuals who become entitled to such benefits

20 for months after the third month following the

21 month in which this Act is enacted.

22 (b) TERMINATION OF CHILD’S INSURANCE BENE23 FITS BASED ON WORK RECORD OF STEPPARENT UPON

24 NATURAL PARENT’S DIVORCE FROM STEPPARENT.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 202(d)(1) of the So2 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 402(d)(1)) is amend3 ed—

4 (A) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara5 graph (F);

6 (B) by striking the period at the end of

7 subparagraph (G) and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and

8 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (G)

9 the following new subparagraph:

10 ‘‘(H) if the benefits under this subsection are

11 based on the wages and self-employment income of

12 a stepparent who is subsequently divorced from such

13 child’s natural parent, the month after the month in

14 which such divorce becomes final.’’.

15 (2) NOTIFICATION.—Section 202(d) of such Act

16 (42 U.S.C. 402(d)) is amended by adding the follow17 ing new paragraph:

18 ‘‘(10) For purposes of paragraph (1)(H)—

19 ‘‘(A) each stepparent shall notify the Commis20 sioner of Social Security of any divorce upon such

21 divorce becoming final; and

22 ‘‘(B) the Commissioner shall annually notify

23 any stepparent of the rule for termination described

24 in paragraph (1)(H) and of the requirement de25 scribed in subparagraph (A).’’.
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1 (3) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

2 (A) The amendments made by paragraph

3 (1) shall apply with respect to final divorces oc4 curring after the third month following the

5 month in which this Act is enacted.

6 (B) The amendment made by paragraph

7 (2) shall take effect on the date of the enact8 ment of this Act.

9 SEC. 105. DENIAL OF DISABILITY BENEFITS TO DRUG AD10 DICTS AND ALCOHOLICS.

11 (a) AMENDMENTS RELATING TO TITLE II DISABIL12 ITY BENEFITS.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 223(d)(2) of the So14 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 423(d)(2)) is amended

15 by adding at the end the following:

16 ‘‘(C) An individual shall not be considered to be

17 disabled for purposes of this title if alcoholism or

18 drug addiction would (but for this subparagraph) be

19 a contributing factor material to the Commissioner’s

20 determination that the individual is disabled.’’.

21 (2) REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE REQUIRE22 MENTS.—

23 (A) Section 205(j)(1)(B) of such Act (42

24 U.S.C. 405(j)(1)(B)) is amended to read as fol25 lows:
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1 ‘‘(B) In the case of an individual entitled to benefits

2 based on disability, the payment of such benefits shall be

3 made to a representative payee if the Commissioner of So4 cial Security determines that such payment would serve

5 the interest of the individual because the individual also

6 has an alcoholism or drug addiction condition (as deter7 mined by the Commissioner) and the individual is incapa8 ble of managing such benefits.’’.

9 (B) Section 205(j)(2)(C)(v) of such Act

10 (42 U.S.C. 405(j)(2)(C)(v)) is amended by

11 striking ‘‘entitled to benefits’’ and all that fol12 lows through ‘‘under a disability’’ and inserting

13 ‘‘described in paragraph (1)(B)’’.

14 (C) Section 205(j)(2)(D)(ii)(II) of such

15 Act (42 U.S.C. 405(j)(2)(D)(ii)(II)) is amended

16 by striking all that follows ‘‘15 years, or’’ and

17 inserting ‘‘described in paragraph (1)(B).’’.

18 (D) Section 205(j)(4)(A)(i)(II) of such Act

19 (42 U.S.C. 405(j)(4)(A)(ii)(II)) is amended by

20 striking ‘‘entitled to benefits’’ and all that fol21 lows through ‘‘under a disability’’ and inserting

22 ‘‘described in paragraph (1)(B)’’.

23 (3) TREATMENT REFERRALS FOR INDIVIDUALS

24 WITH AN ALCOHOLISM OR DRUG ADDICTION CONDI25 TION.—Section 222 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 422) is
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1 amended by adding at the end the following new

2 subsection:

3 ‘‘Treatment Referrals for Individuals with an Alcoholism

4 or Drug Addiction Condition

5 ‘‘(e) In the case of any individual whose benefits

6 under this title are paid to a representative payee pursu7 ant to section 205(j)(1)(B), the Commissioner of Social

8 Security shall refer such individual to the appropriate

9 State agency administering the State plan for substance

10 abuse treatment services approved under subpart II of

11 part B of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act (42

12 U.S.C. 300x–21 et seq.).’’.

13 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (c)

14 of section 225 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 425(c)) is re15 pealed.

16 (5) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

17 (A) The amendments made by paragraphs

18 (1) and (4) shall apply to any individual who

19 applies for, or whose claim is finally adjudicated

20 by the Commissioner of Social Security with re21 spect to, benefits under title II of the Social Se22 curity Act based on disability on or after the

23 date of the enactment of this Act, and, in the

24 case of any individual who has applied for, and

25 whose claim has been finally adjudicated by the
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1 Commissioner with respect to, such benefits be2 fore such date of enactment, such amendments

3 shall apply only with respect to such benefits

4 for months beginning on or after January 1,

5 1997.

6 (B) The amendments made by paragraphs

7 (2) and (3) shall apply with respect to benefits

8 for which applications are filed after the third

9 month following the month in which this Act is

10 enacted.

11 (C) Within 90 days after the date of the

12 enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of So13 cial Security shall notify each individual who is

14 entitled to monthly insurance benefits under

15 title II of the Social Security Act based on dis16 ability for the month in which this Act is en17 acted and whose entitlement to such benefits

18 would terminate by reason of the amendments

19 made by this subsection. If such an individual

20 reapplies for benefits under title II of such Act

21 (as amended by this Act) based on disability

22 within 120 days after the date of the enactment

23 of this Act, the Commissioner of Social Security

24 shall, not later than January 1, 1997, complete

25 the entitlement redetermination (including a
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1 new medical determination) with respect to

2 such individual pursuant to the procedures of

3 such title.

4 (b) AMENDMENTS RELATING TO SSI BENEFITS.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1614(a)(3) of the

6 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1382c(a)(3)) is

7 amended by adding at the end the following:

8 ‘‘(I) Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), an individ9 ual shall not be considered to be disabled for purposes of

10 this title if alcoholism or drug addiction would (but for

11 this subparagraph) be a contributing factor material to

12 the Commissioner’s determination that the individual is

13 disabled.’’.

14 (2) REPRESENTATIVE PAYEE REQUIRE15 MENTS.—

16 (A) Section 1631(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II) of such

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II)) is amend18 ed to read as follows:

19 ‘‘(II) In the case of an individual eligible for benefits

20 under this title by reason of disability, the payment of

21 such benefits shall be made to a representative payee if

22 the Commissioner of Social Security determines that such

23 payment would serve the interest of the individual because

24 the individual also has an alcoholism or drug addiction
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1 condition (as determined by the Commissioner) and the

2 individual is incapable of managing such benefits.’’.

3 (B) Section 1631(a)(2)(B)(vii) of such Act

4 (42 U.S.C. 1383(a)(2)(B)(vii)) is amended by

5 striking ‘‘eligible for benefits’’ and all that fol6 lows through ‘‘is disabled’’ and inserting ‘‘de7 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii)(II)’’.

8 (C) Section 1631(a)(2)(B)(ix)(II) of such

9 Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(a)(2)(B)(ix)(II)) is

10 amended by striking all that follows ‘‘15 years,

11 or’’ and inserting ‘‘described in subparagraph

12 (A)(ii)(II).’’.

13 (D) Section 1631(a)(2)(D)(i)(II) of such

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 1383(a)(2)(D)(i)(II)) is amend15 ed by striking ‘‘eligible for benefits’’ and all

16 that follows through ‘‘is disabled’’ and inserting

17 ‘‘described in subparagraph (A)(ii)(II)’’.

18 (3) TREATMENT REFERRALS FOR INDIVIDUALS

19 WITH AN ALCOHOLISM OR DRUG ADDICTION CONDI20 TION.—Title XVI of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1381 et

21 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following

22 new section:

23 ‘‘TREATMENT REFERRALS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH AN

24 ALCOHOLISM OR DRUG ADDICTION CONDITION

25 ‘‘SEC. 1636. In the case of any individual whose bene26 fits under this title are paid to a representative payee pur-
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1 suant to section 1631(a)(2)(A)(ii)(II), the Commissioner

2 of Social Security shall refer such individual to the appro3 priate State agency administering the State plan for sub4 stance abuse treatment services approved under subpart

5 II of part B of title XIX of the Public Health Service Act

6 (42 U.S.C. 300x–21 et seq.).’’.

7 (4) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

8 (A) Section 1611(e) of such Act (42

9 U.S.C. 1382(e)) is amended by striking para10 graph (3).

11 (B) Section 1634 of such Act (42 U.S.C.

12 1383c) is amended by striking subsection (e).

13 (5) EFFECTIVE DATES.—

14 (A) The amendments made by paragraphs

15 (1) and (4) shall apply to any individual who

16 applies for, or whose claim is finally adjudicated

17 by the Commissioner of Social Security with re18 spect to, supplemental security income benefits

19 under title XVI of the Social Security Act based

20 on disability on or after the date of the enact21 ment of this Act, and, in the case of any indi22 vidual who has applied for, and whose claim has

23 been finally adjudicated by the Commissioner

24 with respect to, such benefits before such date

25 of enactment, such amendments shall apply
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1 only with respect to such benefits for months

2 beginning on or after January 1, 1997.

3 (B) The amendments made by paragraphs

4 (2) and (3) shall apply with respect to supple5 mental security income benefits under title XVI

6 of the Social Security Act for which applica7 tions are filed after the third month following

8 the month in which this Act is enacted.

9 (C) Within 90 days after the date of the

10 enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of So11 cial Security shall notify each individual who is

12 eligible for supplemental security income bene13 fits under title XVI of the Social Security Act

14 for the month in which this Act is enacted and

15 whose eligibility for such benefits would termi16 nate by reason of the amendments made by this

17 subsection. If such an individual reapplies for

18 supplemental security income benefits under

19 title XVI of such Act (as amended by this Act)

20 within 120 days after the date of the enactment

21 of this Act, the Commissioner of Social Security

22 shall, not later than January 1, 1997, complete

23 the eligibility redetermination (including a new

24 medical determination) with respect to such in-
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1 dividual pursuant to the procedures of such

2 title.

