II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1955

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

to reform the budget process, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 22 (legislative day, FEBRUARY 22), 1994

Mr. LOTT (for himself, Mr. SHELBY, Mr. HATCH, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BURNS,

Mr. COATS, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. DOLE, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. GREGG,

Mr. HELMS, Mrs. KASSEBAUM, Mr. MACK, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. NICKLES,

Mr. SIMPSON, and Mr. SMITH) 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 amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to reform the budget process, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Budget Process Reform Act’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

7 this Act is as follows:
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—STATEMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL PURPOSE

Sec. 101. Improvement in decisionmaking process.

Sec. 102. Reform of fiscal management.

Sec. 103. Safeguards against delay and inaction.

TITLE II—BINDING BUDGET LAW

Sec. 201. Joint resolution establishing binding budget law.

Sec. 202. Budget required before spending bills may be considered.

Sec. 203. ‘‘baseline’’ budgeting prohibited; unadjusted year-to-year comparisons

required in budget law.

Sec. 204. President’s budget submissions.

TITLE III—ENFORCEMENT MECHANICS

Subtitle A—Supermajority Required to Break Budget Law

Sec. 301. Three-fifths requirement for all spending bills in absence of budget

law.

Sec. 302. Three-fifths requirement for over-budget spending bills.

Sec. 303. Three-fifths requirement for waiver of this Act.

Subtitle B—Limited Enhanced Rescission Authority

Sec. 304. Rescission authority limited to spending above limits of congressional

budget law.

Sec. 305. Application.

Subtitle C—‘‘Blank Check’’ Appropriations Prohibited

Sec. 306. Intent of Senate.

Sec. 307. Fixed-dollar appropriations required.

Sec. 308. Agency-adjusted benefits.

Sec. 309. Budget authority and entitlement authority may cover only a single

fiscal period.

Subtitle D—‘‘Pay As You Go’’ Requirement for New Spending

Sec. 310. Spending offsets required.

Sec. 311. Three-fifths vote required to waive point of order.

TITLE IV—SUSTAINING MECHANISM

Sec. 401. Automatic continuing resolution.

Sec. 402. Contingency regulations.

Sec. 403. Unauthorized appropriations prohibited.

TITLE V—PROTECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Sec. 501. Benefits protected against deficit reduction.

Sec. 502. Conforming amendment.

TITLE VI—TIMETABLE

Sec. 601. Revision of timetable.

TITLE VII—CONFORMING AMENDMENTS
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Sec. 701. Conforming and technical amendments changing ‘‘concurrent’’ to

‘‘joint’’ resolutions.

Sec. 702. Further conforming and technical amendments.

Sec. 703. Conforming amendments to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Sec. 704. Conforming amendment to title 31, United States Code.

TITLE VIII—DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF

INTERPRETATION

Sec. 801. Definitions.

Sec. 802. Amendments to Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

of 1974.

Sec. 803. Use of terms.

TITLE IX—EFFECTIVE DATE

Sec. 901. General provision.

Sec. 902. Fiscal year 1993.

1 TITLE I—STATEMENT OF

2 CONGRESSIONAL PURPOSE

3 SEC. 101. IMPROVEMENT IN DECISIONMAKING PROCESS.

4 Because the Federal budget process is the principal

5 vehicle by which many of the most fundamental policy

6 choices in Government are made, the purpose of this Act

7 is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by

8 the Congress in the course of that process.

9 SEC. 102. REFORM OF FISCAL MANAGEMENT.

10 It is the sense of the Congress that a properly func11 tioning Federal budget process should focus the attention

12 of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact

13 of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs

14 that must be made among priorities in order to control

15 overall levels of spending. To this end, the Act is intended

16 to establish a budget process that, in each fiscal period—
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1 (1) requires the adoption of a budget before,

2 not after, any spending begins;

3 (2) produces decisions on that budget early in

4 the budgeting cycle;

5 (3) encourages cooperation between Congress

6 and the President in adopting the budget;

7 (4) ties each subsequent spending decision to

8 an overall, binding budget total;

9 (5) requires regular, periodic decisions on ap10 propriate spending levels for all Federal programs,

11 not just those arbitrarily deemed ‘‘controllable’’; and

12 (6) produces a bias in favor of fiscal respon13 sibility that can be overcome only if the Congress ex14 pressly determines to do so.

15 SEC. 103. SAFEGUARDS AGAINST DELAY AND INACTION.

16 The Congress further finds that a properly function17 ing budget process should contain safeguards against

18 delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the

19 Federal Government may be avoided when the President

20 and the Congress fail to complete work on the budget prior

21 to the beginning of a fiscal period. Accordingly, this Act

22 is intended to provide an enforcement mechanism that

23 gives meaning and importance to the timely adoption of

24 a budget, and a sustaining mechanism that ensures a con-
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1 tinuation of the Government should the political process

2 produce deadlock or a failure to act in a timely fashion.

3 TITLE II—BINDING BUDGET LAW

4 SEC. 201. JOINT RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING BINDING

5 BUDGET LAW.

6 To encourage early consultation and cooperation be7 tween the Congress and the President on decisions con8 cerning overall spending levels for all Federal programs,

9 the Congress shall enact a binding budget law, in the form

10 of a joint resolution, by April 15 of the calendar year be11 fore that in which the fiscal period commences. The tech12 nical amendments contained in title VI and section 701

13 of this Act are intended to assist in the establishment of

14 this requirement. The budget law itself shall fit on a single

15 page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in the fol16 lowing 19 major functional categories, which together

17 comprise the entire Federal budget.

