In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

May 17, 1995.

Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 4) entitled

‘‘An Act to grant the power to the President to reduce budget

authority’’, do pass with the following

AMENDMENTS:

Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert:

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

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

3 SEC. 2. LINE ITEM VETO AUTHORITY.

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

5 part B of title X of the Congressional Budget and Impound6 ment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provisions of

7 this section, the President may rescind all or part of any

8 dollar amount of any discretionary budget authority speci9 fied in an appropriation Act or conference report or joint

10 explanatory statement accompanying a conference report

11 on the Act, or veto any targeted tax benefit which is subject

12 to the terms of this Act if the President—

13 (1) determines that—

14 (A) such rescission or veto would help re15 duce the Federal budget deficit;
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1 (B) such rescission or veto will not impair

2 any essential Government functions; and

3 (C) such rescission or veto will not harm the

4 national interest; and

5 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission or veto

6 by a special message not later than ten calendar days

7 (not including Sundays) after the date of enactment

8 of an appropriation Act providing such budget au9 thority or a revenue or reconciliation Act containing

10 a targeted tax benefit.

11 (b) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—In each special message,

12 the President may also propose to reduce the appropriate

13 discretionary spending limit set forth in section 601(a)(2)

14 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 by an amount that

15 does not exceed the total amount of discretionary budget au16 thority rescinded by that message.

17 (c) SEPARATE MESSAGES.—The President shall sub18 mit a separate special message for each appropriation Act

19 and for each revenue or reconciliation Act under this sec20 tion.

21 (d) LIMITATION.—No special message submitted by the

22 President under this section may change any prohibition

23 or limitation of discretionary budget authority set forth in

24 any appropriation Act.
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1 (e) SPECIAL RULE FOR FISCAL YEAR 1995 APPRO2 PRIATION MEASURES.—Notwithstanding subsection (a)(2),

3 in the case of any unobligated discretionary budget author4 ity provided by any appropriation Act for fiscal year 1995,

5 the President may rescind all or part of that discretionary

6 budget authority under the terms of this Act if the President

7 notifies the Congress of such rescission by a special message

8 not later than ten calendar days (not including Sundays)

9 after the date of enactment of this Act.

10 SEC. 3. LINE ITEM VETO EFFECTIVE UNLESS DISAPPROVED.

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

12 under this Act as set forth in a special message by the Presi13 dent shall be deemed canceled unless, during the period de14 scribed in subsection (b), a rescission/receipts disapproval

15 bill making available all of the amount rescinded is enacted

16 into law.

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

18 forth in a special message by the President shall be deemed

19 repealed unless, during the period described in subsection

20 (b), a rescission/receipts disapproval bill restoring that pro21 vision is enacted into law.

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

23 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal24 endar days of session, beginning on the first calendar

25 day of session after the date of submission of the spe-
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1 cial message, during which Congress must complete

2 action on the rescission/receipts disapproval bill and

3 present such bill to the President for approval or dis4 approval;

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

6 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur7 ing which the President may exercise his authority to

8 sign or veto the rescission/receipts disapproval bill;

9 and

10 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission/receipts

11 disapproval bill during the period provided in para12 graph (2), an additional five calendar days of session

13 after the date of the veto.

14 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the President

15 under this Act and the last session of the Congress adjourns

16 sine die before the expiration of the period described in sub17 section (b), the rescission or veto, as the case may be, shall

18 not take effect. The message shall be deemed to have been

19 retransmitted on the first Monday in February of the suc20 ceeding Congress and the review period referred to in sub21 section (b) (with respect to such message) shall run begin22 ning after such first day.

23 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

24 As used in this Act:
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1 (1) The term ‘‘rescission/receipts disapproval

2 bill’’ means a bill or joint resolution which only dis3 approves, in whole, rescissions of discretionary budget

4 authority or only disapproves vetoes of targeted tax

5 benefits in a special message transmitted by the Presi6 dent under this Act and—

7 (A) which does not have a preamble;

8 (B)(i) in the case of a special message re9 garding rescissions, the matter after the enacting

10 clause of which is as follows: ‘‘That Congress dis11 approves each rescission of discretionary budget

12 authority of the President as submitted by the

13 President in a special message on llll’’,

14 the blank space being filled in with the appro15 priate date and the public law to which the mes16 sage relates; and

17 (ii) in the case of a special message regard18 ing vetoes of targeted tax benefits, the matter

19 after the enacting clause of which is as follows:

20 ‘‘That Congress disapproves each veto of targeted

21 tax benefits of the President as submitted by the

22 President in a special message on llll’’,

23 the blank space being filled in with the appro24 priate date and the public law to which the mes25 sage relates; and
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1 (C) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘A bill

2 disapproving the recommendations submitted by

3 the President on llll’’, the blank space

4 being filled in with the date of submission of the

5 relevant special message and the public law to

6 which the message relates.

