II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1985 

To allow a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to propose and have 

an up or down vote on a balanced deficit reduction bill pursuant to 

this Act, such as proposed by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform report, reducing the deficit by a goal of 

$4,000,000,000,000 over 10 years. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 13, 2011 

Mr. LIEBERMAN (for himself, Mr. CORKER, Mr. ENZI, Mr. KIRK, and Ms. 

MURKOWSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To allow a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to 

propose and have an up or down vote on a balanced 

deficit reduction bill pursuant to this Act, such as proposed by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform report, reducing the deficit by a goal 

of $4,000,000,000,000 over 10 years. 

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 ‘‘Deficit Reduction Im5 plementation Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 

2 In this Act, the term ‘‘qualified bill’’ means a bill in 

3 the House of Representatives or Senate that— 

4 (1)(A) has not fewer than 6 sponsors who cau5 cus with Democrats and 6 sponsors who caucus with 

6 Republicans in the Senate; or 

7 (B) has not fewer than 15 sponsors who caucus 

8 with Republicans and 15 sponsors who caucus with 

9 Democrats in the House; 

10 (2) states as it purpose to reduce the deficit by 

11 a goal of $4,000,000,000,000, but at least 

12 $1,500,000,000,000, over the period of fiscal years 

13 2012 through 2021; and 

14 (3) specifies that the qualified bill is being in15 troduced pursuant to this Act. 

16 SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF BIPARTISAN DEFICIT REDUC17 TION BILLS. 

18 (a) INTRODUCTION DEADLINE.—Not later than Feb19 ruary 29, 2012, any Senator or Member of the House of 

20 Representatives may introduce a qualified bill that shall 

21 be considered as provided under subsection (c). 

22 (b) REFERRAL OF A QUALIFIED BILL.— 

23 (1) SENATE.—In the Senate, a qualified bill in24 troduced as provided by subsection (a) shall imme25 diately be referred to the appropriate committee or 

26 committees of jurisdiction for review and reporting. 


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1 (2) HOUSE.—In the House, a qualified bill in2 troduced as provided by subsection (a) shall imme3 diately be referred to the appropriate committee or 

4 the committees of jurisdiction for review and report5 ing. 

6 (3) CBO.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 48 

8 hours after referral to committees, the bill shall 

9 be scored by CBO based on— 

10 (i) current scoring guidelines; 

11 (ii) a continuation of policies in effect 

12 at the time the bill was introduced; and 

13 (iii) the National Commission on Fis14 cal Responsibility and Reform plausible 

15 baseline policy assumptions (referred to in 

16 this Act as the ‘‘plausible baseline’’). 

17 (B) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—For each bill, 

18 all 3 scores referred to in subparagraph (A) 

19 shall be printed in the Congressional Record 

20 and shall be available online. 

21 (c) PROCEEDING TO THE QUALIFIED BILL.— 

22 (1) SENATE.—Not later than March 9, 2012, 

23 and notwithstanding rule XXII of the Standing 

24 Rules of the Senate, it shall be in order for any Sen25 ator to move to proceed to the consideration of a 


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1 qualified bill (which shall have been discharged from 

2 committee if not reported under subsection (b)) 

3 which shall be considered as provided for a joint 

4 committee bill under subsections (c) and (d) of sec5 tion 402 of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (2 

6 U.S.C. 900 note) for the Senate, except that the 

7 date for reporting under subsection (c)(1) of such 

8 section and the date for the vote on passage under 

9 subsection (c)(5) of such section shall not apply to 

10 the qualified bill. 

11 (2) HOUSE.—Not later than March 9, 2012, it 

12 shall be in order for any Member of the House of 

13 Representatives to move to proceed to the consider14 ation of a qualified bill (which shall have been dis15 charged from committee if not reported under sub16 section (b)) which shall be considered as provided for 

17 a joint committee bill under subsections (b) and (d) 

18 of section 402 of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (2 

19 U.S.C. 900 note) for the House of Representatives, 

20 except that the date for reporting under subsection 

21 (b)(1) of such section and the date for the vote on 

22 passage under subsection (b)(4) of such section shall 

23 not apply to the qualified bill. 

24 (3) CBO.—The House or the Senate may not 

25 proceed to a qualified bill under this subsection unVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:19 Dec 18, 2011 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1985.IS S1985

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1 less the scores required by subsection (b)(3) have 

2 been available in the Congressional Record and on3 line for at least 72 hours. 

4 (d) OTHER MATTERS.— 

5 (1) CONSIDERATION BY THE OTHER HOUSE.— 

6 Section 402(e) of the Budget Control Act of 2011 

7 (2 U.S.C. 900 note) shall apply to a qualified bill 

8 passed by the other House. 

9 (2) MULTIPLE QUALIFIED BILLS.—If there is 

10 more than 1 qualifying bill, the qualifying bill will be 

11 the bill that achieves the most deficit reduction. If 

12 such bill fails to be enacted, succeeding bills may be 

13 qualifying bills and shall be considered in the order 

14 of the amount of deficit reduction achieved. 

15 (e) VETOES.—If the President vetoes a qualified bill, 

16 debate on a veto message in the Senate or the House shall 

17 be one hour, equally divided between the majority and mi18 nority leader, or their designees. 

19 (f) LOSS OF PRIVILEGE.—This section shall cease to 

20 apply to a qualified bill if the qualified bill does not pass 

21 both Houses of Congress not later than March 30, 2012. 

22 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF OTHER PROVISIONS OF BUDGET 

23 CONTROL ACT. 

24 (a) DEBT LIMIT INCREASE.—A qualified bill that is 

25 enacted, and that achieves at least $1,500,000,000,000 in 


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1 deficit reduction as certified by CBO either as measured 

2 by current scoring guidelines, against a continuation of 

3 policies in effect at the time the bill was introduced, or 

4 the plausible baseline shall be deemed to be a joint com5 mittee bill for purposes of section 3101A(a)(2)(A)(iii) of 

6 title 31, United States Code. 

7 (b) SEQUESTRATION.—A qualified bill that is en8 acted, and that achieves at least $1,500,000,000,000 in 

9 deficit reduction as certified by CBO either as measured 

10 by current scoring guidelines, against a continuation of 

11 policies in effect at the time the bill was introduced, or 

12 the plausible baseline shall cancel the discretionary spend13 ing limits listed under section 251A of the Balanced Budg14 et and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 

15 901a). 

16 SEC. 5. RULEMAKING. 

17 This Act is enacted by Congress— 

18 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

19 the House of Representatives and the Senate, re20 spectively, and as such they shall be considered as 

21 part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of 

22 that House to which they specifically apply, and 

23 such rules shall supersede other rules only to the ex24 tent that they are inconsistent therewith; and 


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1 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

2 right of either House to change such rules (so far 

3 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same 

4 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of 

5 any other rule of such House. 

Æ 


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