I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4889 

To grant the power to the President to reduce budget authority. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2006 

Mr. GINGREY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on Rules and 

Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To grant the power to the President to reduce 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 ‘‘Separate Enrollment 

5 and Line Item Veto Act of 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STRUCTURE OF LEGISLATION. 

7 (a) APPROPRIATIONS LEGISLATION.— 

8 (1) The Committee on Appropriations of either 

9 the House or the Senate shall not report an approVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:43 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4889.IH H4889

ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
2 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 priation measure that fails to contain such level of 

2 detail on the allocation of an item of appropriation 

3 proposed by that House as is set forth in the com4 mittee report accompanying such bill. 

5 (2) If an appropriation measure is reported to 

6 the House or Senate that fails to contain the level 

7 of detail on the allocation of an item of appropria8 tion as required in paragraph (1), it shall not be in 

9 order in that House to consider such measure. If a 

10 point of order under this paragraph is sustained, the 

11 measure shall be recommitted to the Committee on 

12 Appropriations of that House. 

13 (b) AUTHORIZATION LEGISLATION.— 

14 (1) A committee of either the House or the 

15 Senate shall not report an authorization measure 

16 that contains new direct spending or new limited tax 

17 benefits unless such measure presents each new di18 rect spending or new limited tax benefit as a sepa19 rate item and the accompanying committee report 

20 for that measure shall contain such level of detail as 

21 is necessary to clearly identify the allocation of new 

22 direct spending or new limited tax benefits. 

23 (2) If an authorization measure is reported to 

24 the House or Senate that fails to comply with para25 graph (1), it shall not be in order in that House to 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
3 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 consider such measure. If a point of order under this 

2 paragraph is sustained, the measure shall be recom3 mitted to the committee of jurisdiction of that 

4 House. 

5 (c) CONFERENCE REPORTS.— 

6 (1) A committee of conference to which is com7 mitted an appropriations measure shall not file a 

8 conference report in either House that fails to con9 tain the level of detail on the allocation of an item 

10 of appropriation as is set forth in the statement of 

11 managers accompanying that report. 

12 (2) A committee of conference to which is com13 mitted an authorization measure shall not file a con14 ference report in either House unless such measure 

15 presents each direct spending or limited tax benefit 

16 as a separate item and the statement of managers 

17 accompanying that report clearly identifies each 

18 such item. 

19 (3) If a conference report is presented to the 

20 House or Senate that fails to comply with either 

21 paragraph (1) or (2), it shall not be in order in that 

22 House to consider such conference report. If a point 

23 of order under this paragraph is sustained in the 

24 House to first consider the conference report, the 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
4 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 measure shall be deemed recommitted to the com2 mittee of conference. 

3 SEC. 3. WAIVERS AND APPEALS. 

4 Any provision of section 2 may be waived or sus5 pended in the House or Senate only by an affirmative vote 

6 of three-fifths of the Members of that House duly chosen 

7 and sworn. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Mem8 bers duly chosen and sworn shall be required to sustain 

9 an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order 

10 raised under that section. 

11 SEC. 4. SEPARATE ENROLLMENT. 

12 (a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

13 when any appropriation or authorization measure first 

14 passes both Houses of Congress in the same form, the 

15 Clerk of the House of Representatives (in the case of a 

16 measure originating in the House of Representatives), or 

17 the Secretary of the Senate (in the case of a measure origi18 nating in the Senate) shall disaggregate the items as ref19 erenced in section 5(4) and assign each item a new bill 

20 number. Henceforth each item shall be treated as a sepa21 rate bill to be considered under the following subsections. 

22 The remainder of the bill not so disaggregated shall con23 stitute a separate bill and shall be considered with the 

24 other disaggregated bills pursuant to subsection (b). 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
5 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 (2) A bill that is required to be disaggregated into 

2 separate bills pursuant to subsection (a)— 

3 (A) shall be disaggregated without substantive 

4 revision, and 

5 (B) shall bear the designation of the measure of 

6 which it was an item prior to such disaggregation, 

7 together with such other designation as may be nec8 essary to distinguish such measure from other meas9 ures disaggregated pursuant to paragraph (1) with 

10 respect to the same measure. 