18 Function 050: National Defense

19 Function 150: International Affairs

20 Function 250: General Science, Space and

21 Technology

22 Function 270: Energy

23 Function 300: Natural Resources and Environ24 ment

25 Function 350: Agriculture
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1 Function 400: Transportation

2 Function 450: Community and Regional Devel3 opment

4 Function 500: Education, Training, Employ5 ment and Social Services

6 Function 550: Health

7 Function 570: Medicare

8 Function 600: Income Security

9 Function 650: Social Security

10 Function 700: Veterans Benefits and Services

11 Function 750: Administration of Justice

12 Function 800: General Government

13 Function 900: Net Interest

14 Function 920: Allowances

15 Function 950: Undistributed Offsetting Re16 ceipts.

17 By thus requiring that the budget process begin with

18 highly generalized macroeconomic decisions about spend19 ing in 19 overall categories, this section is intended to fa20 cilitate agreement within Congress itself, and between

21 Congress and the President, on how much the Federal

22 Government should spend in the ensuing fiscal period.
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1 SEC. 202. BUDGET REQUIRED BEFORE SPENDING BILLS

2 MAY BE CONSIDERED.

3 Unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is

4 enacted with respect to any major functional category for

5 a fiscal period, it shall not be in order in either the House

6 of Representatives or the Senate, or any committee or sub7 committee thereof, to consider any spending bill affecting

8 spending in that category, except as provided in Title III

9 of this Act. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that

10 until the budget is signed into law, no authorization or

11 appropriations bill shall be considered in the Congress.

12 SEC. 203. ‘‘BASELINE’’ BUDGETING PROHIBITED;

13 UNADJUSTED YEAR-TO-YEAR COMPARISONS

14 REQUIRED IN BUDGET LAW.

15 Section 301(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of

16 1974 is amended by—

17 (1) inserting after the second sentence the fol18 lowing: ‘‘The starting point for any deliberations in

19 the Committee on the Budget of each House on the

20 joint resolution on the budget for the next fiscal pe21 riod shall be the estimated level of outlays for the

22 current period in each function and subfunction.

23 Any increases or decreases in the Congressional

24 budget for the next fiscal period shall be from such

25 estimated levels.’’;
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1 (2) striking paragraphs (2) and (3) and insert2 ing the following:

3 ‘‘(2) a comparison of levels for the current fis4 cal period with proposed spending for the subse5 quent fiscal periods along with the proposed increase

6 or decrease of spending in percentage terms for each

7 function and subfunction;

8 ‘‘(3) information, data, and comparisons indi9 cating the manner in which, and the basis on which,

10 the committee determined each of the matters set

11 forth in the joint resolution, including information

12 on outlays for the current fiscal period and the deci13 sions reached to set funding for the subsequent fis14 cal years;’’;

15 (3) inserting ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in para16 graph (7);

17 (4) striking paragraph (8); and

18 (5) redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph

19 (8).

20 The technical amendments contained in sections

21 702(g) and 704(b) of this Act are intended to apply the

22 same prohibition against ‘‘baseline’’ budgeting to the

23 budgets prepared by the President and the Congressional

24 Budget Office reports to the Budget Committees.
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1 SEC. 204. PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SUBMISSIONS.

2 On or before the fifteenth day after a joint resolution

3 on the budget is enacted, the President shall submit to

4 the Congress a detailed budget for the fiscal period begin5 ning on October 1 of the current calendar year, including

6 all summaries and explanations required under section

7 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code.

8 TITLE III—ENFORCEMENT

9 MECHANICS

10 Subtitle A—Supermajority

11 Required to Break Budget Law

12 SEC. 301. THREE-FIFTHS REQUIREMENT FOR ALL SPEND13 ING BILLS IN ABSENCE OF BUDGET LAW.

14 Unless and until a joint resolution on the budget is

15 enacted with respect to any major functional category for

16 a fiscal period, it shall not be in order in the Senate or

17 any committee or subcommittee thereof, to consider any

18 spending bill affecting spending in that category unless it

19 is approved by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the

20 Members voting, a quorum being present.

21 SEC. 302. THREE-FIFTHS REQUIREMENT FOR OVER-BUDG22 ET SPENDING BILLS.

23 (a) DETERMINATION OF BUDGET EFFECT OF ALL

24 PROPOSED SPENDING BILLS.—The Congressional Budget

25 Office shall provide to the Senate (or the appropriate com26 mittee, subcommittee, or conference thereof) as soon as
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1 practicable after the introduction of any spending bill, its

2 estimate of the costs in each major functional category

3 attributable to that bill during the fiscal period in which

4 it is to become effective and in each of the next 4 fiscal

5 years, together with the basis for such estimate. The Con6 gressional Budget Office report shall not be required, how7 ever, if the Congressional Budget Office certifies that a

8 spending bill will likely result in applicable costs of less

9 than $10,000,000. For purposes of estimating the costs

10 attributable to any spending bill that includes new credit

11 authority, the report shall deem the market value of any

12 loan (if it were sold by the Federal Government) or the

13 assumption cost of any guarantee (if it were assumed at

14 market rates) to be the costs attributable to such loan or

15 guarantee in the fiscal period in which it is made.