3 (D) For purposes of this paragraph, the

4 phrase ‘‘supplemental security income benefits

5 under title XVI of the Social Security Act’’ in6 cludes supplementary payments pursuant to an

7 agreement for Federal administration under

8 section 1616(a) of the Social Security Act and

9 payments pursuant to an agreement entered

10 into under section 212(b) of Public Law 93–66.

11 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 201(c) of

12 the Social Security Independence and Program Improve13 ments Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 425 note) is repealed.

14 (d) SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FOR ALCOHOL AND

15 SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Out of any money in the

17 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there are here18 by appropriated to supplement State and Tribal pro19 grams funded under section 1933 of the Public

20 Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300x–33),

21 $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1997 and

22 1998.

23 (2) ADDITIONAL FUNDS.—Amounts appro24 priated under paragraph (1) shall be in addition to

25 any funds otherwise appropriated for allotments
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1 under section 1933 of the Public Health Service Act

2 (42 U.S.C. 300x–33) and shall be allocated pursuant

3 to such section 1933.

4 (3) USE OF FUNDS.—A State or Tribal govern5 ment receiving an allotment under this subsection

6 shall consider as priorities, for purposes of expend7 ing funds allotted under this subsection, activities

8 relating to the treatment of the abuse of alcohol and

9 other drugs.

10 SEC. 106. PILOT STUDY OF EFFICACY OF PROVIDING INDI11 VIDUALIZED INFORMATION TO RECIPIENTS

12 OF OLD-AGE AND SURVIVORS INSURANCE

13 BENEFITS.

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—During a 2-year period beginning

15 as soon as practicable in 1996, the Commissioner of Social

16 Security shall conduct a pilot study of the efficacy of pro17 viding certain individualized information to recipients of

18 monthly insurance benefits under section 202 of the Social

19 Security Act, designed to promote better understanding

20 of their contributions and benefits under the social secu21 rity system. The study shall involve solely beneficiaries

22 whose entitlement to such benefits first occurred in or

23 after 1984 and who have remained entitled to such bene24 fits for a continuous period of not less than 5 years. The

25 number of such recipients involved in the study shall be
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1 of sufficient size to generate a statistically valid sample

2 for purposes of the study, but shall not exceed 600,000

3 beneficiaries.

4 (b) ANNUALIZED STATEMENTS.—During the course

5 of the study, the Commissioner shall provide to each of

6 the beneficiaries involved in the study one annualized

7 statement, setting forth the following information:

8 (1) an estimate of the aggregate wages and

9 self-employment income earned by the individual on

10 whose wages and self-employment income the benefit

11 is based, as shown on the records of the Commis12 sioner as of the end of the last calendar year ending

13 prior to the beneficiary’s first month of entitlement;

14 (2) an estimate of the aggregate of the em15 ployee and self-employment contributions, and the

16 aggregate of the employer contributions (separately

17 identified), made with respect to the wages and self18 employment income on which the benefit is based, as

19 shown on the records of the Commissioner as of the

20 end of the calendar year preceding the beneficiary’s

21 first month of entitlement; and

22 (3) an estimate of the total amount paid as

23 benefits under section 202 of the Social Security Act

24 based on such wages and self-employment income, as

25 shown on the records of the Commissioner as of the
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1 end of the last calendar year preceding the issuance

2 of the statement for which complete information is

3 available.

4 (c) INCLUSION WITH MATTER OTHERWISE DISTRIB5 UTED TO BENEFICIARIES.—The Commissioner shall en6 sure that reports provided pursuant to this section are,

7 to the maximum extent practicable, included with other

8 reports currently provided to beneficiaries on an annual

9 basis.

10 (d) REPORT TO THE CONGRESS.—The Commissioner

11 shall report to each House of the Congress regarding the

12 results of the pilot study conducted pursuant to this sec13 tion not later than 60 days after the completion of such

14 study.

15 SEC. 107. PROTECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDI16 CARE TRUST FUNDS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title XI of the Social

18 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by add19 ing at the end the following new section:

20 ‘‘PROTECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE

21 TRUST FUNDS

22 ‘‘SEC. 1145. (a) IN GENERAL.—No officer or em23 ployee of the United States shall—

24 ‘‘(1) delay the deposit of any amount into (or

25 delay the credit of any amount to) any Federal fund
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1 or otherwise vary from the normal terms, proce2 dures, or timing for making such deposits or credits,

3 ‘‘(2) refrain from the investment in public debt

4 obligations of amounts in any Federal fund, or

5 ‘‘(3) redeem prior to maturity amounts in any

6 Federal fund which are invested in public debt obli7 gations for any purpose other than the payment of

8 benefits or administrative expenses from such Fed9 eral fund.

10 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC DEBT OBLIGATION.—For purposes of

11 this section, the term ‘public debt obligation’ means any

12 obligation subject to the public debt limit established

13 under section 3101 of title 31, United States Code.

14 ‘‘(c) FEDERAL FUND.—For purposes of this section,

15 the term ‘Federal fund’ means—

16 ‘‘(1) the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insur17 ance Trust Fund;

18 ‘‘(2) the Federal Disability Insurance Trust

19 Fund;

20 ‘‘(3) the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust

21 Fund; and

22 ‘‘(4) the Federal Supplementary Medical Insur23 ance Trust Fund.’’.
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

2 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment

3 of this Act.

4 SEC. 108. PROFESSIONAL STAFF FOR THE SOCIAL SECU5 RITY ADVISORY BOARD.

6 Section 703(i) of the Social Security Act (42

7 U.S.C. 903(i)) is amended in the first sentence by insert8 ing after ‘‘Staff Director’’ the following: ‘‘, and three pro9 fessional staff members one of whom shall be appointed

10 from among individuals approved by the members of the

11 Board who are not members of the political party rep12 resented by the majority of the Board,’’.

13 TITLE II—LINE ITEM VETO

14 SEC. 201. SHORT TITLE.

15 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Line Item Veto Act’’.

16 SEC. 202. LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title X of the Congressional

18 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.

19 681 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following

20 new part:

21 ‘‘PART C—LINE ITEM VETO

22 ‘‘LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY

23 ‘‘SEC. 1021. (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the

24 provisions of parts A and B, and subject to the provisions

25 of this part, the President may, with respect to any bill
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1 or joint resolution that has been signed into law pursuant

2 to Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the United

3 States, cancel in whole—

4 ‘‘(1) any dollar amount of discretionary budget

5 authority;

6 ‘‘(2) any item of new direct spending; or

7 ‘‘(3) any limited tax benefit;

8 if the President—

9 ‘‘(A) determines that such cancellation will—

10 ‘‘(i) reduce the Federal budget deficit;

11 ‘‘(ii) not impair any essential Government

12 functions; and

13 ‘‘(iii) not harm the national interest; and

14 ‘‘(B) notifies the Congress of such cancellation

15 by transmitting a special message, in accordance

16 with section 1022, within five calendar days (exclud17 ing Sundays) after the enactment of the law provid18 ing the dollar amount of discretionary budget au19 thority, item of new direct spending, or limited tax

20 benefit that was canceled.

21 ‘‘(b) IDENTIFICATION OF CANCELLATIONS.—In iden22 tifying dollar amounts of discretionary budget authority,

23 items of new direct spending, and limited tax benefits for

24 cancellation, the President shall—
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1 ‘‘(1) consider the legislative history, construc2 tion, and purposes of the law which contains such

3 dollar amounts, items, or benefits;

4 ‘‘(2) consider any specific sources of informa5 tion referenced in such law or, in the absence of spe6 cific sources of information, the best available infor7 mation; and

8 ‘‘(3) use the definitions contained in section

9 1026 in applying this part to the specific provisions

10 of such law.

11 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION FOR DISAPPROVAL BILLS.—The au12 thority granted by subsection (a) shall not apply to any

13 dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, item of

14 new direct spending, or limited tax benefit contained in

15 any law that is a disapproval bill as defined in section

16 1026.

17 ‘‘SPECIAL MESSAGES

18 ‘‘SEC. 1022. (a) IN GENERAL.—For each law from

19 which a cancellation has been made under this part, the

20 President shall transmit a single special message to the

21 Congress.

22 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—

23 ‘‘(1) The special message shall specify—

24 ‘‘(A) the dollar amount of discretionary

25 budget authority, item of new direct spending,

26 or limited tax benefit which has been canceled,
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1 and provide a corresponding reference number

2 for each cancellation;

3 ‘‘(B) the determinations required under

4 section 1021(a), together with any supporting

5 material;

6 ‘‘(C) the reasons for the cancellation;

7 ‘‘(D) to the maximum extent practicable,

8 the estimated fiscal, economic, and budgetary

9 effect of the cancellation;

10 ‘‘(E) all facts, circumstances and consider11 ations relating to or bearing upon the cancella12 tion, and to the maximum extent practicable,

13 the estimated effect of the cancellation upon the

14 objects, purposes and programs for which the

15 canceled authority was provided; and

16 ‘‘(F) include the adjustments that will be

17 made pursuant to section 1024 to the discre18 tionary spending limits under section 601 and

19 an evaluation of the effects of those adjust20 ments upon the sequestration procedures of sec21 tion 251 of the Balanced Budget and Emer22 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

23 ‘‘(2) In the case of a cancellation of any dollar

24 amount of discretionary budget authority or item of
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1 new direct spending, the special message shall also

2 include, if applicable3 ‘‘(A) any account, department, or estab4 lishment of the Government for which such

5 budget authority was to have been available for

6 obligation and the specific project or govern7 mental functions involved;

8 ‘‘(B) the specific States and congressional

9 districts, if any, affected by the cancellation;

10 and

11 ‘‘(C) the total number of cancellations im12 posed during the current session of Congress on

13 States and congressional districts identified in

14 subparagraph (B).

15 ‘‘(c) TRANSMISSION OF SPECIAL MESSAGES TO

16 HOUSE AND SENATE.—

17 ‘‘(1) The President shall transmit to the Con18 gress each special message under this part within

19 five calendar days (excluding Sundays) after enact20 ment of the law to which the cancellation applies.

21 Each special message shall be transmitted to the

22 House of Representatives and the Senate on the

23 same calendar day. Such special message shall be

24 delivered to the Clerk of the House of Representa-
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1 tives if the House is not in session, and to the Sec2 retary of the Senate if the Senate is not in session.