11 (b) The new bills resulting from the disaggregation 

12 described in paragraph (1) of subsection (a) shall be im13 mediately placed on the appropriate calendar in the House 

14 of origination, and upon passage, placed on the appro15 priate calendar in the other House. They shall be the next 

16 order of business in each House and they shall be consid17 ered and voted on en bloc and shall not be subject to 

18 amendment. A motion to proceed to the bills shall be non19 debatable. Debate in the House of Representatives or the 

20 Senate on the bills shall be limited to not more than 1 

21 hour, which shall be divided equally between the majority 

22 leader and the minority leader. A motion further to limit 

23 debate is not debatable. A motion to recommit the bills 

24 is not in order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider 

25 the vote by which the bills are agreed to or disagreed to. 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
6 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act: 

3 (1) The term ‘‘appropriation measure’’ means 

4 any general or special appropriation bill or any bill 

5 or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, 

6 or continuing appropriations. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘authorization measure’’ means 

8 any measure other than an appropriations measure 

9 that contains a provision providing direct spending 

10 or targeted tax benefits. 

11 (3) The term ‘‘direct spending’’ shall have the 

12 same meaning given to such term in section 

13 250(c)(8) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

14 Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

15 (4) The term ‘‘item’’ means— 

16 (A) with respect to an appropriations 

17 measure— 

18 (i) any numbered section, 

19 (ii) any unnumbered paragraph, or 

20 (iii) any allocation or suballocation of 

21 an appropriation, made in compliance with 

22 section 2(a), contained in a numbered sec23 tion or an unnumbered paragraph but 

24 shall not include a provision which does 

25 not appropriate funds, direct the President 

26 to expend funds for any specific project, or 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
7 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 create an express or implied obligation to 

2 expend funds and— 

3 (I) rescinds or cancels existing 

4 budget authority; 

5 (II) only limits, conditions, or 

6 otherwise restricts the President’s au7 thority to spend otherwise appro8 priated funds; or 

9 (III) conditions on an item of ap10 propriation not involving a positive al11 location of funds by explicitly prohib12 iting the use of any funds; and 

13 (B) with respect to an authorization meas14 ure— 

15 (i) any numbered section, or 

16 (ii) any unnumbered paragraph, 

17 that contains new direct spending or a new tar18 geted tax benefit presented and identified in 

19 conformance with section 2(b). 

20 (5) The term ‘‘limited tax benefit’’— 

21 (A) The term ‘‘limited tax benefit’’ 

22 means— 

23 (i) any revenue-losing provision which 

24 provides a Federal tax deduction, credit, 

25 exclusion, or preference to 100 or fewer 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
8 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 beneficiaries under the Internal Revenue 

2 Code of 1986 in any fiscal year for which 

3 the provision is in effect; and 

4 (ii) any Federal tax provision which 

5 provides temporary or permanent transi6 tional relief for 10 or fewer beneficiaries in 

7 any fiscal year from a change to the Inter8 nal Revenue Code of 1986. 

9 (B) A provision shall not be treated as de10 scribed in subparagraph (A)(i) if the effect of 

11 that provision is that— 

12 (i) all persons in the same industry or 

13 engaged in the same type of activity re14 ceive the same treatment; 

15 (ii) all persons owning the same type 

16 of property, or issuing the same type of in17 vestment, receive the same treatment; or 

18 (iii) any difference in the treatment of 

19 persons is based solely on— 

20 (I) in the case of businesses and 

21 associations, the size or form of the 

22 business or association involved; 

23 (II) in the case of individuals, 

24 general demographic conditions, such 

25 as income, marital status, number of 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
9 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 dependents, or tax return filing sta2 tus; 

3 (III) the amount involved; or 

4 (IV) a generally-available election 

5 under the Internal Revenue Code of 

6 1986. 

7 (C) A provision shall not be treated as de8 scribed in subparagraph (A)(ii) if— 

9 (i) it provides for the retention of 

10 prior law with respect to all binding con11 tracts or other legally enforceable obliga12 tions in existence on a date contempora13 neous with congressional action specifying 

14 such date; or 

15 (ii) it is a technical correction to pre16 viously enacted legislation that is estimated 

17 to have no revenue effect. 