16 (b) CBO REPORT REQUIRED BEFORE CONSIDER17 ATION OF SPENDING BILLS.—It shall not be in order in

18 the Senate, or in any committee thereof, to consider any

19 spending bill, unless and until the report referred to in

20 subsection (a) has been made available to the Senate or

21 the appropriate committee or subcommittee thereof.

22 (c) THREE-FIFTHS REQUIREMENT FOR ALL OVER23 BUDGET SPENDING BILLS.—It shall not be in order in

24 the Senate (or in any committee, subcommittee, or con25 ference) to consider any spending bill for a fiscal period
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1 that the report referred to in subsection (a) indicates

2 would in such fiscal period exceed a budget ceiling, unless

3 such bill is approved by the affirmative vote of three-fifths

4 of the Members voting, a quorum being present.

5 (d) DETERMINATION OF SPENDING IN A CAT6 EGORY.—A spending bill shall be deemed to break a budg7 et ceiling if—

8 (1) its cost in any major functional category as

9 estimated in the report referred to in subsection (a);

10 and

11 (2) all other budget authority, budget outlays,

12 and entitlement authority, if any, in that major

13 functional category for the relevant fiscal period con14 tained in any previously enacted legislation for the

15 fiscal period; and

16 (3) to the extent that new budget authority or

17 entitlement authority for the relevant fiscal period

18 has not been granted (or modified from the level of

19 the previous fiscal period) in any other enacted legis20 lation for any program within such major functional

21 category, the amounts of budget authority and enti22 tlement authority for such major functional category

23 (or part thereof) for the previous fiscal period;

24 exceed the budget ceiling for such major functional cat25 egory.
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1 SEC. 303. THREE-FIFTHS REQUIREMENT FOR WAIVER OF

2 THIS ACT.

3 No waiver of any provision of this Act, including the

4 calendar deadlines for completion of Congressional action

5 and the provisions concerning over-budget spending, shall

6 be effective unless approved by the affirmative vote of

7 three-fifths of the Members of the Senate, a quorum being

8 present. No committee of the Senate shall have jurisdic9 tion to report a rule governing procedures for consider10 ation of spending bills covered by this Act, if such rule

11 would violate the provisions of this section. Nothing in this

12 provision shall be deemed to require a supermajority vote

13 to amend this Act.

14 Subtitle B—Limited Enhanced Rescission

15 Authority

16 SEC. 304. RESCISSION AUTHORITY LIMITED TO SPENDING

17 ABOVE LIMITS OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET

18 LAW.

19 The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.

20 681 et seq.) is amended by redesignating sections 1013

21 through 1017 as sections 1014 through 1018, respectively,

22 and inserting after section 1012 the following new section:

23 ‘‘RESCISSION OF SPENDING ABOVE LIMITS OF

24 CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET LAW

25 ‘‘SEC. 1013. (a) TRANSMITTAL OF SPECIAL MES26 SAGE.—The President may transmit to both Houses of
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1 Congress for consideration in accordance with this section

2 one or more special messages to rescind (in whole or in

3 part) items of budget authority or entitlement authority

4 sufficient to ensure that the levels of budget authority, en5 titlement authority, and outlays in a functional category

6 do not exceed the levels stated in the budget law for the

7 applicable fiscal period (or, in the absence of a budget law,

8 do not exceed such levels in the previous fiscal period).

9 ‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS.—For purposes of this section—

10 ‘‘(1) continuing appropriations made pursuant

11 to section 1311 of title 31, United States Code, shall

12 be treated as continuing appropriations for an entire

13 fiscal period; and

14 ‘‘(2) the levels of budget authority, entitlement

15 authority, and outlays shall be determined on the

16 basis of the reports made by the Congressional

17 Budget Office pursuant to section 202 of the Budget

18 Process Reform Act of 1990.

19 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Each spe20 cial message transmitted under subsection (a) shall speci21 fy, with respect to each item of budget authority to be

22 rescinded, the matters referred to in paragraphs (1)

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

24 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT NOT TO MAKE AVAILABLE FOR

25 OBLIGATION.—Any item of budget authority to be re-
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1 scinded as set forth in such special message shall not be

2 made available for obligation unless, within the prescribed

3 45-day period, Congress completes action on a rescission

4 bill disapproving the rescission of the amount to be re5 scinded. Funds made available for obligation under this

6 procedure may not be included in a special message again.

7 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURES.—

8 ‘‘(1)(A) Before the close of the third day begin9 ning after the day on which a special message to re10 scind an item of budget authority is transmitted to

11 the House of Representatives and the Senate under

12 subsection (a), a bill may be introduced (by request)

13 by the majority leader or minority leader of the

14 House of the Congress in which the appropriation

15 Act providing the budget authority originated to dis16 approve the rescission set forth in the special mes17 sage. If such House is not in session on the day on

18 which a special message is transmitted, the bill may

19 be introduced in such House, as provided in the pre20 ceding sentence, on the first day thereafter on which

21 such House is in session.

22 ‘‘(B) A bill introduced in the House of Rep23 resentatives or the Senate pursuant to subparagraph

24 (A) shall be referred to the Committee on Appro25 priations of such House. The Committee shall report
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1 the bill without substantive revision (and with or

2 without recommendation) not later than 15 calendar

3 days of continuous session of the Congress after the

4 date on which the bill is introduced. A committee

5 failing to report a bill within the 15-day period re6 ferred to in the preceding sentence shall be auto7 matically discharged from consideration of the bill

8 and the bill shall be placed on the appropriate cal9 endar.

