II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 206

To give the President item veto authority over appropriation Acts and

targeted tax benefits in revenue Acts.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 11 (legislative day, JANUARY 10), 1995

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself and Mr. COATS) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred jointly pursuant to the order of August 4,

1977, to the Committees on the Budget and Governmental Affairs, with

instructions that if one committee reports, the other committee have thirty days to report or be discharged

A BILL

To give the President item veto authority over appropriation

Acts and targeted tax benefits in revenue Acts.

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 ‘‘Line Item Veto Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provisions of

7 part B of title X of the Congressional Budget and Im8 poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi9 sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part
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1 of any discretionary budget authority or veto any targeted

2 tax benefit which is subject to the terms of this Act if

3 the President—

4 (1) determines that—

5 (A) such rescission or veto would help re6 duce the Federal budget deficit;

7 (B) such rescission or veto will not impair

8 any essential Government functions; and

9 (C) such rescission or veto will not harm

10 the national interest; and

11 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission or

12 veto by a special message not later than twenty cal13 endar days (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or

14 holidays) after the date of enactment of a regular or

15 supplemental appropriation Act or a joint resolution

16 making continuing appropriations providing such

17 budget authority or a revenue Act containing a tar18 geted tax benefit.

19 The President shall submit a separate rescission message

20 for each appropriation Act and for each revenue Act under

21 this paragraph.

22 SEC. 3. LINE ITEM VETO EFFECTIVE UNLESS DIS23 APPROVED.

24 (a)(1) Any amount of budget authority rescinded

25 under this Act as set forth in a special message by the
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1 President shall be deemed canceled unless, during the pe2 riod described in subsection (b), a rescission/receipts dis3 approval bill making available all of the amount rescinded

4 is enacted into law.

5 (2) Any provision of law vetoed under this Act as set

6 forth in a special message from the President shall be

7 deemed repealed unless, during the period described in

8 subsection (b), a rescission/receipts disapproval bill restor9 ing that provision is enacted into law.

10 (b) The period referred to in subsection (a) is—

11 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal12 endar days of session during which Congress must

13 complete action on the rescission/receipts disapproval

14 bill and present such bill to the President for ap15 proval or disapproval;

16 (2) after the period provided in paragraph (1),

17 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur18 ing which the President may exercise his authority

19 to sign or veto the rescission/receipts disapproval

20 bill; and

21 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission/re22 ceipts disapproval bill during the period provided in

23 paragraph (2), an additional five calendar days of

24 session after the date of the veto.
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1 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi2 dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress

3 adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de4 scribed in subsection (b), the rescission or veto, as the case

5 may be, shall not take effect. The message shall be deemed

6 to have been retransmitted on the first day of the succeed7 ing Congress and the review period referred to in sub8 section (b) (with respect to such message) shall run begin9 ning after such first day.

10 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

11 As used in this Act:

12 (1) The term ‘‘rescission/receipts disapproval

13 bill’’ means a bill or joint resolution which—

14 (A) only disapproves a rescission of discre15 tionary budget authority, in whole, rescinded, or

16 (B) only disapproves a veto of any targeted

17 tax benefit, in a special message transmitted by

18 the President under this Act.

19 (2) The term ‘‘calendar days of session’’ shall

20 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con21 gress are in session.

22 (3) The term ‘‘targeted tax benefit’’ means any

23 provision of a revenue Act which the President de24 termines would provide a Federal tax benefit to five

25 or fewer taxpayers.
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1 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LINE ITEM

2 VETOES.

3 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever

4 the President rescinds any budget authority as provided

5 in this Act or vetoes any provision of law as provided in

6 this Act, the President shall transmit to both Houses of

7 Congress a special message specifying—

8 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded or

9 the provision vetoed;

10 (2) any account, department, or establishment

11 of the Government to which such budget authority

12 is available for obligation, and the specific project or

13 governmental functions involved;

14 (3) the reasons and justifications for the deter15 mination to rescind budget authority or veto any

16 provision pursuant to this Act;

17 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti18 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the

19 rescission or veto; and

20 (5) all actions, circumstances, and consider21 ations relating to or bearing upon the rescission or

22 veto and the decision to effect the rescission or veto,

23 and to the maximum extent practicable, the esti24 mated effect of the rescission upon the objects, pur25 poses, and programs for which the budget authority

26 is provided.
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1 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND

2 SENATE.—

3 (1) Each special message transmitted under

4 this Act shall be transmitted to the House of Rep5 resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and

6 shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep7 resentatives if the House is not in session, and to

8 the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in

9 session. Each special message so transmitted shall

10 be referred to the appropriate committees of the

11 House of Representatives and the Senate. Each such

12 message shall be printed as a document of each

13 House.

14 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

15 Act shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal

16 Register published after such transmittal.

17 (c) REFERRAL OF RESCISSION/RECEIPTS DIS18 APPROVAL BILLS.—Any rescission/receipts disapproval

19 bill introduced with respect to a special message shall be

20 referred to the appropriate committees of the House of

21 Representatives or the Senate, as the case may be.

22 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

23 (1) An rescission/receipts disapproval bill re24 ceived in the Senate from the House shall be consid-
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1 ered in the Senate pursuant to the provision of this

2 Act.

3 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission/re4 ceipts disapproval bill and debatable motions and ap5 peals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not

6 more than ten hours. The time shall be equally di7 vided between, and controlled by, the majority leader

8 and the minority leader or their designees.

9 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo10 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be

11 limited to one hour, to be equally divided between,

12 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the

13 bill, except that in the event the manager of the bill

14 is in favor of any such motion or appeal, the time

15 in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi16 nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either

17 of them, may, from the time under their control on

18 the passage of the bill, allot additional time to any

19 Senator during the consideration of any debatable

20 motion or appeal.

21 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not de22 batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to

23 recommit with instructions to report back within a

24 specified number of days not to exceed one, not
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1 counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses2 sion) is not in order.

3 (e) POINTS OF ORDER.—

4 (1) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the

5 House of Representatives to consider any rescission/

6 receipts disapproval bill that relates to any matter

7 other than the rescission of budget authority or veto

8 of the provision of the law transmitted by the Presi9 dent under this Act.

10 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the

11 House of Representatives to consider any amend12 ment to a rescission/receipts disapproval bill.

13 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or

14 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three15 fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.

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