18 (D) For purposes of subparagraph (A)— 

19 (i) all businesses and associations 

20 which are related within the meaning of 

21 sections 707(b) and 1563(a) of the Inter22 nal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be treated 

23 as a single beneficiary; 

24 (ii) all qualified plans of an employer 

25 shall be treated as a single beneficiary; 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
10 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 (iii) all holders of the same bond issue 

2 shall be treated as a single beneficiary; and 

3 (iv) if a corporation, partnership, as4 sociation, trust or estate is the beneficiary 

5 of a provision, the shareholders of the cor6 poration, the partners of the partnership, 

7 the members of the association, or the 

8 beneficiaries of the trust or estate shall not 

9 also be treated as beneficiaries of such pro10 vision. 

11 (E) For purposes of this paragraph, the 

12 term ‘‘revenue-losing provision’’ means any pro13 vision which results in a reduction in Federal 

14 tax revenues for any one of the two following 

15 periods— 

16 (i) the first fiscal year for which the 

17 provision is effective; or 

18 (ii) the period of the 5 fiscal years be19 ginning with the first fiscal year for which 

20 the provision is effective. 

21 (F) The terms used in this paragraph shall 

22 have the same meaning as those terms have 

23 generally in the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

24 unless otherwise expressly provided. 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
11 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 SEC. 6. IDENTIFICATION OF LIMITED TAX BENEFITS. 

2 (a) STATEMENT BY JOINT TAX COMMITTEE.—The 

3 Joint Committee on Taxation shall review any revenue or 

4 reconciliation bill or joint resolution which includes any 

5 amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that 

6 is being prepared for filing by a committee of conference 

7 of the two Houses, and shall identify whether such bill 

8 or joint resolution contains any limited tax benefits. The 

9 Joint Committee on Taxation shall provide to the com10 mittee of conference a statement identifying any such lim11 ited tax benefits or declaring that the bill or joint resolu12 tion does not contain any limited tax benefits. Any such 

13 statement shall be made available to any Member of Con14 gress by the Joint Committee on Taxation immediately 

15 upon request. 

16 (b) STATEMENT INCLUDED IN LEGISLATION.—(1) 

17 Notwithstanding any other rule of the House of Rep18 resentatives or any rule or precedent of the Senate, any 

19 revenue or reconciliation bill or joint resolution which in20 cludes any amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986 reported by a committee of conference of the two 

22 Houses may include, as a separate section of such bill or 

23 joint resolution, the information contained in the state24 ment of the Joint Committee on Taxation, but only in the 

25 manner set forth in paragraph (2). 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
12 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 (2) The separate section permitted under paragraph 

2 (1) shall read as follows: ‘‘Section 1021(a)(3) of the Con3 gressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 

4 shall lll apply to lll.’’, with the blank spaces 

5 being filled in with— 

6 (A) in any case in which the Joint Committee 

7 on Taxation identifies limited tax benefits in the 

8 statement required under subsection (a), the word 

9 ‘‘only’’ in the first blank space and a list of all of 

10 the specific provisions of the bill or joint resolution 

11 identified by the Joint Committee on Taxation in 

12 such statement in the second blank space; or 

13 (B) in any case in which the Joint Committee 

14 on Taxation declares that there are no limited tax 

15 benefits in the statement required under subsection 

16 (a), the word ‘‘not’’ in the first blank space and the 

17 phrase ‘‘any provision of this Act’’ in the second 

18 blank space. 

19 (c) PRESIDENT’S AUTHORITY.—If any revenue or 

20 reconciliation bill or joint resolution is signed into law pur21 suant to Article I, section 7, of the Constitution of the 

22 United States— 

23 (1) with a separate section described in sub24 section (b)(2), then the President may use the au25 thority granted in section 1021(a)(3) only to cancel 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
13 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 any limited tax benefit in that law, if any, identified 

2 in such separate section; or 

3 (2) without a separate section described in sub4 section (b)(2), then the President may use the au5 thority granted in section 1021(a)(3) to cancel any 

6 limited tax benefit in that law that meets the defini7 tion in section 1026. 

8 (d) CONGRESSIONAL IDENTIFICATIONS OF LIMITED

9 TAX BENEFITS.—There shall be no judicial review of the 

10 congressional identification under subsections (a) and (b) 

11 of a limited tax benefit in a conference report. 

