II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1730

To require Congressional review of Federal programs at least every 5 years,

and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MARCH 6, 1998

Mr. WYDEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Governmental Affairs

A BILL

To require Congressional review of Federal programs at least

every 5 years, 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.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Program Sun5 set Review Act of 1998’’.

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

7 The purpose of this Act is to require Congressional

8 reexamination and review of selected Federal programs

9 once every 5 years.
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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS, BUDGET CATEGORIES, REVIEW DATE.

2 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act:

3 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means an

4 executive agency as defined in section 105 of title 5,

5 United States Code, except that such term includes

6 the United States Postal Service and the Postal

7 Rate Commission but does not include the General

8 Accounting Office.

9 (2) BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The term ‘‘budget

10 authority’’ has the same meaning given that term in

11 section 3(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of

12 1974.

13 (3) COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—The term

14 ‘‘Comptroller General’’ means the Comptroller Gen15 eral of the United States.

16 (4) PERMANENT BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The

17 term ‘‘permanent budget authority’’ means budget

18 authority provided for an indefinite period of time or

19 an unspecified number of fiscal years which does not

20 require recurring action by the Congress, but does

21 not include budget authority provided for a specified

22 fiscal year which is available for obligation or ex23 penditure in one or more succeeding fiscal years.

24 (b) BUDGET CATEGORIES.—For purposes of this Act,

25 each program (including any program exempted by a pro26 vision of law from inclusion in the Budget of the United
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1 States) shall be assigned to the functional and subfunc2 tional categories to which it is assigned in the Budget of

3 the United States Government, fiscal year 1998. Each

4 committee of the Senate or the House of Representatives

5 which reports any bill or resolution which authorizes the

6 enactment of new budget authority for a program not in7 cluded in the fiscal year 1998 budget shall include, in the

8 committee report accompanying such bill or resolution

9 (and, where appropriate, the conferees shall include in

10 their joint statement on such bill or resolution), a state11 ment as to the functional and subfunctional category to

12 which such program is to be assigned.

13 (c) REVIEW DATE.—For purposes of titles I, II, and

14 III of this Act, the review date applicable to a program

15 is the date specified for such program under section

16 201(b).

17 TITLE I—FEDERAL PROGRAM REVIEW BY

18 CONGRESS

19 SEC. 101. JOINT COMMITTEE ON SUNSET REVIEW OF FED20 ERAL PROGRAMS.

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—

22 (1) COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP.—There is estab23 lished not later than 60 days after the date of enact24 ment a Joint Committee on Sunset Review of Fed25 eral Programs (in this title referred to as the ‘‘Joint
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1 Committee’’) to be composed of 8 Members of the

2 Senate to be appointed by the President and Minor3 ity Leader of the Senate, and 8 Members of the

4 House of Representatives to be appointed by the

5 Speaker and Minority Leader. In each instance, not

6 more than 4 Members shall be members of the same

7 political party. No Member shall serve on the Joint

8 Committee for more than 6 years (excluding any pe9 riod of service of less than 1 year) but a Member

10 may be reappointed after the expiration of 2 years.

11 (2) CHAIRMAN.—The Chairman shall be elected

12 by the members of the Joint Committee and the

13 chairmanship shall rotate between the Senate and

14 the House of Representatives with the first Chair15 man being selected from Members of the Senate.

16 (3) VACANCIES.—Vacancies in the membership

17 of the Joint Committee shall not affect the power of

18 the remaining Members to execute the functions of

19 the Joint Committee and shall be filled in the same

20 manner as in the case of the original appointment.

21 (4) HEARINGS, ETC.—The Joint Committee is

22 authorized to hold such hearings as it deems advis23 able. Such hearings must be held in public. The

24 Joint Committee may appoint and fix the compensa25 tion of not more than 3 professional staff. The Joint
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1 Committee may use the services, information, and

2 facilities of the departments and agencies of the

3 Federal Government that have jurisdiction of the

4 programs being reviewed by the Joint Committee.

5 (b) FUNCTION.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—In each year, the Joint

7 Committee shall review the programs that have re8 view dates, set under section 201(b), which will

9 occur on September 30 of the following year to de10 termine if such programs should be reauthorized or

11 terminated.

12 (2) CRITERIA.—The Joint Committee shall con13 sider the following criteria in determining if a pro14 gram should be reauthorized or terminated:

15 (A) The efficiency with which the program

16 operates.

17 (B) An identification of the objectives in18 tended for the program and the problem or

19 need that the program was intended to address,

20 the extent to which the objectives have been

21 achieved, and any activities of the program in

22 addition to those granted by statute and the au23 thority for these activities.

24 (C) The extent to which the program is

25 needed and is used.
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1 (D) The extent to which the jurisdiction of

2 the program and the other programs adminis3 tered with the program overlap or duplicate

4 others and the extent to which the program can

5 be consolidated with the other programs.

6 (E) Whether the agency administering the

7 program has recommended to Congress statu8 tory changes calculated to be of benefit to the

9 public at large rather than only those served di10 rectly by the program.

11 (F) The promptness and effectiveness with

12 which the program disposes of complaints con13 cerning persons affected by the program.

14 (G) The extent to which the program has

15 encouraged participation by the public in mak16 ing its rules and decisions and the extent to

17 which the public participation has resulted in

18 rules compatible with the objectives of the pro19 gram.

20 (H) The extent to which the program has

21 complied with applicable requirements regard22 ing equality of employment opportunity.