10 ‘‘(C) A vote on final passage of a bill intro11 duced in a House of the Congress pursuant to sub12 paragraph (A) shall be taken on or before the close

13 of the 25th calendar day of continuous session of the

14 Congress after the date of the introduction of the

15 bill in such House. If the bill is agreed to, the Clerk

16 of the House of Representatives (in the case of a bill

17 agreed to in the House of Representatives) or the

18 Secretary of the Senate (in the case of a bill agreed

19 to in the Senate) shall cause the bill to be engrossed,

20 certified, and transmitted to the other House of the

21 Congress on the same calendar day on which the bill

22 is agreed to.

23 ‘‘(2)(A) A bill transmitted to the House of Rep24 resentatives or the Senate pursuant to paragraph

25 (1)(C) shall be referred to the Committee on Appro-
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1 priations of such House. The committee shall report

2 the bill without substantive revision (and with or

3 without recommendation) not later than 10 calendar

4 days of continuous session of the Congress after the

5 bill is transmitted to such House. A committee fail6 ing to report the bill within the 10-day period re7 ferred to in the preceding sentence shall be auto8 matically discharged from consideration of the bill

9 and the bill shall be placed upon the appropriate cal10 endar.

11 ‘‘(B) A vote on the final passage of a bill trans12 mitted to a House of the Congress pursuant to para13 graph (1)(C) shall be taken on or before the close

14 of the 10th calendar day of continuous session of the

15 Congress after the date on which the bill is trans16 mitted to such House. If the bill is agreed to in such

17 House, the Clerk of the House of Representatives

18 (in the case of a bill agreed to in the House of Rep19 resentatives) or the Secretary of the Senate (in the

20 case of a bill agreed to in the Senate) shall cause the

21 engrossed bill to be returned to the House in which

22 the bill originated, together with a statement of the

23 action taken by the House acting under this para24 graph.
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1 ‘‘(3)(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 be limited to not

10 more than 2 hours, which shall be divided equally

11 between those favoring and those opposing the bill.

12 A motion further to limit debate shall not be debat13 able and shall require an affirmative vote of two14 thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being

15 present. It shall not be in order to move to recommit

16 a bill under this section or to move to reconsider the

17 vote by which the bill is agreed to or disagreed to.

18 ‘‘(C) All appeals from the decisions of the Chair

19 relating to the application of the Rules of the House

20 of Representatives to the procedure relating to a bill

21 under this section shall be decided without debate.

22 ‘‘(D) Except to the extent specifically provided

23 in the preceding provisions of this subsection, con24 sideration of a bill under this section shall be gov-
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1 erned by the Rules of the House of Representatives

2 applicable to other bills in similar circumstances.

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

4 the consideration of a bill under this section shall be

5 privileged and not debatable. An amendment to the

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

7 to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion

8 is agreed to or disagreed to.

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

10 section, and all debatable motions and appeals in

11 connection therewith, shall be limited to not more

12 than 2 hours. The time shall be equally divided be13 tween, and controlled by, the majority leader and the

14 minority leader or their designees.

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

16 motion or appeal in connection with a bill under this

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

18 be equally divided between, and controlled by, the

19 mover and the manager of the bill except that in the

20 event the manager of the bill is in favor of any such

21 motion or appeal, the time in opposition thereto

22 shall be controlled by the minority leader or his des23 ignee. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from

24 time under their control on the passage of a bill,
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1 allot additional time to any Senator during the con2 sideration of any debatable motion or appeal.

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

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

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

6 in order.

7 ‘‘(f) AMENDMENTS PROHIBITED.—No amendment to

8 a bill considered under this section shall be in order in

9 either the House of Representatives or the Senate. No mo10 tion to suspend the application of this subsection shall be

11 in order in either House, not shall it be in order in either

12 House for the presiding officer to entertain a request to

13 suspend the application of this subsection by unanimous

14 consent.’’.

15 SEC. 305. APPLICATION.

16 The amendments made by section 304 shall apply to

17 items of budget authority (as defined in subsection (g)(1)

18 of section 1013, as added by section 103(b) of this Act)

19 provided by appropriation Acts (as defined in subsection

20 (g)(3) of such section) that become law after the date of

21 enactment of this Act.
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1 Subtitle C—‘‘Blank Check’’ Appropriations

2 Prohibited

3 SEC. 306. INTENT OF SENATE.

4 It is the intent of the Senate, by this provision, to

5 put an end to open-ended, ‘‘blank check’’ appropriations,

6 which typically authorize the spending of ‘‘such sums as

7 may be necessary.’’ By requiring explicit decisions con8 cerning the desired level of spending for each federal pro9 gram (except social security and interest on the debt), it

10 is intended that currently uncontrolled programs will be

11 brought within the discipline of an overall budget.

12 SEC. 307. FIXED-DOLLAR APPROPRIATIONS REQUIRED.

13 (a) FIXED-DOLLAR APPROPRIATIONS.—For every ac14 count except social security and interest on the debt, every

15 appropriation for a fiscal period for any program, project,

16 or activity shall be for a specific, fixed dollar amount. Any

17 appropriations of ‘‘such sums as may be necessary’’ (ex18 cept with respect to the automatic continuing resolution

19 provided for by section 401 of this Act) are hereby prohib20 ited.