3 ‘‘(2) Any special message transmitted under

4 this part shall be printed in the first issue of the

5 Federal Register published after such transmittal.

6 ‘‘CANCELLATION EFFECTIVE UNLESS DISAPPROVED

7 ‘‘SEC. 1023. (a) IN GENERAL.—The cancellation of

8 any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, item

9 of new direct spending, or limited tax benefit shall take

10 effect upon receipt in the House of Representatives and

11 the Senate of the special message notifying the Congress

12 of the cancellation. If a disapproval bill for such special

13 message is enacted into law, then all cancellations dis14 approved in that law shall be null and void and any such

15 dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, item of

16 new direct spending, or limited tax benefit shall be effec17 tive as of the original date provided in the law to which

18 the cancellation applied.

19 ‘‘(b) COMMENSURATE REDUCTIONS IN DISCRE20 TIONARY BUDGET AUTHORITY.—Upon the cancellation of

21 a dollar amount of discretionary budget authority under

22 subsection (a), the total appropriation for each relevant

23 account of which that dollar amount is a part shall be

24 simultaneously reduced by the dollar amount of that can25 cellation.
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1 ‘‘DEFICIT REDUCTION

2 ‘‘SEC. 1024. (a) IN GENERAL.—

3 ‘‘(1) DISCRETIONARY BUDGET AUTHORITY.—

4 OMB shall, for each dollar amount of discretionary

5 budget authority and for each item of new direct

6 spending canceled from an appropriation law under

7 section 1021(a)—

8 ‘‘(A) reflect the reduction that results from

9 such cancellation in the estimates required by

10 section 251(a)(7) of the Balanced Budget and

11 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 in ac12 cordance with that Act, including an estimate of

13 the reduction of the budget authority and the

14 reduction in outlays flowing from such reduc15 tion of budget authority for each outyear; and

16 ‘‘(B) include a reduction to the discre17 tionary spending limits for budget authority

18 and outlays in accordance with the Balanced

19 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of

20 1985 for each applicable fiscal year set forth in

21 section 601(a)(2) by amounts equal to the

22 amounts for each fiscal year estimated pursuant

23 to subparagraph (A).

24 ‘‘(2) DIRECT SPENDING AND LIMITED TAX

25 BENEFITS.—(A) OMB shall, for each item of new
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1 direct spending or limited tax benefit canceled from

2 a law under section 1021(a), estimate the deficit de3 crease caused by the cancellation of such item or

4 benefit in that law and include such estimate as a

5 separate entry in the report prepared pursuant to

6 section 252(d) of the Balanced Budget and Emer7 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

8 ‘‘(B) OMB shall not include any change in the

9 deficit resulting from a cancellation of any item of

10 new direct spending or limited tax benefit, or the en11 actment of a disapproval bill for any such cancella12 tion, under this part in the estimates and reports re13 quired by sections 252(b) and 254 of the Balanced

14 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

15 ‘‘(b) ADJUSTMENTS TO SPENDING LIMITS.—After

16 ten calendar days (excluding Sundays) after the expiration

17 of the time period in section 1025(b)(1) for expedited con18 gressional consideration of a disapproval bill for a special

19 message containing a cancellation of discretionary budget

20 authority, OMB shall make the reduction included in sub21 section (a)(1)(B) as part of the next sequester report re22 quired by section 254 of the Balanced Budget and Emer23 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

24 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (b) shall not apply to

25 a cancellation if a disapproval bill or other law that dis-
36

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1 approves that cancellation is enacted into law prior to 10

2 calendar days (excluding Sundays) after the expiration of

3 the time period set forth in section 1025(b)(1).

4 ‘‘(d) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE ESTI5 MATES.—As soon as practicable after the President makes

6 a cancellation from a law under section 1021(a), the Di7 rector of the Congressional Budget Office shall provide the

8 Committees on the Budget of the House of Representa9 tives and the Senate with an estimate of the reduction of

10 the budget authority and the reduction in outlays flowing

11 from such reduction of budget authority for each outyear.

12 ‘‘EXPEDITED CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF

13 DISAPPROVAL BILLS

14 ‘‘SEC. 1025. (a) RECEIPT AND REFERRAL OF SPE15 CIAL MESSAGE.—Each special message transmitted under

16 this part shall be referred to the Committee on the Budget

17 and the appropriate committee or committees of the Sen18 ate and the Committee on the Budget and the appropriate

19 committee or committees of the House of Representatives.

20 Each such message shall be printed as a document of the

21 House of Representatives.

22 ‘‘(b) TIME PERIOD FOR EXPEDITED PROCEDURES.—

23 ‘‘(1) There shall be a congressional review pe24 riod of 30 calendar days of session, beginning on the

25 first calendar day of session after the date on which

26 the special message is received in the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives and the Senate, during which the proce2 dures contained in this section shall apply to both

3 Houses of Congress.

4 ‘‘(2) In the House of Representatives the proce5 dures set forth in this section shall not apply after

6 the end of the period described in paragraph (1).

7 ‘‘(3) If Congress adjourns at the end of a Con8 gress prior to the expiration of the period described

9 in paragraph (1) and a disapproval bill was then

10 pending in either House of Congress or a committee

11 thereof (including a conference committee of the two

12 Houses of Congress), or was pending before the

13 President, a disapproval bill for the same special

14 message may be introduced within the first five cal15 endar days of session of the next Congress and shall

16 be treated as a disapproval bill under this part, and

17 the time period described in paragraph (1) shall

18 commence on the day of introduction of that dis19 approval bill.

20 ‘‘(c) INTRODUCTION OF DISAPPROVAL BILLS.—(1)

21 In order for a disapproval bill to be considered under the

22 procedures set forth in this section, the bill must meet the

23 definition of a disapproval bill and must be introduced no

24 later than the fifth calendar day of session following the

25 beginning of the period described in subsection (b)(1).
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1 ‘‘(2) In the case of a disapproval bill introduced in

2 the House of Representatives, such bill shall include in

3 the first blank space referred to in section 1026(6)(C) a

4 list of the reference numbers for all cancellations made

5 by the President in the special message to which such dis6 approval bill relates.

7 ‘‘(d) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP8 RESENTATIVES.—(1) Any committee of the House of Rep9 resentatives to which a disapproval bill is referred shall

10 report it without amendment, and with or without rec11 ommendation, not later than the seventh calendar day of

12 session after the date of its introduction. If any committee

13 fails to report the bill within that period, it is in order

14 to move that the House discharge the committee from fur15 ther consideration of the bill, except that such a motion

16 may not be made after the committee has reported a dis17 approval bill with respect to the same special message. A

18 motion to discharge may be made only by a Member favor19 ing the bill (but only at a time or place designated by the

20 Speaker in the legislative schedule of the day after the

21 calendar day on which the Member offering the motion

22 announces to the House his intention to do so and the

23 form of the motion). The motion is highly privileged. De24 bate thereon shall be limited to not more than one hour,

25 the time to be divided in the House equally between a pro-
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1 ponent and an opponent. The previous question shall be

2 considered as ordered on the motion to its adoption with3 out intervening motion. A motion to reconsider the vote

4 by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not

5 be in order.

6 ‘‘(2) After a disapproval bill is reported or a commit7 tee has been discharged from further consideration, it is

8 in order to move that the House resolve into the Commit9 tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for con10 sideration of the bill. If reported and the report has been

11 available for at least one calendar day, all points of order

12 against the bill and against consideration of the bill are

13 waived. If discharged, all points of order against the bill

14 and against consideration of the bill are waived. The mo15 tion is highly privileged. A motion to reconsider the vote

16 by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall not

17 be in order. During consideration of the bill in the Com18 mittee of the Whole, the first reading of the bill shall be

19 dispensed with. General debate shall proceed, shall be con20 fined to the bill, and shall not exceed one hour equally

21 divided and controlled by a proponent and an opponent

22 of the bill. The bill shall be considered as read for amend23 ment under the five-minute rule. Only one motion to rise

24 shall be in order, except if offered by the manager. No

25 amendment to the bill is in order, except any Member if
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1 supported by 49 other Members (a quorum being present)

2 may offer an amendment striking the reference number

3 or numbers of a cancellation or cancellations from the bill.

4 Consideration of the bill for amendment shall not exceed

5 one hour excluding time for recorded votes and quorum

6 calls. No amendment shall be subject to further amend7 ment, except pro forma amendments for the purposes of

8 debate only. At the conclusion of the consideration of the

9 bill for amendment, the Committee shall rise and report

10 the bill to the House with such amendments as may have

11 been adopted. The previous question shall be considered

12 as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final

13 passage without intervening motion. A motion to recon14 sider the vote on passage of the bill shall not be in order.

15 ‘‘(3) Appeals from decisions of the Chair regarding

16 application of the rules of the House of Representatives

17 to the procedure relating to a disapproval bill shall be de18 cided without debate.

19 ‘‘(4) It shall not be in order to consider under this

20 subsection more than one disapproval bill for the same

21 special message except for consideration of a similar Sen22 ate bill (unless the House has already rejected a dis23 approval bill for the same special message) or more than

24 one motion to discharge described in paragraph (1) with

25 respect to a disapproval bill for that special message.
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1 ‘‘(e) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

2 ‘‘(1) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—Any dis3 approval bill introduced in the Senate shall be re4 ferred to the appropriate committee or committees.

5 A committee to which a disapproval bill has been re6 ferred shall report the bill not later than the seventh

7 day of session following the date of introduction of

8 that bill. If any committee fails to report the bill

9 within that period, that committee shall be auto10 matically discharged from further consideration of

11 the bill and the bill shall be placed on the Calendar.

12 ‘‘(2) DISAPPROVAL BILL FROM HOUSE.—When

13 the Senate receives from the House of Representa14 tives a disapproval bill, such bill shall not be referred

15 to committee and shall be placed on the Calendar.

16 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION OF SINGLE DISAPPROVAL

17 BILL.—After the Senate has proceeded to the con18 sideration of a disapproval bill for a special message,

19 then no other disapproval bill originating in that

20 same House relating to that same message shall be

21 subject to the procedures set forth in this sub22 section.

23 ‘‘(4) AMENDMENTS.—

24 ‘‘(A) AMENDMENTS IN ORDER.—The only

25 amendments in order to a disapproval bill are—
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1 ‘‘(i) an amendment that strikes the

2 reference number of a cancellation from

3 the disapproval bill; and

4 ‘‘(ii) an amendment that only inserts

5 the reference number of a cancellation in6 cluded in the special message to which the

7 disapproval bill relates that is not already

8 contained in such bill.

9 ‘‘(B) WAIVER OR APPEAL.—An affirmative

10 vote of three-fifths of the Senators, duly chosen

11 and sworn, shall be required in the Senate—

12 ‘‘(i) to waive or suspend this para13 graph; or

14 ‘‘(ii) to sustain an appeal of the ruling

15 of the Chair on a point of order raised

16 under this paragraph.