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

8 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con9 gress are in session.

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

11 provision of a revenue or reconciliation Act deter12 mined by the President to provide a Federal tax de13 duction, credit, exclusion, preference, or other conces14 sion to 100 or fewer beneficiaries. Any partnership,

15 limited partnership, trust, or S corporation, and any

16 subsidiary or affiliate of the same parent corporation,

17 shall be deemed and counted as a single beneficiary

18 regardless of the number of partners, limited partners,

19 beneficiaries, shareholders, or affiliated corporate en20 tities.

21 (4) The term ‘‘appropriation Act’’ means any

22 general or special appropriation Act, and any Act or

23 joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

24 continuing appropriations.
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1 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LINE ITEM

2 VETOES.

3 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever the

4 President rescinds any budget authority as provided in this

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

6 the President shall transmit to both Houses of Congress a

7 special message specifying—

8 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded or

9 the provision vetoed;

10 (2) any account, department, or establishment of

11 the Government to which such budget authority is

12 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 pro16 vision pursuant to this Act;

17 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti18 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the re19 scission 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 estimated

24 effect of the rescission upon the objects, purposes, and

25 programs for which the budget authority is provided.
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1 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND SEN2 ATE.—

3 (1) Each special message transmitted under this

4 Act shall be transmitted to the House of Representa5 tives and the Senate on the same day, and shall be

6 delivered to the Clerk of the House of Representatives

7 if the House is not in session, and to the Secretary

8 of the Senate if the Senate is not in session. Each spe9 cial message so transmitted shall be referred to the

10 appropriate committees of the House of Representa11 tives and the Senate. Each such message shall be

12 printed as a document of each House.

13 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

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

15 Register published after such transmittal.

16 (c) INTRODUCTION OF RESCISSION/RECEIPTS DIS17 APPROVAL BILLS.—The procedures set forth in subsection

18 (d) shall apply to any rescission/receipts disapproval bill

19 introduced in the House of Representatives not later than

20 the third calendar day of session beginning on the day after

21 the date of submission of a special message by the President

22 under section 2.

23 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA24 TIVES.—(1) The committee of the House of Representatives

25 to which a rescission/receipts disapproval bill is referred
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1 shall report it without amendment, and with or without

2 recommendation, not later than the eighth calendar day of

3 session after the date of its introduction. If the committee

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

5 to move that the House discharge the committee from fur6 ther consideration of the bill. A motion to discharge may

7 be made only by an individual favoring the bill (but only

8 after the legislative day on which a Member announces to

9 the House the Member’s intention to do so). The motion is

10 highly privileged. Debate thereon shall be limited to not

11 more than one hour, the time to be divided in the House

12 equally between a proponent and an opponent. The previous

13 question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to

14 its adoption without intervening motion. A motion to re15 consider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or dis16 agreed to shall not be in order.

17 (2) After a rescission/receipts disapproval bill is re18 ported or the committee has been discharged from further

19 consideration, it is in order to move that the House resolve

20 into the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the

21 Union for consideration of the bill. All points of order

22 against the bill and against consideration of the bill are

23 waived. The motion is highly privileged. The previous ques24 tion shall be considered as ordered on that motion to its

25 adoption without intervening motion. A motion to recon-
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1 sider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed

2 to shall not be in order. During consideration of the bill

3 in the Committee of the Whole, the first reading of the bill

4 shall be dispensed with. General debate shall proceed with5 out intervening motion, shall be confined to the bill, and

6 shall not exceed two hours equally divided and controlled

7 by a proponent and an opponent of the bill. No amendment

8 to the bill is in order, except any Member may move to

9 strike the disapproval of any rescission or rescissions of

10 budget authority or any proposed repeal of a targeted tax

11 benefit, as applicable, if supported by 49 other Members.

12 At the conclusion of the consideration of the bill for amend13 ment, the Committee shall rise and report the bill to the

14 House. The previous question shall be considered as ordered

15 on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without

16 intervening motion. A motion to reconsider the vote on pas17 sage of the bill shall not be in order.

18 (3) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating

19 to the application of the rules of the House of Representa20 tives to the procedure relating to a bill described in sub21 section (a) shall be decided without debate.

