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103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1578

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

to provide for the expedited consideration of certain proposed rescissions

of budget authority.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 1, 1993

Mr. SPRATT (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. STENHOLM, Mr. SLATTERY, Mr.

DEAL, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. PAYNE of Virginia, Mr.

DOOLEY, Mr. MINGE, Mr. PENNY, Mr. SWETT, Mr. ROEMER, Mrs.

MALONEY, Mr. MANN, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. COPPERSMITH, Mr. GLICKMAN, Mr. CLEMENT, Ms. SCHENK, Mr. DEUTSCH, Mr. ORTON, Mr.

INSLEE and Mr. HOAGLAND) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Government Operations and Rules

A BILL

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to provide for the expedited consideration of certain proposed rescissions of budget authority.

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 Rescissions

5 Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PRO2 POSED RESCISSIONS.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title X of the Congres4 sional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2

5 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) is amended by redesignating sections

6 1013 through 1017 as sections 1014 through 1018, re7 spectively, and inserting after section 1012 the following

8 new section:

9 ‘‘EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PROPOSED

10 RESCISSIONS

11 ‘‘SEC. 1013. (a) PROPOSED RESCISSION OF BUDGET

12 AUTHORITY.—In addition to the method of rescinding

13 budget authority specified in section 1012, the President

14 may propose, at the time and in the manner provided in

15 subsection (b), the rescission of any budget authority pro16 vided in an appropriation Act. Funds made available for

17 obligation under this procedure may not be proposed for

18 rescission again under this section or section 1012.

19 ‘‘(b) TRANSMITTAL OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—

20 ‘‘(1) Not later than 3 calendar days after the

21 date of enactment of an appropriation Act, the

22 President may transmit to Congress one special mes23 sage proposing to rescind amounts of budget author24 ity provided in that Act and include with that special

25 message a draft bill that, if enacted, would only re26 scind that budget authority. That bill shall clearly
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1 identify the amount of budget authority that is pro2 posed to be rescinded for each program, project, or

3 activity to which that budget authority relates.

4 ‘‘(2) In the case of an appropriation Act that

5 includes accounts within the jurisdiction of more

6 than one subcommittee of the Committee on Appro7 priations, the President in proposing to rescind

8 budget authority under this section shall send a sep9 arate special message and accompanying draft bill

10 for accounts within the jurisdiction of each such sub11 committee.

12 ‘‘(3) Each special message shall specify, with

13 respect to the budget authority proposed to be re14 scinded, the matters referred to in paragraphs (1)

15 through (5) of section 1012(a).

16 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURES FOR EXPEDITED CONSIDER17 ATION.—

18 ‘‘(1)(A) Before the close of the second legisla19 tive day of the House of Representatives after the

20 date of receipt of a special message transmitted to

21 Congress under subsection (b), the majority leader

22 or minority leader of the House of Representatives

23 shall introduce (by request) the draft bill accom24 panying that special message. If the bill is not intro25 duced as provided in the preceding sentence, then,
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1 on the third legislative day of the House of Rep2 resentatives after the date of receipt of that special

3 message, any Member of that House may introduce

4 the bill.

5 ‘‘(B) The bill shall be referred to the Commit6 tee on Appropriations of the House of Representa7 tives. The committee shall report the bill without

8 substantive revision, and with or without rec9 ommendation. The bill shall be reported not later

10 than the seventh legislative day of that House after

11 the date of receipt of that special message. If the

12 Committee on Appropriations fails to report the bill

13 within that period, that committee shall be auto14 matically discharged from consideration of the bill,

15 and the bill shall be placed on the appropriate

16 calendar.

17 ‘‘(C) A vote on final passage of the bill shall be

18 taken in the House of Representatives on or before

19 the close of the 10th legislative day of that House

20 after the date of the introduction of the bill in that

21 House. If the bill is passed, the Clerk of the House

22 of Representatives shall cause the bill to be en23 grossed, certified, and transmitted to the Senate

24 within one calendar day of the day on which the bill

25 is passed.
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1 ‘‘(2)(A) A motion in the House of Representa2 tives to proceed to the consideration of a bill under

3 this section shall be highly privileged and not debat4 able. An amendment to the motion shall not be in

5 order, nor shall it be in order to move to reconsider

6 the vote by which the motion is agreed to or dis7 agreed to.