17 ‘‘(5) MOTION NONDEBATABLE.—A motion to

18 proceed to consideration of a disapproval bill under

19 this subsection shall not be debatable. It shall not be

20 in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the

21 motion to proceed was adopted or rejected, although

22 subsequent motions to proceed may be made under

23 this paragraph.

24 ‘‘(6) LIMIT ON CONSIDERATION.— (A) After no

25 more than 10 hours of consideration of a dis-
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1 approval bill, the Senate shall proceed, without inter2 vening action or debate (except as permitted under

3 paragraph (9)), to vote on the final disposition

4 thereof to the exclusion of all amendments not then

5 pending and to the exclusion of all motions, except

6 a motion to reconsider or to table.

7 ‘‘(B) A single motion to extend the time for

8 consideration under subparagraph (A) for no more

9 than an additional five hours is in order prior to the

10 expiration of such time and shall be decided without

11 debate.

12 ‘‘(C) The time for debate on the disapproval bill

13 shall be equally divided between the Majority Leader

14 and the Minority Leader or their designees.

15 ‘‘(7) DEBATE ON AMENDMENTS.—Debate on

16 any amendment to a disapproval bill shall be limited

17 to one hour, equally divided and controlled by the

18 Senator proposing the amendment and the majority

19 manager, unless the majority manager is in favor of

20 the amendment, in which case the minority manager

21 shall be in control of the time in opposition.

22 ‘‘(8) NO MOTION TO RECOMMIT.—A motion to

23 recommit a disapproval bill shall not be in order.

24 ‘‘(9) DISPOSITION OF SENATE DISAPPROVAL

25 BILL.—If the Senate has read for the third time a
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1 disapproval bill that originated in the Senate, then

2 it shall be in order at any time thereafter to move

3 to proceed to the consideration of a disapproval bill

4 for the same special message received from the

5 House of Representatives and placed on the Cal6 endar pursuant to paragraph (2), strike all after the

7 enacting clause, substitute the text of the Senate

8 disapproval bill, agree to the Senate amendment,

9 and vote on final disposition of the House dis10 approval bill, all without any intervening action or

11 debate.

12 ‘‘(10) CONSIDERATION OF HOUSE MESSAGE.—

13 Consideration in the Senate of all motions, amend14 ments, or appeals necessary to dispose of a message

15 from the House of Representatives on a disapproval

16 bill shall be limited to not more than four hours. De17 bate on each motion or amendment shall be limited

18 to 30 minutes. Debate on any appeal or point of

19 order that is submitted in connection with the dis20 position of the House message shall be limited to 20

21 minutes. Any time for debate shall be equally divided

22 and controlled by the proponent and the majority

23 manager, unless the majority manager is a pro24 ponent of the motion, amendment, appeal, or point
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1 of order, in which case the minority manager shall

2 be in control of the time in opposition.

3 ‘‘(f) CONSIDERATION IN CONFERENCE—

4 ‘‘(1) CONVENING OF CONFERENCE.—In the

5 case of disagreement between the two Houses of

6 Congress with respect to a disapproval bill passed by

7 both Houses, conferees should be promptly ap8 pointed and a conference promptly convened, if nec9 essary.

10 ‘‘(2) HOUSE CONSIDERATION.—(A) Notwith11 standing any other rule of the House of Representa12 tives, it shall be in order to consider the report of

13 a committee of conference relating to a disapproval

14 bill provided such report has been available for one

15 calendar day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, or legal

16 holidays, unless the House is in session on such a

17 day) and the accompanying statement shall have

18 been filed in the House.

19 ‘‘(B) Debate in the House of Representatives

20 on the conference report and any amendments in

21 disagreement on any disapproval bill shall each be

22 limited to not more than one hour equally divided

23 and controlled by a proponent and an opponent. A

24 motion to further limit debate is not debatable. A

25 motion to recommit the conference report is not in
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1 order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider

2 the vote by which the conference report is agreed to

3 or disagreed to.

4 ‘‘(3) SENATE CONSIDERATION.—Consideration

5 in the Senate of the conference report and any

6 amendments in disagreement on a disapproval bill

7 shall be limited to not more than four hours equally

8 divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and

9 the Minority Leader or their designees. A motion to

10 recommit the conference report is not in order.

11 ‘‘(4) LIMITS ON SCOPE.—(A) When a disagree12 ment to an amendment in the nature of a substitute

13 has been referred to a conference, the conferees shall

14 report those cancellations that were included in both

15 the bill and the amendment, and may report a can16 cellation included in either the bill or the amend17 ment, but shall not include any other matter.

18 ‘‘(B) When a disagreement on an amendment

19 or amendments of one House to the disapproval bill

20 of the other House has been referred to a committee

21 of conference, the conferees shall report those can22 cellations upon which both Houses agree and may

23 report any or all of those cancellations upon which

24 there is disagreement, but shall not include any

25 other matter.
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1 ‘‘DEFINITIONS

2 ‘‘SEC. 1026. As used in this part:

3 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATION LAW.—The term ‘appro4 priation law’ means an Act referred to in section

5 105 of title 1, United States Code, including any

6 general or special appropriation Act, or any Act

7 making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing ap8 propriations, that has been signed into law pursuant

9 to Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the

10 United States.

11 ‘‘(2) CALENDAR DAY.—The term ‘calendar day’

12 means a standard 24-hour period beginning at mid13 night.

14 ‘‘(3) CALENDAR DAYS OF SESSION.—The term

15 ‘calendar days of session’ shall mean only those days

16 on which both Houses of Congress are in session.

17 ‘‘(4) CANCEL.—The term ‘cancel’ or ‘cancella18 tion’ means—

19 ‘‘(A) with respect to any dollar amount of

20 discretionary budget authority, to rescind;

21 ‘‘(B) with respect to any item of new direct

22 spending—

23 ‘‘(i) that is budget authority provided

24 by law (other than an appropriation law),
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1 to prevent such budget authority from hav2 ing legal force or effect;

3 ‘‘(ii) that is entitlement authority, to

4 prevent the specific legal obligation of the

5 United States from having legal force or

6 effect; or

7 ‘‘(iii) through the food stamp pro8 gram, to prevent the specific provision of

9 law that results in an increase in budget

10 authority or outlays for that program from

11 having legal force or effect; and

12 ‘‘(C) with respect to a limited tax benefit,

13 to prevent the specific provision of law that pro14 vides such benefit from having legal force or ef15 fect.

16 ‘‘(5) DIRECT SPENDING.—The term ‘direct

17 spending’ means—

18 ‘‘(A) budget authority provided by law

19 (other than an appropriation law);

20 ‘‘(B) entitlement authority; and

21 ‘‘(C) the food stamp program.

22 ‘‘(6) DISAPPROVAL BILL.—The term ‘dis23 approval bill’ means a bill or joint resolution which

24 only disapproves one or more cancellations of dollar

25 amounts of discretionary budget authority, items of
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1 new direct spending, or limited tax benefits in a spe2 cial message transmitted by the President under this

3 part and—

4 ‘‘(A) the title of which is as follows: ‘A bill

5 disapproving the cancellations transmitted by

6 the President on llll’, the blank space

7 being filled in with the date of transmission of

8 the relevant special message and the public law

9 number to which the message relates;

10 ‘‘(B) which does not have a preamble; and

11 ‘‘(C) which provides only the following

12 after the enacting clause: ‘That Congress dis13 approves of cancellations llll’, the blank

14 space being filled in with a list by reference

15 number of one or more cancellations contained

16 in the President’s special message, ‘as transmit17 ted by the President in a special message on

18 llll’, the blank space being filled in with

19 the appropriate date, ‘regarding llll.’, the

20 blank space being filled in with the public law

21 number to which the special message relates.

22 ‘‘(7) DOLLAR AMOUNT OF DISCRETIONARY

23 BUDGET AUTHORITY.—(A) Except as provided in

24 subparagraph (B), the term ‘dollar amount of dis-
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1 cretionary budget authority’ means the entire dollar

2 amount of budget authority—

3 ‘‘(i) specified in an appropriation law, or

4 the entire dollar amount of budget authority re5 quired to be allocated by a specific proviso in an

6 appropriation law for which a specific dollar fig7 ure was not included;

8 ‘‘(ii) represented separately in any table,

9 chart, or explanatory text included in the state10 ment of managers or the governing committee

11 report accompanying such law;

12 ‘‘(iii) required to be allocated for a specific

13 program, project, or activity in a law (other

14 than an appropriation law) that mandates the

15 expenditure of budget authority from accounts,

16 programs, projects, or activities for which budg17 et authority is provided in an appropriation law;

18 ‘‘(iv) represented by the product of the es19 timated procurement cost and the total quantity

20 of items specified in an appropriation law or in21 cluded in the statement of managers or the gov22 erning committee report accompanying such

23 law; and

24 ‘‘(v) represented by the product of the esti25 mated procurement cost and the total quantity
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1 of items required to be provided in a law (other

2 than an appropriation law) that mandates the

3 expenditure of budget authority from accounts,

4 programs, projects, or activities for which budg5 et authority is provided in an appropriation law.

6 ‘‘(B) The term ‘dollar amount of discretionary

7 budget authority’ does not include—

8 ‘‘(i) direct spending;

9 ‘‘(ii) budget authority in an appropriation

10 law which funds direct spending provided for in

11 other law;

12 ‘‘(iii) any existing budget authority re13 scinded or canceled in an appropriation law; or

14 ‘‘(iv) any restriction, condition, or limita15 tion in an appropriation law or the accompany16 ing statement of managers or committee reports

17 on the expenditure of budget authority for an

18 account, program, project, or activity, or on ac19 tivities involving such expenditure.

20 ‘‘(8) ITEM OF NEW DIRECT SPENDING.—The

21 term ‘item of new direct spending’ means any spe22 cific provision of law that is estimated to result in

23 an increase in budget authority or outlays for direct

24 spending relative to the most recent levels calculated
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1 pursuant to section 257 of the Balanced Budget and

2 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

3 ‘‘(9) LIMITED TAX BENEFIT.—(A) The term

4 ‘limited tax benefit’ means—

5 ‘‘(i) any revenue-losing provision which

6 provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, exclu7 sion, or preference to 100 or fewer beneficiaries

8 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in

9 any fiscal year for which the provision is in ef10 fect; and

11 ‘‘(ii) any Federal tax provision which pro12 vides temporary or permanent transitional relief

13 for 10 or fewer beneficiaries in any fiscal year

14 from a change to the Internal Revenue Code of

15 1986.