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 a provision of this 

18 Act violates the Constitution. 

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

20 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly de21 livered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk 

22 of the House of Representatives, and each House of 

23 Congress shall have the right to intervene in such 

24 action. 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
14 

•HR 4889 IH 

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

2 shall be heard and determined by a three-judge 

3 court in accordance with section 2284 of title 28, 

4 United States Code. 

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

6 upon the right of the House of Representatives or the Sen7 ate to intervene in an action brought under paragraph (1) 

8 without the necessity of adopting a resolution to authorize 

9 such intervention. 

10 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding 

11 any other provisions of law, any order of the United States 

12 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued 

13 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub14 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the 

15 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal 

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

17 after such order is entered; and the jurisdictional state18 ment shall be filed within 30 days after such order is en19 tered. No stay of an order issued pursuant to an action 

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

21 issued by a single Justice of the Supreme Court. 

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

23 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia 

24 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance 

25 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible exVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:43 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4889.IH H4889

ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
15 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub2 section (a). 

3 (d) SEVERABILITY.—If any provision of this Act, or 

4 the application of such provision to any person or cir5 cumstance is held unconstitutional, the remainder of this 

6 Act and the application of the provisions of such Act to 

7 any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

8 SEC. 8. TREATMENT OF EMERGENCY SPENDING. 

9 (a) NEW POINT OF ORDER.—Title IV of the Con10 gressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at 

11 the end the following new section: 

12 ‘‘POINT OF ORDER REGARDING EMERGENCIES

13 ‘‘SEC. 408. It shall not be in order in the House of 

14 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill or joint 

15 resolution, or amendment thereto or conference report 

16 thereon, containing an emergency designation if it also 

17 provides an appropriation or direct spending for any other 

18 item or contains any other matter, but that bill or joint 

19 resolution, amendment, or conference report may contain 

20 rescissions of budget authority or reductions of direct 

21 spending, or that amendment may reduce amounts for 

22 that emergency.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con24 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 

25 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by inVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:43 Mar 09, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4889.IH H4889

ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
16 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 serting after the item relating to section 407 the following 

2 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 408. Point of order regarding emergencies.’’. 

3 SEC. 9. EVALUATION AND SUNSET OF TAX EXPENDITURES. 

4 (a) LEGISLATION FOR SUNSETTING TAX EXPENDI5 TURES.—The President shall submit legislation for the 

6 periodic review, reauthorization, and sunset of tax expend7 itures with his fiscal year 2008 budget. 

8 (b) BUDGET CONTENTS AND SUBMISSION TO CON9 GRESS.—Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 

10 is amended by adding at the end the following paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(35) beginning with fiscal year 2009, a Gov12 ernment performance plan for measuring the overall 

13 effectiveness of tax expenditures, including a sched14 ule for periodically assessing the effects of specific 

15 tax expenditures in achieving performance goals.’’. 

16 (c) PILOT PROJECTS.—Section 1118(c) of title 31, 

17 United States Code, is amended by— 

18 (1) striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in para19 graph (2); 

20 (2) redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 

21 (4); and 

22 (3) adding after paragraph (2) the following: 

23 ‘‘(3) describe the framework to be utilized by 

24 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg25 et, after consultation with the Secretary of the 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
17 

•HR 4889 IH 

1 Treasury, the Comptroller General of the United 

2 States, and the Joint Committee on Taxation, for 

3 undertaking periodic analyses of the effects of tax 

4 expenditures in achieving performance goals and the 

5 relationship between tax expenditures and spending 

6 programs; and’’. 

7 (d) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT.—Title IV of the 

8 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding 

9 at the end thereof the following: 

10 ‘‘TAX EXPENDITURES

11 ‘‘SEC. 409. It shall not be in order in the House of 

12 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint 

13 resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that 

14 contains a tax expenditure unless the bill, joint resolution, 

15 amendment, motion, or conference report provides that 

16 the tax expenditure will terminate not later than 10 years 

17 after the date of enactment of the tax expenditure.’’. 

18 SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 The provisions of this Act shall apply to measures 

20 passed by the Congress beginning with the date of the en21 actment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2012. 

Æ 


ccoleman on PROD1PC71 with BILLS