IV

107TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. RES. 486

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a

discretionary spending ledger and a mandatory spending ledger.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JULY 15, 2002

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. OTTER, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. RYUN of

Kansas, and Mr. POMBO) submitted the following resolution; which was

referred to the Committee on Rules

RESOLUTION

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to

establish a discretionary spending ledger and a mandatory spending ledger.

1 Resolved, The Rules of the House of Representatives

2 are amended by redesignating rule XXVII as rule XXIX

3 and by inserting after rule XXVI the following new rules:

4 ‘‘RULE XXVII

5 ‘‘DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LEDGER.

6 ‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg7 et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Discre8 tionary Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided

9 into entries corresponding to the subcommittees of the
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1 Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist

2 of the ‘Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’.

3 ‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred4 ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative

5 amount shall be made.

6 ‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to an

7 appropriation bill to reduce new budget authority in any

8 account, that Member may state the portion of such reduc9 tion that shall be—

10 ‘‘(1) credited to the Deficit Reduction Safe11 guard Balance; or

12 ‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in new budget

13 authority in any other account;

14 ‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable

15 section 302(b) suballocation.

16 If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction

17 in new budget authority resulting from the amendment

18 shall be credited to the Deficit Reduction Safeguard Bal19 ance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed to.

20 ‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the

21 chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the

22 engrossment of any appropriation bill by the House of

23 Representatives, credit to the entry balance amounts of

24 new budget authority and outlays equal to the net

25 amounts of reductions in new budget authority and in out-
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1 lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House

2 to that bill.

3 ‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions

4 in new budget authority and in outlays resulting from

5 amendments agreed to by the House to an appropriation

6 bill, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall

7 only count those portions of such amendments agreed to

8 that were so designated by the Members offering such

9 amendments as amounts to be credited to the Deficit Re10 duction Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last

11 sentence of clause 1.

12 ‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget

13 shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted

14 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in

15 the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem16 bers during consideration of any appropriation bill by the

17 House.

18 ‘‘4. (a) For purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of

19 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross20 ment of any appropriation bill by the House, the amount

21 of budget authority and outlays calculated pursuant to

22 clause 2(b) shall be counted against the 302(a) allocation

23 provided to the Committee on Appropriations as if the

24 amount calculated pursuant to such clause was included

25 in the bill just engrossed.
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1 ‘‘(b) For purposes of enforcing section 302(b) of the

2 Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engrossment

3 of any appropriation bill by the House, the 302(b) alloca4 tion provided to the subcommittee for the bill just en5 grossed shall be deemed to have been reduced by the

6 amount of budget authority and outlays calculated, pursu7 ant to clause 2(b).

8 ‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’

9 means any general or special appropriation bill, and any

10 bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

11 continuing appropriations through the end of a fiscal year.

12 ‘‘6. For purposes of enforcing this rule during the

13 second session of this Congress and pending the adoption

14 of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year

15 2003, the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 353,

16 as passed the House, shall have force and effect in the

17 House as though Congress has adopted such concurrent

18 resolution.

19 ‘‘MANDATORY SPENDING LEDGER.

20 ‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg21 et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Mandatory

22 Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided into entries

23 corresponding to the House committees that received allo24 cations under section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget

25 Act of 1974 in the most recently adopted concurrent reso-
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1 lution on the budget, except that it shall not include the

2 Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist

3 of the ‘First Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’

4 and the ‘Five Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’.

5 ‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred6 ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative

7 amount shall be made.

8 ‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to a

9 bill that reduces the amount of mandatory budget author10 ity provided either under current law or proposed to be

11 provided by the bill under consideration, that Member may

12 state the portion of such reduction achieved in the first

13 year covered by the most recently adopted concurrent reso14 lution on the budget and in addition the portion of such

15 reduction achieved in the first five years covered by the

16 most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget

17 that shall be—

18 ‘‘(1) credited to the First Year Deficit Reduc19 tion Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit

20 Reduction Safeguard Balance; or

21 ‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in other new

22 budget authority;

23 ‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable

24 section 302(a) allocation.
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1 If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction

2 in new budget authority resulting from the amendment

3 shall be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction Safe4 guard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction Safe5 guard Balance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed

6 to.

7 ‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the

8 chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the

9 engrossment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill,

10 by the House, credit to the applicable entry balances

11 amounts of new budget authority and outlays equal to the

12 net amounts of reductions in budget authority and in out13 lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House

14 to that bill.

15 ‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions

16 in budget authority and in outlays resulting from amend17 ments agreed to by the House to a bill, the chairman of

18 the Committee on the Budget shall only count those por19 tions of such amendments agreed to that were so des20 ignated by the Members offering such amendments as

21 amounts to be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction

22 Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction

23 Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last sentence

24 of clause 1.
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1 ‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget

2 shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted

3 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in

4 the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem5 bers during consideration of any bill by the House.

6 ‘‘4. For the purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of

7 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross8 ment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, by the

9 House, the amount of budget authority and outlays cal10 culated pursuant to paragraph 2(b) shall be counted

11 against the 302(a) allocation provided to the applicable

12 committee or committees which reported the bill as if the

13 amount calculated pursuant to clause 2(b) was included

14 in the bill just engrossed.

15 ‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’

16 means any general or special appropriation bill, and any

17 bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

18 continuing appropriations through the end of a fiscal year.

19 ‘‘6. For purposes of enforcing this rule during the

20 second session of this Congress and pending the adoption

21 of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year

22 2003, the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 353,

23 as passed the House, shall have force and effect in the
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1 House as though Congress has adopted such concurrent

2 resolution.’’.

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