8 ‘‘(B) Debate in the House of Representatives

9 on a bill under this section shall not exceed 4 hours,

10 which shall be divided equally between those favoring

11 and those opposing the bill. A motion further to

12 limit debate shall not be debatable. It shall not be

13 in order to move to recommit a bill under this sec14 tion or to move to reconsider the vote by which the

15 bill is agreed to or disagreed to.

16 ‘‘(C) Appeals from decisions of the Chair relat17 ing to the application of the Rules of the House of

18 Representatives to the procedure relating to a bill

19 under this section shall be decided without debate.

20 ‘‘(3)(A) A bill transmitted to the Senate pursu21 ant to paragraph (1)(C) shall be referred to its Com22 mittee on Appropriations. The committee shall re23 port the bill without substantive revision and with or

24 without recommendation. The bill shall be reported

25 not later than the seventh legislative day of the Sen-
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1 ate after it receives the bill. A committee failing to

2 report the bill within such period shall be automati3 cally discharged from consideration of the bill, and

4 the bill shall be placed upon the appropriate

5 calendar.

6 ‘‘(B) A vote on final passage of a bill transmit7 ted to the Senate shall be taken on or before the

8 close of the 10th legislative day of the Senate after

9 the date on which the bill is transmitted.

10 ‘‘(4)(A) A motion in the Senate to proceed to

11 the consideration of a bill under this section shall be

12 privileged and not debatable. An amendment to the

13 motion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order

14 to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion

15 is agreed to or disagreed to.

16 ‘‘(B) Debate in the Senate on a bill under this

17 section, and all debatable motions and appeals in

18 connection therewith, shall not exceed 10 hours. The

19 time shall be equally divided between, and controlled

20 by, the majority leader and the minority leader or

21 their designees.

22 ‘‘(C) Debate in the Senate on any debatable

23 motion or appeal in connection with a bill under this

24 section shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, to

25 be equally divided between, and controlled by, the
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1 mover and the manager of the bill, except that in

2 the event the manager of the bill is in favor of any

3 such motion or appeal, the time in opposition there4 to, shall be controlled by the minority leader or his

5 designee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from

6 time under their control on the passage of a bill,

7 allot additional time to any Senator during the con8 sideration of any debatable motion or appeal.

9 ‘‘(D) A motion in the Senate to further limit

10 debate on a bill under this section is not debatable.

11 A motion to recommit a bill under this section is not

12 in order.

13 ‘‘(d) AMENDMENTS AND DIVISIONS PROHIBITED.—

14 No amendment to a bill considered under this section shall

15 be in order in either the House of Representatives or the

16 Senate. It shall not be in order to demand a division of

17 the question in the House of Representatives (or in a Com18 mittee of the Whole) or in the Senate. No motion to sus19 pend the application of this subsection shall be in order

20 in either House, nor shall it be in order in either House

21 to suspend the application of this subsection by unanimous

22 consent.

23 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENT TO MAKE AVAILABLE FOR OBLI24 GATION.—Any amount of budget authority proposed to be

25 rescinded in a special message transmitted to Congress
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1 under subsection (b) shall be made available for obligation

2 on the day after the date upon which either House defeats

3 the bill transmitted with that special message rescinding

4 the amount proposed to be rescinded.

5 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

6 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriation Act’ means any

7 general or special appropriation Act, and any Act or

8 joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or

9 continuing appropriations; and

10 ‘‘(2) the term ‘legislative day’ means, with re11 spect to either House of Congress, any calendar day

12 during which that House is in session.’’.

13 (b) EXERCISE OF RULEMAKING POWERS.—Section

14 904 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 621 note) is amended—

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

16 and inserting ‘‘1013, and 1018’’; and

17 (2) by striking ‘‘section 1017’’ in subsection (d)

18 and inserting ‘‘sections 1013 and 1018’’; and

19 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

20 (1) Section 1011 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 682(5))

21 is amended—

22 (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘1013’’

23 and inserting ‘‘1014’’; and

24 (B) in paragraph (5)—
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1 (i) by striking ‘‘1016’’ and inserting

2 ‘‘1017’’; and

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘1017(b)(1)’’ and in4 serting ‘‘1018(b)(1)’’.

