II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2086 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

to provide for a legislative line-item veto to expedite consideration of 

rescissions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 9, 2012 

Mrs. MCCASKILL introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on the Budget 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to provide for a legislative line-item 

veto to expedite consideration of rescissions, and for 

other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Expedited Legislative 

5 Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act of 2012’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED 

2 RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET 

3 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS. 

4 Title X of the Congressional Budget and Impound5 ment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) is amend6 ed by striking all of part B (except for sections 1015, 

7 1016, and 1013, which are transferred and redesignated 

8 as sections 1017, 1018, and 1019, respectively) and part 

9 C and by inserting after part A the following: 

10 ‘‘PART B—CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PRO11 POSED RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET

12 AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

13 ‘‘CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCIS14 SIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND

15 OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS

16 ‘‘SEC. 1011. (a) PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.—Within 

17 10 days after the enactment of any bill or joint resolution 

18 providing any funding, the President may propose, in the 

19 manner provided in subsection (b), the rescission of all or 

20 part of any dollar amount of such funding. 

21 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL MESSAGE.—If the President proposes 

22 that Congress rescind funding, the President shall trans23 mit a special message to Congress containing the informa24 tion specified in this subsection. 

25 ‘‘(1) PACKAGING OF REQUESTED RESCIS26 SIONS.—For each piece of legislation that provides 


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1 funding, the President shall request at most 2 pack2 ages of rescissions and the rescissions in each pack3 age shall apply only to funding contained in that leg4 islation. The President shall not include the same re5 scission in both packages. 

6 ‘‘(2) TRANSMITTAL.—The President shall de7 liver each message requesting a package of rescis8 sions to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is 

9 not in session and to the Clerk of the House of Rep10 resentatives if the House is not in session. The 

11 President shall make a copy of the transmittal mes12 sage publicly available, and shall publish in the Fed13 eral Register a notice of the message and informa14 tion on how it can be obtained. 

15 ‘‘(3) CONTENTS OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—For 

16 each request to rescind funding under this part, the 

17 transmittal message shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) specify— 

19 ‘‘(i) the dollar amount to be re20 scinded; 

21 ‘‘(ii) the agency, bureau, and account 

22 from which the rescission shall occur; 

23 ‘‘(iii) the program, project, or activity 

24 within the account (if applicable) from 

25 which the rescission shall occur; 


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1 ‘‘(iv) the amount of funding, if any, 

2 that would remain for the account, pro3 gram, project, or activity if the rescission 

4 request is enacted; and 

5 ‘‘(v) the reasons the President re6 quests the rescission; and 

7 ‘‘(B) designate each separate rescission re8 quest by number; and include proposed legisla9 tive text of an approval bill to accomplish the 

10 requested rescissions which may not include— 

11 ‘‘(i) any changes in existing law, other 

12 than the rescission of funding; or 

13 ‘‘(ii) any supplemental appropriations, 

14 transfers, or reprogrammings. 

15 ‘‘GRANTS OF AND LIMITATIONS ON PRESIDENTIAL

16 AUTHORITY

17 ‘‘SEC. 1012. (a) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO

18 WITHHOLD FUNDING.—Notwithstanding any other provi19 sion of law and if the President proposes a rescission of 

20 funding under this part, the President may, subject to the 

21 time limits provided in subsection (c), temporarily with22 hold that funding from obligation. 

23 ‘‘(b) WITHHOLDING AVAILABLE ONLY ONCE PER

24 PROPOSED RESCISSION.—Except as provided in section 

25 1019, the President may not invoke the authority to withVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:22 Feb 10, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086

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1 hold funding granted by subsection (a) for any other pur2 pose. 

3 ‘‘(c) TIME LIMITS.—The President shall make avail4 able for obligation any funding withheld under subsection 

5 (a) on the earliest of— 

6 ‘‘(1) the day on which the President determines 

7 that the continued withholding or reduction no 

8 longer advances the purpose of legislative consider9 ation of the approval bill; 

10 ‘‘(2) the 60th day following the date of enact11 ment of the appropriations measure to which the ap12 proval bill relates; or 

13 ‘‘(3) the last day that the President determines 

14 the obligation of the funding in question can no 

15 longer be fully accomplished in a prudent manner 

16 before its expiration. 

17 ‘‘(d) DEFICIT REDUCTION.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Funds that are rescinded 

19 under this part shall be dedicated only to reducing 

20 the deficit or increasing the surplus. 