16 ‘‘(B) A provision shall not be treated as de17 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) if the effect of that

18 provision is that—

19 ‘‘(i) all persons in the same industry or en20 gaged in the same type of activity receive the

21 same treatment;

22 ‘‘(ii) all persons owning the same type of

23 property, or issuing the same type of invest24 ment, receive the same treatment; or
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1 ‘‘(iii) any difference in the treatment of

2 persons is based solely on—

3 ‘‘(I) in the case of businesses and as4 sociations, the size or form of the business

5 or association involved;

6 ‘‘(II) in the case of individuals, gen7 eral demographic conditions, such as in8 come, marital status, number of depend9 ents, or tax return filing status;

10 ‘‘(III) the amount involved; or

11 ‘‘(IV) a generally-available election

12 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

13 ‘‘(C) A provision shall not be treated as de14 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii) if—

15 ‘‘(i) it provides for the retention of prior

16 law with respect to all binding contracts or

17 other legally enforceable obligations in existence

18 on a date contemporaneous with congressional

19 action specifying such date; or

20 ‘‘(ii) it is a technical correction to pre21 viously enacted legislation that is estimated to

22 have no revenue effect.

23 ‘‘(D) For purposes of subparagraph (A)—

24 ‘‘(i) all businesses and associations which

25 are related within the meaning of sections
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•HR 3136 IH

1 707(b) and 1563(a) of the Internal Revenue

2 Code of 1986 shall be treated as a single bene3 ficiary;

4 ‘‘(ii) all qualified plans of an employer

5 shall be treated as a single beneficiary;

6 ‘‘(iii) all holders of the same bond issue

7 shall be treated as a single beneficiary; and

8 ‘‘(iv) if a corporation, partnership, associa9 tion, trust or estate is the beneficiary of a pro10 vision, the shareholders of the corporation, the

11 partners of the partnership, the members of the

12 association, or the beneficiaries of the trust or

13 estate shall not also be treated as beneficiaries

14 of such provision.

15 ‘‘(E) For purposes of this paragraph, the term

16 ‘revenue-losing provision’ means any provision which

17 results in a reduction in Federal tax revenues for

18 any one of the two following periods—

19 ‘‘(i) the first fiscal year for which the pro20 vision is effective; or

21 ‘‘(ii) the period of the 5 fiscal years begin22 ning with the first fiscal year for which the pro23 vision is effective.

24 ‘‘(F) The terms used in this paragraph shall

25 have the same meaning as those terms have gen-
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•HR 3136 IH

1 erally in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, unless

2 otherwise expressly provided.

3 ‘‘(10) OMB.—The term ‘OMB’ means the Di4 rector of the Office of Management and Budget.

5 ‘‘IDENTIFICATION OF LIMITED TAX BENEFITS

6 ‘‘SEC. 1027. (a) STATEMENT BY JOINT TAX COM7 MITTEE.—The Joint Committee on Taxation shall review

8 any revenue or reconciliation bill or joint resolution which

9 includes any amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of

10 1986 that is being prepared for filing by a committee of

11 conference of the two Houses, and shall identify whether

12 such bill or joint resolution contains any limited tax bene13 fits. The Joint Committee on Taxation shall provide to

14 the committee of conference a statement identifying any

15 such limited tax benefits or declaring that the bill or joint

16 resolution does not contain any limited tax benefits. Any

17 such statement shall be made available to any Member of

18 Congress by the Joint Committee on Taxation imme19 diately upon request.

20 ‘‘(b) STATEMENT INCLUDED IN LEGISLATION.—(1)

21 Notwithstanding any other rule of the House of Rep22 resentatives or any rule or precedent of the Senate, any

23 revenue or reconciliation bill or joint resolution which in24 cludes any amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of

25 1986 reported by a committee of conference of the two

26 Houses may include, as a separate section of such bill or
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•HR 3136 IH

1 joint resolution, the information contained in the state2 ment of the Joint Committee on Taxation, but only in the

3 manner set forth in paragraph (2).

4 ‘‘(2) The separate section permitted under paragraph

5 (1) shall read as follows: ‘Section 1021(a)(3) of the Con6 gressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

7 shall llll apply to llllll.’, with the blank

8 spaces being filled in with —

9 ‘‘(A) in any case in which the Joint Committee

10 on Taxation identifies limited tax benefits in the

11 statement required under subsection (a), the word

12 ‘only’ in the first blank space and a list of all of the

13 specific provisions of the bill or joint resolution iden14 tified by the Joint Committee on Taxation in such

15 statement in the second blank space; or

16 ‘‘(B) in any case in which the Joint Committee

17 on Taxation declares that there are no limited tax

18 benefits in the statement required under subsection

19 (a), the word ‘not’ in the first blank space and the

20 phrase ‘any provision of this Act’ in the second

21 blank space.

22 ‘‘(c) PRESIDENT’S AUTHORITY.—If any revenue or

23 reconciliation bill or joint resolution is signed into law pur24 suant to Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the

25 United States—
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•HR 3136 IH

1 ‘‘(1) with a separate section described in sub2 section (b)(2), then the President may use the au3 thority granted in section 1021(a)(3) only to cancel

4 any limited tax benefit in that law, if any, identified

5 in such separate section; or

6 ‘‘(2) without a separate section described in

7 subsection (b)(2), then the President may use the

8 authority granted in section 1021(a)(3) to cancel

9 any limited tax benefit in that law that meets the

10 definition in section 1026.

11 ‘‘(d) CONGRESSIONAL IDENTIFICATIONS OF LIMITED

12 TAX BENEFITS.—There shall be no judicial review of the

13 congressional identification under subsections (a) and (b)

14 of a limited tax benefit in a conference report.’’.

15 SEC. 203. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

16 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—

17 (1) Any Member of Congress or any individual

18 adversely affected by part C of title X of the Con19 gressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of

20 1974 may bring an action, in the United States Dis21 trict Court for the District of Columbia, for declara22 tory judgment and injunctive relief on the ground

23 that any provision of this part violates the Constitu24 tion.
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1 (2) A copy of any complaint in an action

2 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly de3 livered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk

4 of the House of Representatives, and each House of

5 Congress shall have the right to intervene in such

6 action.

7 (3) Nothing in this section or in any other law

8 shall infringe upon the right of the House of Rep9 resentatives to intervene in an action brought under

10 paragraph (1) without the necessity of adopting a

11 resolution to authorize such intervention.

12 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

13 any other provision of law, any order of the United States

14 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued

15 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub16 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the

17 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal

18 shall be taken by a notice of appeal filed within 10 cal19 endar days after such order is entered; and the jurisdic20 tional statement shall be filed within 30 calendar days

21 after such order is entered. No stay of an order issued

22 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub23 section (a) shall be issued by a single Justice of the Su24 preme Court.
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1 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the

2 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia

3 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance

4 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex5 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub6 section (a).

7 SEC. 204. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

8 (a) SHORT TITLES.—Section 1(a) of the Congres9 sional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is

10 amended by—

11 (1) striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘title X’’ and insert12 ing a period;

13 (2) inserting ‘‘Parts A and B of’’ before ‘‘title

14 X’’; and

15 (3) inserting at the end the following new sen16 tence: ‘‘Part C of title X may be cited as the ‘Line

17 Item Veto Act of 1996’.’’.

18 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents set

19 forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Im20 poundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by adding at

21 the end the following:

‘‘PART C—LINE ITEM VETO

‘‘Sec. 1021. Line item veto authority.

‘‘Sec. 1022. Special messages.

‘‘Sec. 1023. Cancellation effective unless disapproved.

‘‘Sec. 1024. Deficit reduction.

‘‘Sec. 1025. Expedited congressional consideration of disapproval bills.

‘‘Sec. 1026. Definitions.

‘‘Sec. 1027. Identification of limited tax benefits.’’.
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1 (c) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section

2 904(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amend3 ed by striking ‘‘and 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘, 1017, 1025,

4 and 1027’’.

5 SEC. 205. EFFECTIVE DATES.

6 This Act and the amendments made by it shall take

7 effect and apply to measures enacted on the earlier of—

8 (1) the day after the enactment into law, pursu9 ant to Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the

10 United States, of an Act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide

11 for a seven-year plan for deficit reduction and

12 achieve a balanced Federal budget.’’; or

13 (2) January 1, 1997;

14 and shall have no force or effect on or after January 1,

15 2005.

16 TITLE III—SMALL BUSINESS

17 REGULATORY FAIRNESS

18 SEC. 301. SHORT TITLE.

19 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Small Business

20 Growth and Fairness Act of 1996’’.

21 Subtitle A—Regulatory Compliance

22 Simplification

23 SEC. 311. DEFINITIONS.

24 For purposes of this subtitle and subtitle B—
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1 (1) the terms ‘‘rule’’ and ‘‘small entity’’ have

2 the same meanings as in section 601 of title 5, Unit3 ed States Code;

4 (2) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the same meaning as

5 in section 551 of title 5, United States Code; and

6 (3) the term ‘‘small entity compliance guide’’

7 means a document designated as such by an agency.

8 SEC. 312. COMPLIANCE GUIDES.

9 (a) COMPLIANCE GUIDE.—For each rule or group of

10 related rules for which an agency is required to prepare

11 a final regulatory flexibility analysis under section 604 of

12 title 5, United States Code, the agency shall publish one

13 or more guides to assist small entities in complying with

14 the rule, and shall designate such publications as ‘‘small

15 entity compliance guides’’. The guides shall explain the ac16 tions a small entity is required to take to comply with a

17 rule or group of rules. The agency shall, in its sole discre18 tion, taking into account the subject matter of the rule

19 and the language of relevant statutes, ensure that the

20 guide is written using sufficiently plain language likely to

21 be understood by affected small entities. Agencies may

22 prepare separate guides covering groups or classes of simi23 larly affected small entities, and may cooperate with asso24 ciations of small entities to develop and distribute such

25 guides.
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•HR 3136 IH

1 (b) COMPREHENSIVE SOURCE OF INFORMATION.—

2 Agencies shall cooperate to make available to small enti3 ties through comprehensive sources of information, the

4 small entity compliance guides and all other available in5 formation on statutory and regulatory requirements af6 fecting small entities.

