II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1052 

To increase Government accountability for administrative actions by 

reinvigorating administrative Pay-As-You-Go. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2023 

Mr. BRAUN (for himself, Ms. LUMMIS, and Mr. DAINES) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To increase Government accountability for administrative 

actions by reinvigorating administrative Pay-As-You-Go. 

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 ‘‘Administrative Pay5 As-You-Go Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘administrative action’’ includes 

9 the issuance of a rule, demonstration, program no10 tice, or guidance by an agency; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘agency’’— 

2 (A) means— 

3 (i) an ‘‘Executive agency’’, as defined 

4 under section 105 of title 5, United States 

5 Code; or 

6 (ii) a ‘‘military department’’, as de7 fined under section 102 of title 5, United 

8 States Code; and 

9 (B) does not include the Government Ac10 countability Office; 

11 (3) the term ‘‘covered discretionary administra12 tive action’’ means a discretionary administrative ac13 tion that would effect direct spending; 

14 (4) the term ‘‘direct spending’’ has the meaning 

15 given that term in section 250(c) of the Balanced 

16 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

17 (2 U.S.C. 900(c)); 

18 (5) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

19 the Office of Management and Budget; 

20 (6) the term ‘‘discretionary administrative ac21 tion’’— 

22 (A) means any administrative action that 

23 is not required by statute; and 

24 (B) includes an administrative action re25 quired by statute for which an agency has disVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:02 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1052.IS S1052

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1 cretion in the manner in which to implement 

2 the administrative action; and 

3 (7) the term ‘‘increase direct spending’’ means 

4 that the amount of direct spending would increase 

5 relative to— 

6 (A) the most recently submitted projection 

7 of the amount of direct spending under current 

8 law under— 

9 (i) the budget of the President sub10 mitted under section 1105 of title 31, 

11 United States Code; or 

12 (ii) the supplemental summary of the 

13 budget submitted under section 1106, of 

14 title 31, United States Code; 

15 (B) with respect to a discretionary admin16 istrative action that is incorporated into the ap17 plicable projection described in subparagraph 

18 (A) and for which a proposal has not been sub19 mitted under section 4(a)(2)(A), a projection of 

20 the amount of direct spending if no administra21 tive action were taken; or 

22 (C) with respect to a discretionary admin23 istrative action described in paragraph (6)(B), 

24 a projection of the amount of direct spending 


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1 under the least costly implementation option 

2 that meets the requirements under the statute. 

3 SEC. 3. FINDINGS; PURPOSES. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) In May 2005, the Office of Management 

6 and Budget implemented a budget-neutrality re7 quirement for executive branch administrative ac8 tions affecting direct spending. 

9 (2) This mechanism, commonly referred to as 

10 ‘‘Administrative Pay-As-You-Go’’, requires each 

11 agency to include 1 or more proposals for reducing 

12 direct spending whenever an agency proposes to un13 dertake a discretionary administrative action that 

14 would increase direct spending. 

15 (3) In practice, however, agencies have applied 

16 this requirement with varying degrees of stringency, 

17 sometimes resulting in higher direct spending. 

18 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to— 

19 (1) institutionalize and reinvigorate Administra20 tive Pay-As-You-Go to keep direct spending under 

21 control; 

22 (2) control Federal spending and restore the 

23 Nation’s fiscal security; and 


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1 (3) ensure that agencies consider the costs of 

2 their administrative actions, take steps to offset 

3 those costs, and curtail costly administrative actions. 

4 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS 

5 THAT EFFECT DIRECT SPENDING. 

6 (a) DISCRETIONARY ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Before an agency may un8 dertake any covered discretionary administrative ac9 tion, the head of the agency shall submit to the Di10 rector for review written notice regarding the pro11 posed covered discretionary administrative action, 

12 which shall include an estimate of the budgetary ef13 fects of the proposed covered discretionary adminis14 trative action. 

15 (2) INCREASING DIRECT SPENDING.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—If an agency proposes 

17 to take a covered discretionary administrative 

18 action that would increase direct spending, the 

19 written notice submitted by the head of the 

20 agency under paragraph (1) shall include a pro21 posal to undertake 1 or more other administra22 tive actions that would provide a reduction in 

23 direct spending comparable to the increase in 

24 direct spending attributable to the covered dis25 cretionary administrative action. 


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1 (B) REVIEW.— 

2 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

3 have the discretion to determine whether 

4 the reduction in direct spending proposed 

5 by an agency under subparagraph (A) is 

6 comparable to the increase in direct spend7 ing attributable to the covered discre8 tionary administrative action to which the 

9 proposal relates, taking into account the 

10 magnitude of the reduction and the in11 crease and any other factors the Director 

12 determines appropriate. 

13 (ii) NO OFFSET.—If the written notice 

14 regarding a proposed covered discretionary 

15 administrative action that would increase 

16 direct spending does not include a proposal 

17 to offset the increased direct spending, the 

18 Director shall return the proposal to the 

19 agency for resubmission in accordance with 

20 this Act. 

21 (b) NONDISCRETIONARY ACTIONS.—If an agency de22 termines that a proposed administrative action that would 

23 increase direct spending is required by statute and there24 fore is not a covered discretionary administrative action, 

25 before the agency takes further action with respect to the 


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1 proposed administrative action, the head of the agency 

2 shall— 

3 (1) submit to the Director a written opinion by 

4 the general counsel of the agency, or the equivalent 

5 employee of the agency, explaining that legal conclu6 sion; and 

7 (2) consult with the Director regarding imple8 mentation of the proposed administrative action. 

9 (c) PROJECTIONS.—Any projection for purposes of 

10 this Act shall be conducted in accordance with Office of 

11 Management and Budget Circular A–11, or any successor 

12 thereto. 

13 SEC. 5. ISSUANCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE GUIDANCE. 

14 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

15 of this Act, the Director shall issue instructions regarding 

16 the implementation of this Act, including how proposed 

17 covered discretionary administrative actions that increase 

18 direct spending and non-tax receipts will be evaluated. 

19 SEC. 6. WAIVER. 

20 The Director may waive the requirements of section 

21 4 if the Director concludes that the waiver is necessary— 

22 (1) for the delivery of essential services; 

23 (2) for effective program delivery; or 


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1 (3) because a waiver is otherwise warranted by 

2 the public interest. 

Æ 


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