21 ‘‘(2) ADJUSTMENT OF LEVELS IN THE CONCUR22 RENT RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET.—Not later 

23 than 3 days of session after the date of enactment 

24 of an approval bill as provided under this part, the 

25 chairs of the Committees on the Budget of the SenVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:21 Feb 10, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2086.IS S2086

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1 ate and the House of Representatives shall revise al2 locations and aggregates and other appropriate lev3 els under the appropriate concurrent resolution on 

4 the budget to reflect the rescissions, and the Com5 mittees on Appropriations of the House of Rep6 resentatives and the Senate shall report revised sub7 allocations pursuant to section 302(b) of title III, as 

8 appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENTS TO STATUTORY LIMITS.— 

10 Not later than 3 days after enactment of an ap11 proval bill provided under this section, the President 

12 shall revise downward by the amount of the rescis13 sions applicable limits under the Balanced Budget 

14 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

15 ‘‘PROCEDURES FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION

16 ‘‘SEC. 1013. (a) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) INTRODUCTION OF APPROVAL BILL.—The 

18 majority leader of each House or a designee shall 

19 (by request) introduce an approval bill as defined in 

20 section 1015 not later than the third day of session 

21 of that House after the date of receipt of a special 

22 message transmitted to the Congress under section 

23 1011(b). 

24 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REP25 RESENTATIVES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) REFERRAL AND REPORTING.—Any 

2 committee of the House of Representatives to 

3 which an approval bill is referred shall report it 

4 to the House without amendment not later than 

5 the third legislative day after the date of its in6 troduction. If a committee fails to report the 

7 bill within that period or the House has adopt8 ed a concurrent resolution providing for ad9 journment sine die at the end of a Congress, 

10 such committee shall be automatically dis11 charged from further consideration of the bill 

12 and it shall be placed on the appropriate cal13 endar. 

14 ‘‘(B) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

15 Not later than 3 legislative days after the ap16 proval bill is reported or a committee has been 

17 discharged from further consideration thereof, 

18 it shall be in order to move to proceed to con19 sider the approval bill in the House. Such a mo20 tion shall be in order only at a time designated 

21 by the Speaker in the legislative schedule within 

22 two legislative days after the day on which the 

23 proponent announces an intention to the House 

24 to offer the motion provided that such notice 

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1 ported or a committee has been discharged 

2 from further consideration thereof. Such a mo3 tion shall not be in order after the House has 

4 disposed of a motion to proceed with respect to 

5 that special message. The previous question 

6 shall be considered as ordered on the motion to 

7 its adoption without intervening motion. A mo8 tion to reconsider the vote by which the motion 

9 is disposed of shall not be in order. 

10 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION.—If the motion to 

11 proceed is agreed to, the House shall imme12 diately proceed to consider the approval bill in 

13 the House without intervening motion. The ap14 proval bill shall be considered as read. All 

15 points of order against the approval bill and 

16 against its consideration are waived. The pre17 vious question shall be considered as ordered on 

18 the approval bill to its passage without inter19 vening motion except 2 hours of debate equally 

20 divided and controlled by the proponent and an 

21 opponent and one motion to limit debate on the 

22 bill. A motion to reconsider the vote on passage 

23 of the approval bill shall not be in order. 

24 ‘‘(3) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) COMMITTEE ACTION.—The appro2 priate committee of the Senate shall report 

3 without amendment the approval bill as defined 

4 in section 1015(2) not later than the third ses5 sion day after introduction. If a committee fails 

6 to report the approval bill within that period or 

7 the Senate has adopted a concurrent resolution 

8 providing for adjournment sine die at the end 

9 of a Congress, the Committee shall be auto10 matically discharged from further consideration 

11 of the approval bill and it shall be placed on the 

12 appropriate calendar. 

13 ‘‘(B) MOTION TO PROCEED.—Not later 

14 than 3 session days after the approval bill is re15 ported in the Senate or the committee has been 

16 discharged thereof, it shall be in order for any 

17 Senator to move to proceed to consider the ap18 proval bill in the Senate. The motion shall be 

19 decided without debate and the motion to re20 consider shall be deemed to have been laid on 

21 the table. Such a motion shall not be in order 

22 after the Senate has disposed of a prior motion 

23 to proceed with respect to the approval bill. 

24 ‘‘(C) CONSIDERATION.—If a motion to 

25 proceed to the consideration of the approval bill 


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1 is agreed to, the Senate shall immediately pro2 ceed to consideration of the approval bill with3 out intervening motion, order, or other busi4 ness, and the approval bill shall remain the un5 finished business of the Senate until disposed 

6 of. Consideration on the bill in the Senate 

7 under this subsection, and all debatable motions 

8 and appeals in connection therewith, shall not 

9 exceed 10 hours equally divided in the usual 

10 form. All points of order against the approval 

11 bill or its consideration are waived. Consider12 ation in the Senate on any debatable motion or 

13 appeal in connection with the approval bill shall 

14 be limited to not more than 1 hour. A motion 

15 to postpone, or a motion to proceed to the con16 sideration of other business, or a motion to re17 commit the approval bill is not in order. A mo18 tion to reconsider the vote by which the ap19 proval bill is agreed to or disagreed to is not in 

20 order. 