7 (c) LIMITATION ON JUDICIAL REVIEW.—An agency’s

8 small entity compliance guide shall not be subject to judi9 cial review, except that in any civil or administrative ac10 tion against a small entity for a violation occurring after

11 the effective date of this section, the content of the small

12 entity compliance guide may be considered as evidence of

13 the reasonableness or appropriateness of any proposed

14 fines, penalties or damages.

15 SEC. 313. INFORMAL SMALL ENTITY GUIDANCE.

16 (a) GENERAL.—Whenever appropriate in the interest

17 of administering statutes and regulations within the juris18 diction of an agency, it shall be the practice of the agency

19 to answer inquiries by small entities concerning informa20 tion on and advice about compliance with such statutes

21 and regulations, interpreting and applying the law to spe22 cific sets of facts supplied by the small entity. In any civil

23 or administrative action against a small entity, guidance

24 given by an agency applying the law to facts provided by

25 the small entity may be considered as evidence of the rea-
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1 sonableness or appropriateness of any proposed fines, pen2 alties or damages sought against such small entity.

3 (b) PROGRAM.—Each agency regulating the activities

4 of small entities shall establish a program for responding

5 to such inquiries no later than 1 year after enactment of

6 this section, utilizing existing functions and personnel of

7 the agency to the extent practicable.

8 SEC. 314. SERVICES OF SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

9 CENTERS.

10 Section 21(c)(3) of the Small Business Act (15

11 U.S.C. 648(c)(3)) is amended—

12 (1) in subparagraph (O), by striking ‘‘and’’ at

13 the end;

14 (2) in subparagraph (P), by striking the period

15 at the end and inserting a semicolon; and

16 (3) by inserting after subparagraph (P) the fol17 lowing new subparagraphs:

18 ‘‘(Q) providing assistance to small business

19 concerns regarding regulatory requirements;

20 and

21 ‘‘(R) developing informational publications,

22 establishing resource centers of reference mate23 rials, and distributing compliance guides pub24 lished under section 312(a) of the Small Busi25 ness Growth and Fairness Act of 1996.’’.
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1 SEC. 315. COOPERATION ON GUIDANCE.

2 Agencies may, to the extent resources are available

3 and where appropriate, in cooperation with the states, de4 velop guides that fully integrate requirements of both Fed5 eral and state regulations where regulations within an

6 agency’s area of interest at the Federal and state levels

7 impact small businesses. Where regulations vary among

8 the states, separate guides may be created for separate

9 states in cooperation with State agencies.

10 Subtitle B—Regulatory

11 Enforcement Reforms

12 SEC. 321. SMALL BUSINESS AND AGRICULTURE ENFORCE13 MENT OMBUDSMAN.

14 The Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is

15 amended—

16 (1) by redesignating section 30 as section 31;

17 and

18 (2) by inserting after section 29 the following

19 new section:

20 ‘‘SEC. 30. OVERSIGHT OF REGULATORY ENFORCEMENT.

21 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the

22 term—

23 ‘‘(1) ‘‘Board’’ means a Regional Small Business

24 Regulatory Fairness Board established under sub25 section (c); and
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1 ‘‘(2) ‘‘Ombudsman’’ means the Small Business

2 and Agriculture Regulatory Enforcement Ombuds3 man designated under subsection (b).

4 ‘‘(b) SBA ENFORCEMENT OMBUDSMAN.—

5 ‘‘(1) Not later than 180 days after the date of

6 enactment of this section, the Administration shall

7 designate a Small Business and Agriculture Regu8 latory Enforcement Ombudsman utilizing personnel

9 of the Small Business Administration to the extent

10 practicable. Other agencies shall assist the Ombuds11 man and take actions as necessary to ensure compli12 ance with the requirements of this section. Nothing

13 in this section is intended to replace or diminish the

14 activities of any Ombudsman or similar office in any

15 other agency.

16 ‘‘(2) The Ombudsman shall—

17 ‘‘(A) work with each agency with regu18 latory authority over small businesses to ensure

19 that small business concerns that receive or are

20 subject to an audit, on-site inspection, compli21 ance assistance effort, or other enforcement re22 lated communication or contact by agency per23 sonnel are provided with a means to comment

24 on the enforcement activity conducted by such

25 personnel;
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1 ‘‘(B) establish means to receive comments

2 from small business concerns regarding actions

3 by agency employees conducting compliance or

4 enforcement activities with respect to the small

5 business concern, means to refer comments to

6 the Inspector General of the affected agency in

7 the appropriate circumstances, and otherwise

8 seek to maintain the identity of the person and

9 small business concern making such comments

10 on a confidential basis to the same extent as

11 employee identities are protected under section

12 7 of the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5

13 U.S.C.App.);

14 ‘‘(C) based on substantiated comments re15 ceived from small business concerns and the

16 Boards, annually report to Congress and af17 fected agencies evaluating the enforcement ac18 tivities of agency personnel including a rating of

19 the responsiveness to small business of the var20 ious regional and program offices of each agen21 cy;

22 ‘‘(D) coordinate and report annually on the

23 activities, findings and recommendations of the

24 Boards to the Administration and to the heads

25 of affected agencies; and
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1 ‘‘(E) provide the affected agency with an

2 opportunity to comment on draft reports pre3 pared under subparagraph (C) and include a

4 section of the final report in which the affected

5 agency may make such comments as are not

6 addressed by the Ombudsman in revisions to

7 the draft.

8 ‘‘(c) REGIONAL SMALL BUSINESS REGULATORY

9 FAIRNESS BOARDS.—

10 ‘‘(1) Not later than 180 days after the date of

11 enactment of this section, the Administration shall

12 establish a Small Business Regulatory Fairness

13 Board in each regional office of the Small Business

14 Administration.

15 ‘‘(2) Each Board established under paragraph

16 (1) shall—

17 ‘‘(A) meet at least annually to advise the

18 Ombudsman on matters of concern to small

19 businesses relating to the enforcement activities

20 of agencies;

21 ‘‘(B) report to the Ombudsman on sub22 stantiated instances of excessive enforcement

23 actions of agencies against small business con24 cerns including any findings or recommenda-
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1 tions of the Board as to agency enforcement

2 policy or practice; and

3 ‘‘(C) prior to publication, provide comment

4 on the annual report of the Ombudsman pre5 pared under subsection (b).

6 ‘‘(3) Each Board shall consist of five members

7 appointed by the Administration, who are owners,

8 operators, or officers of small business concerns,

9 after receiving the recommendations of the chair and

10 ranking minority member of the Committees on

11 Small Business of the House of Representatives and

12 the Senate. Not more than three of the Board mem13 bers shall be of the same political party. No member

14 shall be an officer or employee of the Federal Gov15 ernment, in either the executive branch or the Con16 gress.

17 ‘‘(4) Members of the Board shall serve for

18 terms of three years or less.

19 ‘‘(5) The Administration shall select a chair

20 from among the members of the Board who shall

21 serve for not more than 2 years as chair.

22 ‘‘(6) A majority of the members of the Board

23 shall constitute a quorum for the conduct of busi24 ness, but a lesser number may hold hearings.

25 ‘‘(d) POWERS OF THE BOARDS.
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1 ‘‘(1) The Board may hold such hearings and

2 collect such information as appropriate for carrying

3 out this section.

4 ‘‘(2) The Board may use the United States

5 mails in the same manner and under the same con6 ditions as other departments and agencies of the

7 Federal Government.

8 ‘‘(3) The Board may accept donations of serv9 ices necessary to conduct its business, provided that

10 the donations and their sources are disclosed by the

11 Board.

12 ‘‘(4) Members of the Board shall serve without

13 compensation, provided that, members of the Board

14 shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem

15 in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for em16 ployees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57

17 of title 5, United States Code, while away from their

18 homes or regular places of business in the perform19 ance of services for the Board.’’.

20 SEC. 322. RIGHTS OF SMALL ENTITIES IN ENFORCEMENT

21 ACTIONS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each agency regulating the activi23 ties of small entities shall establish a policy or program

24 within 1 year of enactment of this section to provide for

25 the reduction, and under appropriate circumstances for
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1 the waiver, of civil penalties for violations of a statutory

2 or regulatory requirement by a small entity. Under appro3 priate circumstances, an agency may consider ability to

4 pay in determining penalty assessments on small entities.

5 (b) CONDITIONS AND EXCLUSIONS.—Subject to the

6 requirements or limitations of other statutes, policies or

7 programs established under this section shall contain con8 ditions or exclusions which may include, but shall not be

9 limited to—

10 (1) requiring the small entity to correct the vio11 lation within a reasonable correction period;

12 (2) limiting the applicability to violations dis13 covered by the small entity through participation in

14 a compliance assistance or audit program operated

15 or supported by the agency or a state;

16 (3) excluding small entities that have been sub17 ject to multiple enforcement actions by the agency;

18 (4) excluding violations involving willful or

19 criminal conduct;

20 (5) excluding violations that pose serious

21 health, safety or environmental threats; and

22 (6) requiring a good faith effort to comply with

23 the law.

24 (c) REPORTING.—Agencies shall report to Congress

25 no later than 2 years from the effective date on the scope
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1 of their program or policy, the number of enforcement ac2 tions against small entities that qualified or failed to qual3 ify for the program or policy, and the total amount of pen4 alty reductions and waivers.

5 Subtitle C—Strengthening

6 Regulatory Flexibility

7 SEC. 331. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

8 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 611 of title 5, United

9 States Code, is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘§ 611. Judicial review

11 ‘‘(a)(1) Not later than one year, notwithstanding any

12 other provision of law, after the effective date of a final

13 rule with respect to which an agency—

14 ‘‘(A) certified, pursuant to section 605(b), that

15 such rule would not have a significant economic im16 pact on a substantial number of small entities; or

17 ‘‘(B) prepared a final regulatory flexibility anal18 ysis pursuant to section 604,

19 an affected small entity may petition for the judicial re20 view of such certification or analysis in accordance with

21 the terms of this subsection. A court having jurisdiction

22 to review such rule for compliance with the provisions of

23 section 553 or under any other provision of law shall have

24 jurisdiction to review such certification or analysis. In the

25 case where an agency delays the issuance of a final regu-
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1 latory flexibility analysis pursuant to section 608(b), a pe2 tition for judicial review under this subsection shall be

3 filed not later than one year, notwithstanding any other

4 provision of law, after the date the analysis is made avail5 able to the public.

6 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘af7 fected small entity’ means a small entity that is or will

8 be adversely affected by the final rule.