21 (b) POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in order in

22 the Senate (or in any committee, subcommittee, or con23 ference) to consider any appropriation that is in violation

24 of subsection (a).
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1 SEC. 308. AGENCY-ADJUSTED BENEFITS.

2 The head of each Executive agency that administers

3 any entitlement program is authorized to adjust benefit

4 levels and eligibility requirements, or both, with respect

5 to the program such that aggregate outlays for a fiscal

6 period do not exceed the fixed-dollar appropriation pro7 vided pursuant to this title for such fiscal period. Such

8 adjustment shall be made by rule or, pending adoption of

9 appropriate rules, informal guideline. The purpose of any

10 such rule or guideline shall be to ensure that the fixed11 dollar appropriations for the program authorized by Con12 gress are not exceeded.

13 SEC. 309. BUDGET AUTHORITY AND ENTITLEMENT AU14 THORITY MAY COVER ONLY A SINGLE FISCAL

15 PERIOD.

16 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amend17 ed by inserting after section 1312 the following new sec18 tion:

19 ‘‘§ 1313. Budget authority and entitlement authority

20 must cover single fiscal period

21 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and

22 except as provided by subsection (b), no budget authority

23 or entitlement authority—

24 ‘‘(1) enacted on or after the date of enactment

25 of this section shall be effective for more than one

26 fiscal period; or
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1 ‘‘(2) enacted before the date of enactment of

2 this section shall continue in effect beyond the end

3 of the first fiscal period beginning after the date of

4 enactment of this section.

5 ‘‘(b) Subsection (a) does not apply with respect to

6 appropriations for the repayment of indebtedness incurred

7 under chapter 31 or benefits payable under the old-age,

8 survivors, and disability insurance program established

9 under title II of the Social Security Act.’’.

10 Subtitle D—‘‘Pay As You Go’’ Requirement for

11 New Spending

12 SEC. 310. SPENDING OFFSETS REQUIRED.

13 It shall not be in order in the Senate to consider any

14 supplemental appropriation measure, or any other bill,

15 resolution, or amendment which authorizes, requires, or

16 provides new entitlements/mandatory spending as defined

17 in section 3 (12)(A) of the Congressional Budget and Im18 poundment Control Act of 1974, or which authorizes

19 spending for a fiscal period that the report referred to in

20 section 302(a) of this Act indicates would in such fiscal

21 period exceed a budget ceiling, unless any such increased

22 spending called for therein is offset fully in each such fis23 cal period in such measure, bill, resolution or amendment

24 by an equal amount of reductions in existing spending.
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1 SEC. 311. THREE-FIFTHS VOTE REQUIRED TO WAIVE POINT

2 OF ORDER.

3 The point of order established by this subtitle may

4 be waived or suspended in the Senate, and an appeal of

5 the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under

6 this section may be sustained, only by the affirmative vote

7 of three-fifths of the Members voting, a quorum being

8 present.

9 TITLE IV—SUSTAINING

10 MECHANISM

11 SEC. 401. AUTOMATIC CONTINUING RESOLUTION.

12 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amend13 ed by inserting after section 1310 the following new sec14 tion:

15 ‘‘§ 1311. Continuing appropriation

16 ‘‘(a) If for any account an appropriation for a fiscal

17 period does not become law before the beginning of such

18 fiscal period, there are hereby appropriated, out of any

19 moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, and

20 out of applicable corporate or other revenues, receipts, and

21 funds, such sums as may be necessary to continue any

22 program, project, or activity provide for in the most recent

23 appropriation Act at a rate of operations not in excess of

24 the rate of operations provided for such program, project,

25 or activity in such Act. In no case shall the total dollar

26 amount of appropriations for any program, project or ac-
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1 tivity pursuant to this section exceed the appropriation for

2 such program, project, or activity in the most recent ap3 propriation Act, determined on a fiscal-period basis.

4 ‘‘(b) Amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection

5 (a) for a program, project, or activity shall be available

6 during a fiscal period until the earlier of—

7 ‘‘(1) the day on which the appropriation bill for

8 such fiscal period which would include the program,

9 project, or activity takes effect; or

10 ‘‘(2) the last day of such fiscal period.’’.

11 SEC. 402. CONTINGENCY REGULATIONS.

12 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amend13 ed by inserting after section 1311 the following new

14 section:

15 ‘‘§ 1312. Contingency regulations

16 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law and

17 except as provided by subsection (b), the head of each Ex18 ecutive agency that administers any entitlement program

19 shall, by rule, (or informal guideline, pending adoption of

20 appropriate rules), provide for the adjustments of benefit

21 levels or eligibility requirements, or both, with respect to

22 the program such that aggregate outlays for a fiscal period

23 do not exceed the fixed-dollar appropriation provided pur24 suant to section 314 (requiring fixed-dollar appropria-
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1 tions) or section 401 (providing for an Automatic Continu2 ing Resolution) of this Act for such fiscal period.

3 ‘‘(b) In the case of social safety net programs, the

4 rules shall provide each State the option of receiving an

5 aggregate amount for the fiscal period for such programs

6 equal to the amount it received for the preceding fiscal

7 period for such programs (in which case such State could,

8 in its discretion, allocate the benefits among such pro9 grams to best meet the needs of recipients in its State)

10 or the amounts it received for each such program for such

11 preceding fiscal period.