21 ‘‘(4) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amend22 ment to, or motion to strike a provision from, an ap23 proval bill considered under this section shall be in 

24 order in either the Senate or the House of Rep25 resentatives. 


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1 ‘‘(5) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY OTHER

2 HOUSE.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If, before passing the 

4 approval bill, one House receives from the other 

5 a bill— 

6 ‘‘(i) the approval bill of the other 

7 House shall not be referred to a com8 mittee; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the procedure in the receiving 

10 House shall be the same as if no approval 

11 bill had been received from the other 

12 House until the vote on passage, when the 

13 bill received from the other House shall 

14 supplant the approval bill of the receiving 

15 House. 

16 ‘‘(B) This paragraph shall not apply to the 

17 House of Representatives. 

18 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall apply only to 

19 an approval bill, as such term is defined in section 

20 1015(2), introduced pursuant to subsection (a)(1). 

21 ‘‘(c) EXTENDED TIME PERIOD.—If Congress ad22 journs at the end of a Congress prior to the expiration 

23 of the periods described in sections 1012(c)(2) and 1014 

24 and an approval bill was then pending in either House 

25 of Congress or a committee thereof, or an approval bill 


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1 had not yet been introduced with respect to a special mes2 sage, or before the applicable 10-day period specified in 

3 section 1011(a) has expired, then within the first 3 days 

4 of session, the President shall transmit to Congress an ad5 ditional special message containing all of the information 

6 in the previous, pending special message and an approval 

7 bill may be introduced within the first five days of session 

8 of the next Congress and shall be treated as an approval 

9 bill under this part, and the time periods described in sec10 tions 1012(c)(2) and 1014 shall commence on the day of 

11 introduction of that approval bill. 

12 ‘‘(d) APPROVAL BILL PROCEDURE.—In order for an 

13 approval bill to be considered under the procedures set 

14 forth in this part, the bill must meet the definition of an 

15 approval bill and must be introduced no later than the 

16 third day of session following the beginning of the period 

17 described in section 1013(a)(1) or the fifth day in the case 

18 of subsection (c). 

19 ‘‘(e) CBO ESTIMATE.—Upon receipt of a special 

20 message under section 1101 proposing to rescind all or 

21 part of any funding, CBO shall prepare and submit to the 

22 appropriate committees of the House of Representatives 

23 and the Senate an estimate of the reduction in budget au24 thority which would result from the enactment of the pro25 posed recisions. 


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1 ‘‘TREATMENT OF RESCISSIONS

2 ‘‘SEC. 1014. Rescissions proposed by the President 

3 under this part shall take effect only upon enactment of 

4 the applicable approval bill. If an approval bill is not en5 acted into law within 60 days from the enactment of the 

6 appropriation measure to which the approval bill relates, 

7 then the approval bill shall not be eligible for expedited 

8 consideration under the provisions of this part. 

9 ‘‘DEFINITIONS

10 ‘‘SEC. 1015. As used in this part: 

11 ‘‘(1) APPROPRIATION MEASURE.—The term 

12 ‘appropriation measure’ means an Act referred to in 

13 section 105 of title 1, United States Code, including 

14 any general or special appropriation Act, or any Act 

15 making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing ap16 propriations, that has been enacted into law pursu17 ant to article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the 

18 United States. 

19 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL BILL.—The term ‘approval bill’ 

20 means a bill which only approves rescissions of fund21 ing in a special message transmitted by the Presi22 dent under this part and— 

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

24 approving the proposed rescissions transmitted 

25 by the President on ll’, the blank space 

26 being filled in with the date of transmission of 


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1 the relevant special message and the public law 

2 number to which the message relates; and 

3 ‘‘(B) which provides only the following 

4 after the enacting clause: ‘That the Congress 

5 approves the proposed rescissions ll ’, the 

6 blank space being filled in with the list of the 

7 rescissions contained in the President’s special 

8 message, ‘as transmitted by the President in a 

9 special message on ll ’, the blank space 

10 being filled in with the appropriate date, ‘re11 garding ll .’, the blank space being filled in 

12 with the public law number to which the special 

13 message relates. 

14 ‘‘(3) RESCIND OR RESCISSION.—The terms ‘re15 scind’ or ‘rescission’ mean to permanently cancel or 

16 prevent budget authority or outlays available under 

17 an obligation limit from having legal force or effect. 

18 ‘‘(4) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE.—The 

19 term ‘CBO’ means the Director of the Congressional 

20 Budget Office. 

21 ‘‘(5) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term 

22 ‘Comptroller General’ means the Comptroller Gen23 eral of the United States. 