9 ‘‘(3) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to

10 affect the authority of any court to stay the effective date

11 of any rule or provision thereof under any other provision

12 of law.

13 ‘‘(4)(A) In the case where the agency certified that

14 such rule would not have a significant economic impact

15 on a substantial number of small entities, the court may

16 order the agency to prepare a final regulatory flexibility

17 analysis pursuant to section 604 if the court determines,

18 on the basis of the rulemaking record, that the certifi19 cation was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion,

20 or otherwise not in accordance with law.

21 ‘‘(B) In the case where the agency prepared a final

22 regulatory flexibility analysis, the court may order the

23 agency to take corrective action consistent with the re24 quirements of section 604 if the court determines, on the

25 basis of the rulemaking record, that the final regulatory
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1 flexibility analysis was prepared by the agency without ob2 servance of procedure required by section 604.

3 ‘‘(5) If, by the end of the 90-day period beginning

4 on the date of the order of the court pursuant to para5 graph (4) (or such longer period as the court may pro6 vide), the agency fails, as appropriate—

7 ‘‘(A) to prepare the analysis required by section

8 604; or

9 ‘‘(B) to take corrective action consistent with

10 the requirements of section 604,

11 the court may stay the rule or grant such other relief as

12 it deems appropriate.

13 ‘‘(6) In making any determination or granting any

14 relief authorized by this subsection, the court shall take

15 due account of the rule of prejudicial error.

16 ‘‘(b) In an action for the judicial review of a rule,

17 any regulatory flexibility analysis for such rule (including

18 an analysis prepared or corrected pursuant to subsection

19 (a)(4)) shall constitute part of the whole record of agency

20 action in connection with such review.

21 ‘‘(c) Nothing in this section bars judicial review of

22 any other impact statement or similar analysis required

23 by any other law if judicial review of such statement or

24 analysis is otherwise provided by law.’’.
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

2 subsection (a) shall apply only to final agency rules issued

3 after the date of enactment of this Act.

4 SEC. 332. RULES COMMENTED ON BY SBA CHIEF COUNSEL

5 FOR ADVOCACY.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 612 of title 5, United

7 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the follow8 ing new subsection:

9 ‘‘(d) ACTION BY THE SBA CHIEF COUNSEL FOR AD10 VOCACY.—

11 ‘‘(1) TRANSMITTAL OF PROPOSED RULES AND

12 INITIAL REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS TO

13 SBA CHIEF COUNSEL FOR ADVOCACY.—On or before

14 the 30th day preceding the date of publication by an

15 agency of general notice of proposed rulemaking for

16 a rule, the agency shall transmit to the Chief Coun17 sel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administra18 tion—

19 ‘‘(A) a copy of the proposed rule; and

20 ‘‘(B)(i) a copy of the initial regulatory

21 flexibility analysis for the rule if required under

22 section 603; or

23 ‘‘(ii) a determination by the agency that an

24 initial regulatory flexibility analysis is not re-
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1 quired for the proposed rule under section 603

2 and an explanation for the determination.

3 ‘‘(2) STATEMENT OF EFFECT.—On or before

4 the 15th day following receipt of a proposed rule and

5 initial regulatory flexibility analysis from an agency

6 under paragraph (1), the Chief Counsel for Advo7 cacy may transmit to the agency a written statement

8 of the effect of the proposed rule on small entities.

9 ‘‘(3) RESPONSE.—If the Chief Counsel for Ad10 vocacy transmits to an agency a statement of effect

11 on a proposed rule in accordance with paragraph

12 (2), the agency shall publish the statement, together

13 with the response of the agency to the statement, in

14 the Federal Register at the time of publication of

15 general notice of proposed rulemaking for the rule.

16 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE.—Any proposed rules is17 sued by an appropriate Federal banking agency (as

18 that term is defined in section 3(q) of the Federal

19 Deposit Insurance Act (12 U.S.C. 1813(q)), the Na20 tional Credit Union Administration, or the Office of

21 Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, in connection

22 with the implementation of monetary policy or to en23 sure the safety and soundness of federally insured

24 depository institutions, any affiliate of such an insti25 tution, credit unions, or government sponsored hous-
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1 ing enterprises or to protect the Federal deposit in2 surance funds shall not be subject to the require3 ments of this subsection.’’.

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 603(a) of

5 title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘in

6 accordance with section 612(d)’’ before the period at the

7 end of the last sentence.

8 SEC. 333. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING SBA CHIEF

9 COUNSEL FOR ADVOCACY.

10 It is the sense of Congress that the Chief Counsel

11 for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration should

12 be permitted to appear as amicus curiae in any action or

13 case brought in a court of the United States for the pur14 pose of reviewing a rule.

15 Subtitle D—Congressional Review

16 SEC. 341. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW OF AGENCY RULE17 MAKING.

18 Title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting

19 immediately after chapter 7 the following new chapter:

20 ‘‘CHAPTER 8—CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW

21 OF AGENCY RULEMAKING

‘‘Sec.

‘‘801. Congressional review.

‘‘802. Congressional disapproval procedure.

‘‘803. Special rule on statutory, regulatory, and judicial deadlines.

‘‘804. Definitions.

‘‘805. Judicial review.

‘‘806. Applicability; severability.

‘‘807. Exemption for monetary policy.

‘‘808. Effective date of certain rules.
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1 ‘‘§ 801. Congressional review

2 ‘‘(a)(1)(A) Before a rule can take effect as a final

3 rule, the Federal agency promulgating such rule shall sub4 mit to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller

5 General a report containing—

6 ‘‘(i) a copy of the rule;

7 ‘‘(ii) a concise general statement relating to the

8 rule, including whether it is a major rule; and

9 ‘‘(iii) the proposed effective date of the rule.

10 ‘‘(B) The Federal agency promulgating the rule shall

11 make available to the Comptroller General, and, upon re12 quest, to each House of Congress—

13 ‘‘(i) a complete copy of the cost-benefit analysis

14 of the rule, if any;

15 ‘‘(ii) the agency’s actions relevant to sections

16 603, 604, 605, 607, and 609;

17 ‘‘(iii) the agency’s actions relevant to sections

18 202, 203, 204, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates

19 Reform Act of 1995; and

20 ‘‘(iv) any other relevant information or require21 ments under any other Act and any relevant Execu22 tive orders.

23 ‘‘(C) Upon receipt, each House shall provide copies

24 to the Chairman and Ranking Member of each standing

25 committee with jurisdiction under the rules of the House
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1 of Representatives or the Senate to report a bill to amend

2 the provision of law under which the rule is issued.

3 ‘‘(2)(A) The Comptroller General shall provide a re4 port on each major rule to the committees of jurisdiction

5 in each House of the Congress by the end of 15 calendar

6 days after the submission or publication date as provided

7 in section 802(b)(2). The report of the Comptroller Gen8 eral shall include an assessment of the agency’s compli9 ance with procedural steps required by paragraph (1)(B).

10 ‘‘(B) Federal agencies shall cooperate with the Comp11 troller General by providing information relevant to the

12 Comptroller General’s report under subparagraph (A).

13 ‘‘(3) A major rule relating to a report submitted

14 under paragraph (1) shall take effect as a final rule, the

15 latest of—

16 ‘‘(A) the later of the date occurring 60 days

17 (excluding days either House of Congress is ad18 journed for more than 3 days during a session of

19 Congress) after the date on which—

20 ‘‘(i) the Congress receives the report sub21 mitted under paragraph (1); or

22 ‘‘(ii) the rule is published in the Federal

23 Register;

24 ‘‘(B) if the Congress passes a joint resolution of

25 disapproval described under section 802 relating to
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1 the rule, and the President signs a veto of such reso2 lution, the earlier date—

3 ‘‘(i) on which either House of Congress

4 votes and fails to override the veto of the Presi5 dent; or

6 ‘‘(ii) occurring 30 session days after the

7 date on which the Congress received the veto

8 and objections of the President; or

9 ‘‘(C) the date the rule would have otherwise

10 taken effect, if not for this section (unless a joint

11 resolution of disapproval under section 802 is en12 acted).

13 ‘‘(4) Except for a major rule, a rule shall take effect

14 as otherwise provided by law after submission to Congress

15 under paragraph (1).

16 ‘‘(5) Notwithstanding paragraph (3), the effective

17 date of a rule shall not be delayed by operation of this

18 chapter beyond the date on which either House of Con19 gress votes to reject a joint resolution of disapproval under

20 section 802.

21 ‘‘(b)(1) A rule or proposed rule shall not take effect

22 (or continue) as a final rule, if the Congress enacts a joint

23 resolution of disapproval described under section 802.

24 ‘‘(2) A rule or proposed rule that does not take effect

25 (or does not continue) under paragraph (1) may not be
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1 reissued in substantially the same form, and a new rule

2 that is substantially the same as such a rule or proposed

3 rule may not be issued, unless the reissued or new rule

4 is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date

5 of the joint resolution disapproving the original rule.

6 ‘‘(c)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this

7 section (except subject to paragraph (3)), a rule that

8 would not take effect by reason of this chapter may take

9 effect, if the President makes a determination under para10 graph (2) and submits written notice of such determina11 tion to the Congress.

12 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) applies to a determination made

13 by the President by Executive order that the rule should

14 take effect because such rule is—

15 ‘‘(A) necessary because of an imminent threat

16 to health or safety or other emergency;

17 ‘‘(B) necessary for the enforcement of criminal

18 laws;

19 ‘‘(C) necessary for national security; or

20 ‘‘(D) issued pursuant to a statute implementing

21 an international trade agreement.

22 ‘‘(3) An exercise by the President of the authority

23 under this subsection shall have no effect on the proce24 dures under section 802 or the effect of a joint resolution

25 of disapproval under this section.
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1 ‘‘(d)(1) In addition to the opportunity for review oth2 erwise provided under this chapter, in the case of any rule

3 that is published in the Federal Register (as a rule that

4 shall take effect as a final rule) during the period begin5 ning on the date occurring 60 days before the date the

6 Congress adjourns a session of Congress through the date

7 on which the same or succeeding Congress first convenes

8 its next session, section 802 shall apply to such rule in

9 the succeeding session of Congress.

10 ‘‘(2)(A) In applying section 802 for purposes of such

11 additional review, a rule described under paragraph (1)

12 shall be treated as though—

13 ‘‘(i) such rule were published in the Federal

14 Register (as a rule that shall take effect as a final

15 rule) on the 15th session day after the succeeding

16 Congress first convenes; and

17 ‘‘(ii) a report on such rule were submitted to

18 Congress under subsection (a)(1) on such date.

19 ‘‘(B) Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed

20 to affect the requirement under subsection (a)(1) that a

21 report shall be submitted to Congress before a final rule

22 can take effect.