12 ‘‘(c) As used in this section—

13 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Executive agency’ has the mean14 ing given such term in section 105 of title 5, United

15 States Code;

16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘entitlement program’ means any

17 spending authority as defined in section

18 401(c)(2)(C) of the Congressional Budget Act of

19 1974; and

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘social safety net programs’

21 means the following programs: family support pay22 ments, adoption assistance, child support enforce23 ment, food stamps, foster care, medicaid, child nu24 trition programs, social services block grant, and

25 supplemental security income (SSI).’’.
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1 SEC. 403. UNAUTHORIZED APPROPRIATIONS PROHIBITED.

2 Section 401(b) is amended to read as follows:

3 ‘‘(b) CONTROLS ON LEGISLATION PROVIDING FUND4 ING.—(1) It shall not be in order in either the House of

5 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, resolu6 tion, or conference report that provides budget authority

7 or spending authority described in subsection (c)(2)(C) ex8 cept a bill or resolution reported by the Committee on Ap9 propriations of that House or a conference report made

10 by a committee or conference all of whose conferees are

11 members of the Committee on Appropriations.

12 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to benefits pay13 able under the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance

14 program established under title II of the Social Security

15 Act.’’.

16 TITLE V—PROTECTION OF

17 SOCIAL SECURITY

18 SEC. 501. BENEFITS PROTECTED AGAINST DEFICIT REDUC19 TION.

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require or

21 permit reductions in Social Security benefits otherwise

22 payable pursuant to applicable law or regulations.

23 SEC. 502. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

24 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is

25 amended by inserting after section 1313 the following new

26 section:
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1 ‘‘§ 1314. Protection of social security from budget def2 icit reduction measures

3 ‘‘No reductions in benefits payable under the old-age,

4 survivors, and disability insurance program established

5 under title II of the Social Security Act shall be made as

6 a consequence of the Budget Process Reform Act’’.

7 TITLE VI—TIMETABLE

8 SEC. 601. REVISION OF TIMETABLE.

9 Section 300 (2 U.S.C. 631) is amended to read as

10 follows:

11 ‘‘TIMETABLE

12 ‘‘SEC. 300. The timetable with respect to the Con13 gressional budget process for any Congress (beginning

14 with the One Hundred Third Congress) is as follows:

‘‘On or before: Action to be completed:

First Monday in February ............ President submits short-form budget

recommendations.

February 15 ................................... Congressional Budget Office submits

report to Budget Committees.

February 25 ................................... Committees submit views and estimates to Budget Committees.

March 31 ....................................... Budget Committees report joint resolution on the budget.

April 15 ......................................... Congress completes action on joint

resolution on the budget and transmits it to the President for signature or veto.

President signs joint resolution, or

Congress overrides veto.

Authorization and appropriations bills

may be considered in the Congress.

15th day after enactment of joint

budget resolution.

President submits complete budget

and support documents.

June 10 ......................................... Appropriations Committees report

last of annual appropriation bills.

September 30 ................................. Congress completes action on reconciliation legislation and annual

appropriation bills.
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‘‘On or before: Action to be completed:

October 1 ....................................... Fiscal period begins. Congress completes all necessary action on budget, authorizations and appropriations, or automatic continuing resolution takes effect.’’.

1 TITLE VII—CONFORMING

2 AMENDMENTS

3 SEC. 701. CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS

4 CHANGING ‘‘CONCURRENT’’ TO ‘‘JOINT’’ RESO5 LUTIONS.

6 (a) Sections 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 308, 310,

7 and 311 (2 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) are amended by striking

8 ‘‘concurrent resolutions’’ each place it appears and by in9 serting ‘‘joint resolution’’.

10 (b) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) is

11 amended by striking ‘‘Concurrent’’ in the items relating

12 to sections 301, 303, and 304 and inserting ‘‘Joint’’.

13 (c) Clauses 4(a)(2), 4(b)(2), 4(g), and 4(h) of rule

14 X, clause 8 of rule XXIII, and rule XLIX of the Rules

15 of the House of Representatives are amended by striking

16 ‘‘concurrent’’ and by inserting in its place ‘‘joint’’.

17 (d) Section 258C(b)(1) of the Deficit Control Action

18 of 1985 is amended by striking ‘‘concurrent’’ and by in19 serting ‘‘joint’’.

20 SEC. 702. FURTHER CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMEND21 MENTS.

22 (a) Section 302(f) (2 U.S.C. 633(f)) is amended—
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1 (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘(1) IN THE

2 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—’’, by striking ‘‘new

3 budget authority for such fiscal year, new entitle4 ment authority effective during such fiscal year, or’’

5 and by striking ‘‘new discretionary budget authority,

6 new entitlement authority, or’’; and

7 (2) by striking paragraph (2).

8 (b) Section 303 is amended—

9 (1) in its heading by striking ‘‘NEW BUDGET

10 AUTHORITY, NEW SPENDING AUTHORITY,’’ and the

11 comma before ‘‘OR CHANGES’’;

12 (2) in subsection (a) by striking paragraphs

13 (1), (4) and (5) and by redesignating paragraphs

14 (2), (3), and (6) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), re15 spectively; and

16 (3) in subsection (b) by striking paragraph

17 (1)(A), by striking ‘‘(B)’’, by striking the dash after

18 ‘‘resolution’’, and by striking the last sentence.