22 (4) It shall not be in order to consider more than one

23 bill described in subsection (c) or more than one motion

24 to discharge described in paragraph (1) with respect to a

25 particular special message.
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1 (5) Consideration of any rescission/receipts dis2 approval bill under this subsection is governed by the rules

3 of the House of Representatives except to the extent specifi4 cally provided by the provisions of this Act.

5 (e) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

6 (1) Any rescission/receipts disapproval bill re7 ceived in the Senate from the House shall be consid8 ered in the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this

9 Act.

10 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission/re11 ceipts disapproval bill and debatable motions and ap12 peals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not

13 more than ten hours. The time shall be equally di14 vided between, and controlled by, the majority leader

15 and the minority leader or their designees.

16 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo17 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be

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

19 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the

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

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

22 opposition thereto shall be controlled by the minority

23 leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either of them,

24 may, from the time under their control on the passage

25 of the bill, allot additional time to any Senator dur-
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1 ing the consideration of any debatable motion or ap2 peal.

3 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not debat4 able. A motion to recommit (except a motion to re5 commit with instructions to report back within a

6 specified number of days not to exceed one, not count7 ing any day on which the Senate is not in session)

8 is not in order.

9 (f) POINTS OF ORDER.—

10 (1) It shall not be in order in the Senate to con11 sider any rescission/receipts disapproval bill that re12 lates to any matter other than the rescission of budget

13 authority or veto of the provision of law transmitted

14 by the President under this Act.

15 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate to con16 sider any amendment to a rescission/receipts dis17 approval bill.

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

19 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three-fifths

20 of the members duly chosen and sworn.

21 SEC. 6. REPORTS OF THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE.

22 Beginning on January 6, 1996, and at one-year inter23 vals thereafter, the Comptroller General shall submit a re24 port to each House of Congress which provides the following

25 information:
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1 (1) A list of each proposed Presidential rescission

2 of discretionary budget authority and veto of a tar3 geted tax benefit submitted through special messages

4 for the fiscal year ending during the preceding cal5 endar year, together with their dollar value, and an

6 indication of whether each rescission of discretionary

7 budget authority or veto of a targeted tax benefit was

8 accepted or rejected by Congress.

9 (2) The total number of proposed Presidential re10 scissions of discretionary budget authority and vetoes

11 of a targeted tax benefit submitted through special

12 messages for the fiscal year ending during the preced13 ing calendar year, together with their total dollar

14 value.

15 (3) The total number of Presidential rescissions

16 of discretionary budget authority or vetoes of a tar17 geted tax benefit submitted through special messages

18 for the fiscal year ending during the preceding cal19 endar year and approved by Congress, together with

20 their total dollar value.

21 (4) A list of rescissions of discretionary budget

22 authority initiated by Congress for the fiscal year

23 ending during the preceding calendar year, together

24 with their dollar value, and an indication of whether
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1 each such rescission was accepted or rejected by Con2 gress.

3 (5) The total number of rescissions of discre4 tionary budget authority initiated and accepted by

5 Congress for the fiscal year ending during the preced6 ing calendar year, together with their total dollar

7 value.

8 (6) A summary of the information provided by

9 paragraphs (2), (3) and (5) for each of the ten fiscal

10 years ending before the fiscal year during this cal11 endar year.

12 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

13 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—

14 (1) Any Member of Congress may bring an ac15 tion, in the United States District Court for the Dis16 trict of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and in17 junctive relief on the ground that any provision of

18 this Act violates the Constitution.

19 (2) A copy of any complaint in an action

20 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly deliv21 ered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of

22 the House of Representatives, and each House of Con23 gress shall have the right to intervene in such action.

24 (3) Any action brought under paragraph (1)

25 shall be heard and determined by a three-judge court
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1 in accordance with section 2284 of title 28, United

2 States Code.

3 Nothing in this section or in any other law shall infringe

4 upon the right of the House of Representatives to intervene

5 in an action brought under paragraph (1) without the ne6 cessity of adopting a resolution to authorize such interven7 tion.

8 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

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

10 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued

11 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub12 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the Su13 preme Court of the United States. Any such appeal shall

14 be taken by a notice of appeal filed within 10 days after

15 such order is entered; and the jurisdictional statement shall

16 be filed within 30 days after such order is entered. No stay

17 of an order issued pursuant to an action brought under

18 paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be issued by a single

19 Justice of the Supreme Court.

20 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the duty

21 of the District Court for the District of Columbia and the

22 Supreme Court of the United States to advance on the dock23 et and to expedite to the greatest possible extent the disposi24 tion of any matter brought under subsection (a).
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Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘An Act to give the President item veto authority over appropriation Acts and targeted

tax benefits in revenue Acts.’’.

Attest:

Clerk.
104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 4

AMENDMENTS