23 ‘‘(3) A rule described under paragraph (1) shall take

24 effect as a final rule as otherwise provided by law (includ25 ing other subsections of this section).
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1 ‘‘(e)(1) Section 802 shall apply in accordance with

2 its terms to any major rule that was published in the Fed3 eral Register (as a rule that shall take effect as a final

4 rule) in the period beginning on November 20, 1994,

5 through the date of enactment of this title.

6 ‘‘(2) In applying section 802 for purposes of Congres7 sional review, a rule described under paragraph (1) shall

8 be treated as though—

9 ‘‘(A) such rule were published in the Federal

10 Register (as a rule that shall take effect as a final

11 rule) on the date of enactment of this title; and

12 ‘‘(B) a report on such rule were submitted to

13 Congress under subsection (a)(1) on such date.

14 ‘‘(3) The effectiveness of a rule described under para15 graph (1) shall be as otherwise provided by law, unless

16 the rule is made of no force or effect under section 802.

17 ‘‘(4) The Comptroller General shall not be required

18 to report on a rule described in paragraph (1) unless so

19 requested by a committee of jurisdiction of either House

20 of Congress.

21 ‘‘(f) Any rule that takes effect and later is made of

22 no force or effect by enactment of a joint resolution under

23 section 802 shall be treated as though such rule had never

24 taken effect.
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1 ‘‘(g) If the Congress does not enact a joint resolution

2 of disapproval under section 802, no court or agency may

3 infer any intent of the Congress from any action or inac4 tion of the Congress with regard to such rule, related stat5 ute, or joint resolution of disapproval.

6 ‘‘§ 802. Congressional disapproval procedure

7 ‘‘(a) JOINT RESOLUTION DEFINED.—For purposes

8 of this section, the term ‘joint resolution’ means only—

9 ‘‘(1) a joint resolution introduced in the period

10 beginning on the date on which the report referred

11 to in section 801(a) is received by Congress and end12 ing 60 days thereafter (excluding days either House

13 of Congress is adjourned for more than 3 days dur14 ing a session of Congress), the matter after the re15 solving clause of which is as follows: ‘That Congress

16 disapproves the rule submitted by the ll relating

17 to ll, and such rule shall have no force or effect.’

18 (The blank spaces being appropriately filled in); or

19 ‘‘(2) a joint resolution the matter after the re20 solving clause of which is as follows: ‘That the Con21 gress disapproves the proposed rule published by the

22 llll relating to lll, and such proposed

23 rule shall not be issued or take effect as a final

24 rule.’ (the blank spaces being appropriately filled in)
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1 ‘‘(b)(1) A joint resolution described in subsection (a)

2 shall be referred to the committees in each House of Con3 gress with jurisdiction.

4 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this section, the term ‘submis5 sion or publication date’ means—

6 ‘‘(A) in the case of a joint resolution described

7 in subsection (a)(1) the later of the date on which—

8 ‘‘(i) the Congress receives the report sub9 mitted under section 801(a)(1); or

10 ‘‘(ii) the rule is published in the Federal

11 Register; or

12 ‘‘(B) in the case of a joint resolution described

13 in subsection (a)(2), the date of introduction of the

14 joint resolution.

15 ‘‘(c) In the Senate, if the committee to which is re16 ferred a joint resolution described in subsection (a) has

17 not reported such joint resolution (or an identical joint

18 resolution) at the end of 20 calendar days after the sub19 mission or publication date defined under subsection

20 (b)(2), such committee may be discharged from further

21 consideration of such joint resolution upon a petition sup22 ported in writing by 30 Members of the Senate, and such

23 joint resolution shall be placed on the appropriate cal24 endar.
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1 ‘‘(d)(1) In the Senate, when the committee to which

2 a joint resolution is referred has reported, or when a com3 mittee is discharged (under subsection (c)) from further

4 consideration of, a joint resolution described in subsection

5 (a), it is at any time thereafter in order (even though a

6 previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to)

7 for a motion to proceed to the consideration of the joint

8 resolution, and all points of order against the joint resolu9 tion (and against consideration of the joint resolution) are

10 waived. The motion is not subject to amendment, or to

11 a motion to postpone, or to a motion to proceed to the

12 consideration of other business. A motion to reconsider the

13 vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to shall

14 not be in order. If a motion to proceed to the consideration

15 of the joint resolution is agreed to, the joint resolution

16 shall remain the unfinished business of the Senate until

17 disposed of.

18 ‘‘(2) In the Senate, debate on the joint resolution,

19 and on all debatable motions and appeals in connection

20 therewith, shall be limited to not more than 10 hours,

21 which shall be divided equally between those favoring and

22 those opposing the joint resolution. A motion further to

23 limit debate is in order and not debatable. An amendment

24 to, or a motion to postpone, or a motion to proceed to
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1 the consideration of other business, or a motion to recom2 mit the joint resolution is not in order.

3 ‘‘(3) In the Senate, immediately following the conclu4 sion of the debate on a joint resolution described in sub5 section (a), and a single quorum call at the conclusion of

6 the debate if requested in accordance with the rules of the

7 Senate, the vote on final passage of the joint resolution

8 shall occur.

9 ‘‘(4) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating

10 to the application of the rules of the Senate to the proce11 dure relating to a joint resolution described in subsection

12 (a) shall be decided without debate.

13 ‘‘(e) If, before the passage by one House of a joint

14 resolution of that House described in subsection (a), that

15 House receives from the other House a joint resolution

16 described in subsection (a), then the following procedures

17 shall apply:

18 ‘‘(1) The joint resolution of the other House

19 shall not be referred to a committee.

20 ‘‘(2) With respect to a joint resolution described

21 in subsection (a) of the House receiving the joint

22 resolution—

23 ‘‘(A) the procedure in that House shall be

24 the same as if no joint resolution had been re25 ceived from the other House; but
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1 ‘‘(B) the vote on final passage shall be on

2 the joint resolution of the other House.

3 ‘‘(f) This section is enacted by Congress—

4 ‘‘(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

5 the Senate and House of Representatives, respec6 tively, and as such it is deemed a part of the rules

7 of each House, respectively, but applicable only with

8 respect to the procedure to be followed in that

9 House in the case of a joint resolution described in

10 subsection (a), and it supersedes other rules only to

11 the extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and

12 ‘‘(2) with full recognition of the constitutional

13 right of either House to change the rules (so far as

14 relating to the procedure of that House) at any time,

15 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in

16 the case of any other rule of that House.

17 ‘‘§ 803. Special rule on statutory, regulatory, and judi18 cial deadlines

19 ‘‘(a) In the case of any deadline for, relating to, or

20 involving any rule which does not take effect (or the effec21 tiveness of which is terminated) because of enactment of

22 a joint resolution under section 802, that deadline is ex23 tended until the date 1 year after the date of the joint

24 resolution. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed
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1 to affect a deadline merely by reason of the postponement

2 of a rule’s effective date under section 801(a).

3 ‘‘(b) The term ‘deadline’ means any date certain for

4 fulfilling any obligation or exercising any authority estab5 lished by or under any Federal statute or regulation, or

6 by or under any court order implementing any Federal

7 statute or regulation.

8 ‘‘§ 804. Definitions

9 ‘‘(a) For purposes of this chapter—

10 ‘‘(1) The term ‘Federal agency’ means any

11 agency as that term is defined in section 551(1) (re12 lating to administrative procedure).

13 ‘‘(2) The term ‘‘major rule’’ means any rule

14 subject to section 553(c) that has resulted in or is

15 likely to result in—

16 ‘‘(A) an annual effect on the economy of

17 $100,000,000 or more;

18 ‘‘(B) a major increase in costs or prices for

19 consumers, individual industries, Federal,

20 State, or local government agencies, or geo21 graphic regions; or

22 ‘‘(C) significant adverse effects on competi23 tion, employment, investment, productivity, in24 novation, or on the ability of United States-
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1 based enterprises to compete with foreign-based

2 enterprises in domestic and export markets.

3 The term does not include any rule promulgated

4 under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the

5 amendments made by that Act.

6 ‘‘(3) The term ‘final rule’ means any final rule

7 or interim final rule.

8 ‘‘(b) As used in subsection (a)(3), the term ‘rule’ has

9 the meaning given such term in section 551, except that

10 such term does not include any rule of particular applica11 bility including a rule that approves or prescribes for the

12 future rates, wages, prices, services, or allowances there13 for, corporate or financial structures, reorganizations,

14 mergers, or acquisitions thereof, or accounting practices

15 or disclosures bearing on any of the foregoing or any rule

16 of agency organization, personnel, procedure, practice or

17 any routine matter.

18 ‘‘§ 805. Judicial review

19 ‘‘No determination, finding, action, or omission under

20 this chapter shall be subject to judicial review.

21 ‘‘§ 806. Applicability; severability

22 ‘‘(a) This chapter shall apply notwithstanding any

23 other provision of law.

24 ‘‘(b) If any provision of this chapter or the applica25 tion of any provision of this chapter to any person or cir-
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1 cumstance, is held invalid, the application of such provi2 sion to other persons or circumstances, and the remainder

3 of this chapter, shall not be affected thereby.

4 ‘‘§ 807. Exemption for monetary policy

5 ‘‘Nothing in this chapter shall apply to rules that con6 cern monetary policy proposed or implemented by the

7 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or the

8 Federal Open Market Committee.

9 ‘‘§ 808. Effective date of certain rules

10 ‘‘Notwithstanding section 801, any rule that estab11 lishes, modifies, opens, closes, or conducts a regulatory

12 program for a commercial, recreational, or subsistence ac13 tivity related to hunting, fishing, or camping may take ef14 fect at such time as the Federal agency promulgating the

15 rule determines.’’.

16 SEC. 342. EFFECTIVE DATE.

17 The amendment made by section 341 shall take effect

18 on the date of enactment of this Act.

19 SEC. 343. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.

20 The table of chapters for part I of title 5, United

21 States Code, is amended by inserting immediately after

22 the item relating to chapter 7 the following:

‘‘8. Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking ........... 801’’.
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1 TITLE IV—PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT

2 SEC. 401. INCREASE IN PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT.

3 Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United

4 States Code, is amended by striking the dollar limitation

5 contained in such subsection and inserting

6 ‘‘$5,500,000,000,000’’.

Æ