19 (c) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) is

20 amended by striking ‘‘new budget authority, new spending

21 authority,’’ and the comma before ‘‘or changes’’ in the

22 item relating to section 303.

23 (d) Section 311 is amended—

24 (1) in its heading by striking ‘‘NEW BUDGET

25 AUTHORITY, NEW SPENDING AUTHORITY, AND’’;
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1 (2) in subsection (a)(1) by striking ‘‘providing

2 new budget authority for such fiscal year, providing

3 new entitlement authority effective during such fis4 cal year, or’’; by striking ‘‘the appropriate level of

5 total new budget authority or total budget outlays

6 set forth in the most recently agreed to concurrent

7 resolution on the budget to be exceeded, or’’;

8 (3) by repealing subsection (b); and

9 (4) by redesignating subsection (c) as sub10 section (b), and by striking ‘‘new budget authority,

11 budget outlays, new entitlement authority, and’’ in

12 subsection (c) (as redesignated).

13 (e) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) is

14 amended by striking ‘‘new budget authority, new spending

15 authority, and’’ in the item relating to section 311.

16 (f) The last sentence of clause 4(b) of rule XI of the

17 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by in18 serting before the period at the end of the following: ‘‘;

19 nor shall it report any rule or order which would waive

20 any point of order set forth in title III of the Budget Proc21 ess Reform Act’’.

22 (g) The first sentence of section 202(f)(1) of the Con23 gressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended to read as fol24 lows: ‘‘On or before February 15 of each year, the Direc25 tor shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of the
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1 House of Representatives and the Senate a report, for the

2 fiscal year commencing on October 1 of that year, with

3 respect to fiscal policy, including (A) estimated budget

4 outlays in all functions and subfunctions for appropriated

5 accounts for the current fiscal year and estimated budget

6 outlays under current law for all entitlement programs for

7 the next fiscal year, (B) alternative levels of total reve8 nues, total new budget authority, and total outlays (in9 cluding related surpluses and deficits), and (C) the levels

10 of tax expenditures under existing law, taking into account

11 projected economic factors and any changes in such levels

12 based on proposals in the budget submitted by the Presi13 dent for such fiscal year.’’.

14 SEC. 703. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO THE IMPOUND15 MENT CONTROL ACT OF 1974.

16 (a) Section 1011(5) (2 U.S.C. 682(5)) is amended—

17 (1) by striking ‘‘1012, and’’ and inserting

18 ‘‘1012, the 20-day periods referred to in paragraphs

19 (1)(b) and (2)(A) of section 1013(c), the 45-day pe20 riod referred to in section 1013(b), and’’;

21 (2) by striking ‘‘1012 during’’ and inserting

22 ‘‘1012 or 1013 during’’;

23 (3) by striking ‘‘of 45’’ and inserting ‘‘of the

24 applicable number of’’; and
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1 (4) by striking ‘‘45-day period referred to in

2 paragraph (3) of this section and in section 1012’’

3 and inserting ‘‘period or periods of time applicable

4 under such section’’.

5 (b) Section 1011 is further amended—

6 (1) in paragraph (4) by striking ‘‘1013’’ and in7 serting ‘‘1014’’; and

8 (2) in paragraph (5)—

9 (A) by striking ‘‘1016’’ and inserting

10 ‘‘1017’’; and

11 (B) by striking ‘‘1017(b)(1)’’ and inserting

12 ‘‘1018(b)(1)’’.

13 (c) Section 1015 (as redesignated) is amended—

14 (1) by striking ‘‘1012 or 1013’’ each place it

15 appears and inserting ‘‘1012, 1013, or 1014’’;

16 (2) in subsection (b)(1) by striking ‘‘1012’’ and

17 inserting ‘‘1012 or 1013’’;

18 (3) in subsection (b)(2) by striking ‘‘1013’’ and

19 inserting ‘‘1014’’; and

20 (4) in subsection (e)(1)—

21 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub22 paragraph (A),

23 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as

24 subparagraph (C),
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1 (C) by striking ‘‘1013’’ in subparagraph

2 (C) (as redesignated), and

3 (D) by inserting after subparagraph (A)

4 the following new subparagraph:

5 ‘‘(B) he has transmitted a special message

6 under section 1013 with respect to a proposed

7 rescission; and’’.

8 (d) Section 1016 (as redesignated) is amended by

9 striking ‘‘1012 or 1013’’ each place it appears and insert10 ing ‘‘1012, 1013, or 1014’’.

11 (e) Section 1012(b) is amended by inserting before

12 the last sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘The preced13 ing sentence shall not apply to any item of budget author14 ity proposed by the President to be rescinded under this

15 section that the President has also proposed to rescind

16 under section 1013 and with respect to which the 45-day

17 period referred to in subsection (e) of such section has

18 not expired.’’.

19 (f) The table of sections set forth in section 1(b) is

20 amended—

21 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec22 tions 1013 through 1017 as items relating to sec23 tions through 1018, respectively; and

24 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec25 tion 1012 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1013. Rescission of spending above limits of congressional budget law.’’.
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1 SEC. 704. CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31, UNITED

2 STATES CODE.

3 (a) The analysis of chapter 13 of title 31, United

4 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat5 ing to section 1310 the following new items:

‘‘Sec. 1311. Continuing appropriation.

‘‘Sec. 1312. Contingency regulations.