5 (2) Section 1015 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 685)

6 (as redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended—

7 (A) by striking ‘‘1012 or 1013’’ each place

8 it appears and inserting ‘‘1012, 1013, or

9 1014’’;

10 (B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking

11 ‘‘1012’’ and inserting ‘‘1012 or 1013’’;

12 (C) in subsection (b)(2), by striking

13 ‘‘1013’’ and inserting ‘‘1014’’; and

14 (D) in subsection (e)(2)—

15 (i) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of

16 subparagraph (A);

17 (ii) by redesignating subparagraph

18 (B) as subparagraph (C);

19 (iii) by striking ‘‘1013’’ in subpara20 graph (C) (as so redesignated) and insert21 ing ‘‘1014’’; and

22 (iv) by inserting after subparagraph

23 (A) the following new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(B) he has transmitted a special message

2 under section 1013 with respect to a proposed

3 rescission; and’’.

4 (3) Section 1016 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 686)

5 (as redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended by

6 striking ‘‘1012 or 1013’’ each place it appears and

7 inserting ‘‘1012, 1013, or 1014’’.

8 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of sections

9 for subpart B of title X of such Act is amended—

10 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec11 tions 1013 through 1017 as items relating to sec12 tions 1014 through 1018; and

13 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec14 tion 1012 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1013. Expedited consideration of certain proposed rescissions.’’.

15 SEC. 3. APPLICATION.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1013 of the Congressional

17 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as added

18 by section 2) shall apply to amounts of budget authority

19 provided by appropriation Acts (as defined in subsection

20 (f) of such section) that are enacted during the One Hun21 dred Third Congress.

22 (b) SPECIAL TRANSITION RULE.—Within 3 calendar

23 days after the beginning of the One Hundred Fourth Con24 gress, the President may retransmit a special message, in

25 the manner provided in section 1013(b) of the Congres-
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1 sional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as

2 added by section 2), proposing to rescind only those

3 amounts of budget authority that were contained in any

4 special message to the One Hundred Third Congress

5 which that Congress failed to consider because of its sine

6 die adjournment before the close of the time period set

7 forth in such section 1013 for consideration of those pro8 posed rescissions. A draft bill shall accompany that special

9 message that, if enacted, would only rescind that budget

10 authority. Before the close of the second legislative day

11 of the House of Representatives after the date of receipt

12 of that special message, the majority leader or minority

13 leader of the House of Representatives shall introduce (by

14 request) the draft bill accompanying that special message.

15 If the bill is not introduced as provided in the preceding

16 sentence, then, on the third legislative day of the House

17 of Representatives after the date of receipt of that special

18 message, any Member of that House may introduce the

19 bill. The House of Representatives and the Senate shall

20 proceed to consider that bill in the manner provided in

21 such section 1013.

22 SEC. 4. TERMINATION.

23 The authority provided by section 1013 of the Con24 gressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
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1 (as added by section 2) shall terminate 2 years after the

2 date of enactment of this Act.

3 SEC. 5. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

4 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—

5 (1) Any Member of Congress may bring an ac6 tion, in the United States District Court for the Dis7 trict of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and in8 junctive relief on the ground that any provision of

9 section 1013 (as added by section 2) violates the

10 Constitution.

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

12 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly de13 livered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk

14 of the House of Representatives, and each House of

15 Congress shall have the right to intervene in such

16 action.

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

18 shall be heard and determined by a three-judge

19 court in accordance with section 2284 of title 28,

20 United States Code.

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

22 upon the right of the House of Representatives to inter23 vene in an action brought under paragraph (1) without

24 the necessity of adopting a resolution to authorize such

25 intervention.
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1 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

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

3 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued

4 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub5 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the

6 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal

7 shall be taken by a notice of appeal filed within 10 days

8 after such order is entered; and the jurisdictional state9 ment shall be filed within 30 days after such order is en10 tered. No stay of an order issued pursuant to an action

11 brought under paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be

12 issued by a single Justice of the Supreme Court.

13 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the

14 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia

15 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance

16 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex17 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub18 section (a).

Æ