24 ‘‘(6) DEFERRAL OF BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The 

25 term ‘deferral of budget authority’ includes— 


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1 ‘‘(A) withholding or delaying the obliga2 tions or expenditure of budget authority 

3 (whether by establishing reserves or otherwise) 

4 provided for projects or activities; or 

5 ‘‘(B) any other type of Executive action or 

6 inaction which effectively precludes the obliga7 tion or expenditure of budget authority, includ8 ing authority to obligate by contract in advance 

9 of appropriations as specifically authorized by 

10 law. 

11 ‘‘(7) FUNDING.—(A) Except as provided in sub12 paragraph (B), the term ‘funding’ means all or part 

13 of the dollar amount of budget authority or obliga14 tion limit— 

15 ‘‘(i) specified in an appropriation measure, 

16 or the dollar amount of budget authority or ob17 ligation limit required to be allocated by a spe18 cific proviso in an appropriation measure for 

19 which a specific dollar figure was not included; 

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

21 chart, or explanatory text included in the state22 ment of managers or the governing committee 

23 report accompanying such law; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) represented by the product of the es25 timated procurement cost and the total quantity 


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1 of items specified in an appropriation measure 

2 or included in the statement of managers or the 

3 governing committee report accompanying such 

4 law. 

5 ‘‘(B) The term ‘funding’ does not include— 

6 ‘‘(i) direct spending; 

7 ‘‘(ii) budget authority in an appropriation 

8 measure which funds direct spending provided 

9 for in other law; 

10 ‘‘(iii) any existing budget authority can11 celed in an appropriation measure; or 

12 ‘‘(iv) any restriction or condition in an ap13 propriation measure or the accompanying state14 ment of managers or committee reports on the 

15 expenditure of budget authority for an account, 

16 program, project, or activity, or on activities in17 volving such expenditure. 

18 ‘‘(8) WITHHOLD.—The terms ‘withhold’ and 

19 ‘withholding’ apply to any executive action or inac20 tion that precludes the obligation of funding at a 

21 time when it would otherwise have been available to 

22 an agency for obligation. The terms do not include 

23 administrative or preparatory actions undertaken 

24 prior to obligation in the normal course of imple25 menting budget laws. 


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1 ‘‘EXPIRATION

2 ‘‘SEC. 1016. On December 15, 2015, the amend3 ments made by the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto 

4 and Rescissions Act of 2012 shall be replaced by the provi5 sions of part B of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

6 as in effect immediately before the date of enactment of 

7 the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions 

8 Act of 2012.’’. 

9 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

10 (a) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section 

11 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

12 621 note) is amended— 

13 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘1017’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘1013’’; and 

15 (2) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘section 

16 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘section 1013’’. 

17 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—(1) The last sentence 

18 of section 1(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impound19 ment Control Act of 1974 is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘Sections 1011 through 1016 of part B of title X 

21 may be cited as the ‘Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto 

22 and Rescissions Act of 2012’.’’. 

23 (2) Section 1017 of such Act (as redesignated) is 

24 amended by striking ‘‘section 1012 or 1013’’ each place 

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1 tion 1018 (as redesignated) is amended by striking ‘‘cal2 endar’’ and ‘‘of continuous session’’. 

3 (3) Section 1019(c) of such Act (as redesignated) is 

4 amended by striking ‘‘1012’’ and inserting ‘‘1011’’. 

5 (4) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) of 

6 the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act 

7 of 1974 is amended by striking the items relating to parts 

8 B and C (including all of the items relating to the sections 

9 therein) of title X and inserting the following: 

‘‘PART B—CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS AND DEFERRALS OF BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS 

‘‘Sec. 1011. Congressional consideration of proposed rescissions and deferrals 

of budget authority and obligation limitations. 

‘‘Sec. 1012. Grants of and limitations on presidential authority. 

‘‘Sec. 1013. Procedures for Expedited Consideration. 

‘‘Sec. 1014. Treatment of rescissions. 

‘‘Sec. 1015. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 1016. Expiration’’. 

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

11 this Act shall apply to funding as defined in section 

12 1015(8) of the Congressional Budget Act and Impound13 ment Control of 1974 in any Act enacted after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act. 

15 SEC. 4. APPROVAL MEASURES CONSIDERED. 

16 Section 314 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

17 is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) through (e) 

19 as subsections (c) through (f) and by inserting after 

20 subsection (a) the following new subsection: 


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1 ‘‘(a) ADJUSTMENTS FOR RESCISSIONS.—(1) When2 ever an approval bill passes the House of Representatives, 

3 the Committee on the Budget shall immediately reduce the 

4 applicable allocations under section 302(a) by the total 

5 amount of reductions in budget authority and in outlays 

6 resulting from such approval bill. 

7 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘approval 

8 bill’ has the meaning given to such term in section 1015.’’; 

9 and’’. 

10 (2) in subsection (d) (as redesignated), by in11 serting ‘‘or (b)’’ after ‘‘subsection (a)’’. 

Æ 


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