‘‘Sec. 1313. Budget authority and entitlement authority must cover single fiscal

period.

‘‘Sec. 1314. Protection of Social Security from budget deficit reduction measures.’’.

6 (b) Paragraph (5) of section 1105(a) of title 31,

7 United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

8 ‘‘(5) except as provided in subsection (b) of this

9 section—

10 ‘‘(A) estimated expenditures and proposed

11 appropriations for each function and

12 subfunction in the current fiscal year;

13 ‘‘(B) estimated expenditures and proposed

14 appropriations the President decides are nec15 essary to support the Government for each

16 function and subfunction in the fiscal year for

17 which the budget is submitted; and

18 ‘‘(C) a comparison of levels of estimated

19 expenditures and proposed appropriations for

20 each function and subfunction in the current

21 fiscal year and the fiscal year for which the

22 budget is submitted, along with the proposed
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1 increase or decrease of spending in percentage

2 terms for each function and subfunction;’’.

3 (c) Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code,

4 is amended—

5 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting ‘‘on a sin6 gle page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings for

7 that fiscal period in the nineteen major functional

8 categories described in section 201 of the Budget

9 Process Reform Act’’ before the period; and

10 (2) by repealing the second sentence and all of

11 the third sentence preceding the colon and inserting

12 the following: ‘‘On or before the fifteenth day after

13 a joint resolution on the budget for that budget pe14 riod is enacted, the President shall submit a detailed

15 budget for that fiscal period, including a budget

16 message and summary and supporting information,

17 as follows’’.

18 TITLE VIII—DEFINITIONS AND

19 RULES OF INTERPRETATION

20 SEC. 801. DEFINITIONS.

21 (a) DEFINITION OF BUDGET LAW.—Section 3(4) (2

22 U.S.C. 622(4)), containing general definitions under the

23 Budget Act is amended to read as follows:

24 ‘‘(4) The term ‘budget law’ or ‘joint resolution

25 on the budget’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) a joint resolution setting forth the

2 simplified budget for the United States Govern3 ment for a fiscal period as provided in section

4 301; and

5 ‘‘(B) any other joint resolution revising the

6 budget for the United States Government for a

7 fiscal period as described in section 304.’’.

8 (b) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 (2 U.S.C. 622)

9 is further amended by adding at the end the following new

10 paragraphs:

11 ‘‘(11) The term ‘major functional category’ re12 fers to the groupings of budget authority, budget

13 outlays, and credit authority (including continuing

14 appropriations pursuant to section 1331 of title 31,

15 United States Code) into any one of the following:

16 ‘‘Function 050: National Defense

17 ‘‘Function 150: International Affairs

18 ‘‘Function 250: General Science, Space

19 and Technology

20 ‘‘Function 270: Energy

21 ‘‘Function 300: Natural Resources and

22 Environment

23 ‘‘Function 350: Agriculture

24 ‘‘Function 400: Transportation
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1 ‘‘Function 450: Community and Regional

2 Development

3 ‘‘Function 500: Education, Training, Em4 ployment and Social Services

5 ‘‘Function 550: Health

6 ‘‘Function 570: Medicare

7 ‘‘Function 600: Income Security

8 ‘‘Function 650: Social Security

9 ‘‘Function 700: Veterans Benefits and

10 Services

11 ‘‘Function 750: Administration of Justice

12 ‘‘Function 800: General Government

13 ‘‘Function 900: Net Interest

14 ‘‘Function 920: Allowances

15 ‘‘Function 950: Undistributed Offsetting

16 Receipts.’’.

17 ‘‘(12) The term ‘budget ceiling’ means the dol18 lar amount set forth in a budget law for a major

19 functional category.

20 ‘‘(13) The term ‘spending bill’ means any bill or

21 resolution, or amendment thereto or conference re22 port thereon, which provides budget authority,

23 spending authority, credit authority, or outlays.

24 ‘‘(14) The term ‘fiscal period’ means the twelve25 month fiscal year beginning October 1 currently in
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1 use, or any other fiscal period (such as a biennial

2 period) that may subsequently be adopted for the

3 management of the budget of the United States.’’.

4 SEC. 802. AMENDMENTS TO CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET AND

5 IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL ACT OF 1974.

6 Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever any

7 provision of this Act is expressed as an amendment to a

8 section or other provision, the reference shall be deemed

9 to be made to a section or other provision of the Congres10 sional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

11 SEC. 803. USE OF TERMS.

12 Whenever any term is used in this Act which is de13 fined in section 3 of the Congressional Budget Impound14 ment Control Act of 1974, the term shall have the mean15 ing given to such term in that Act.

16 TITLE IX—EFFECTIVE DATE

17 SEC. 901. GENERAL PROVISION.

18 Except as provided in section 902, this Act and the

19 amendments made by it shall become effective January 1,

20 1995, and shall apply to fiscal periods beginning after

21 September 30, 1995.

22 SEC. 902. FISCAL YEAR 1993.

23 Notwithstanding subsection (a), the provisions of—

24 (1) the Congressional Budget Impoundment

25 Control Act of 1974,
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1 (2) title 31, United States Code, and

2 (3) the Balanced Budget and Emergency Defi3 cit Control Act of 1985, (as such provisions were in

4 effect on the day before the effective date of this

5 Act) shall apply to the fiscal year beginning on Octo6 ber 1, 1994.

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