23 (I) The extent to which changes are nec24 essary in the enabling statutes of the program
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1 so that the program can adequately comply

2 with the criteria listed in this paragraph.

3 (J) The effect on State and local govern4 ments if the program is terminated.

5 (3) RECOMMENDATION.—Upon completion of

6 its review of a program, the Joint Committee shall

7 submit to the appropriate legislative committees of

8 the House of Representatives and the Senate not

9 later than December 31 of the year preceding the

10 year of a program’s review date a recommendation

11 for the extension, including extension with change,

12 or termination of the program. Each such rec13 ommendation shall be voted on in public by the

14 Joint Committee and shall be published.

15 (c) LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each year, each legislative

17 committee shall review the programs within the ju18 risdiction of the committee subject to review under

19 section 201(b) for that year.

20 (2) RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE JOINT COM21 MITTEE.—The legislative committee shall—

22 (A) consider the recommendations of the

23 Joint Committee with respect to programs re24 viewed; and
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1 (B) with respect to any program rec2 ommended for termination by the Joint Com3 mittee, report legislation terminating the pro4 gram or reauthorizing the program.

5 (d) SPECIAL REQUESTS.—

6 (1) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.—A Member of

7 the Senate or House of Representatives may submit

8 to the Joint Committee a written recommendation

9 that a program be terminated. Any such rec10 ommendation shall address each of the criteria set

11 forth in subsection (b)(2) and shall contain the views

12 of each department or agency of the executive

13 branch which is responsible for the administration of

14 a program subject to reexamination pursuant to this

15 section. The Joint Committee may consider in ad16 vance of the review schedule set forth in subsection

17 (b)(1) each such recommendation.

18 (2) CITIZENS.—The Joint Committee may con19 sider in advance of the review schedule set forth in

20 subsection (b)(1) a written petition for termination

21 of a program submitted by a United States citizen

22 who is of voting age. Any such petition shall address

23 each of the criteria set forth in subsection (b)(2).
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1 SEC. 102. POINT OF ORDER.

2 (a) FAILURE TO TERMINATE OR REAUTHORIZE.—It

3 shall not be in order in either the Senate or the House

4 of Representatives to consider any bill or resolution, or

5 amendment thereto, which provides new budget authority

6 for a program for any fiscal year beginning after any re7 view date applicable to such program under section 201(b)

8 if the program was recommended for termination by the

9 Joint Committee and was not reauthorized, unless the pro10 vision of such new budget authority is specifically author11 ized by a law which constitutes a required authorization

12 for such program.

13 (b) SUPERMAJORITY REQUIREMENT.—This section

14 may be waived or suspended only by the affirmative vote

15 of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn. An

16 affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly cho17 sen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate and the

18 House of Representatives to sustain an appeal of a ruling

19 of the Chair on a point of order sustained under this sec20 tion.

21 SEC. 103. EXECUTIVE BRANCH.

22 Each department or agency of the executive branch

23 which is responsible for the administration of a program

24 subject to reexamination pursuant to section 201 shall, by

25 the first Monday of June the year before the review year

26 for that program, submit to the Joint Committee a report
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1 of its findings, recommendations, and justifications with

2 respect to each of the matters set forth in section

3 101(b)(3).

4 TITLE II—SCHEDULE OF SUNSET REVIEW OF

5 FEDERAL PROGRAMS

6 SEC. 201. REVIEW.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal program (except

8 those listed in section 202) shall be reviewed at least once

9 during each sunset review cycle during Congress in which

10 the review date applicable to such program (pursuant to

11 subsection (b)) occurs.

12 (b) REVIEW DATE.—The first review date applicable

13 to a Federal program is the date specified in the following

14 table, and each subsequent review date applicable to a pro15 gram is 5 years.

Programs included within subfunctional category First sunset review

date

272 Energy Conservation. September 30, 2000.

301 Water Resources.

352 Agricultural Research and Services.

371 Mortgage Credit.

373 Deposit Insurance.

376 Other Advancement of Commerce.

501 Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education.

601 General Retirement and Disability Insurance

(excluding social security).

602 Federal Employee Retirement and Disability.

703 Hospital and Medical Care for Veterans.

808 Other General Government.

050 National Defense. September 30, 2001.

051 Department of Defense—Military

053 Atomic Energy Defense Activities.

154 Foreign Information and Exchange Activities.

251 General Science and Basic Research.

306 Other Natural Resources.
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Programs included within subfunctional category First sunset review

date

351 Farm Income Stabilization.

401 Ground Transportation.

502 Higher Education.

701 Income Security for Veterans.

752 Federal Litigative and Judicial Activities.

802 Executive Direction and Management.

803 Central Fiscal Operations.

054 Defense Related Activities September 30, 2002.

152 International Security Assistance.

155 International Financial Programs.

252 Space Flight, Research, and Supporting Activities.

274 Emergency Energy Preparedness.

302 Conservation and Land Management.

304 Pollution Control and Abatement.

407 Other Transportation.

504 Training and Employment.

506 Social Services.

554 Consumer and Occupational Health and

Safety.

704 Veterans Housing.

751 Federal Law Enforcement Activities.

801 Legislative Functions.

806 General Purpose Fiscal Assistance.

153 Conduct of Foreign Affairs September 30, 2003.

271 Energy Supply.

303 Recreational Resources.

402 Air Transportation.

505 Other Labor Services.

551 Health Care Services.

604 Housing Assistance.

702 Veterans Education, Training, and Rehabilitation.

753 Federal Correctional Activities.

805 Central Personnel Management.

908 Other Interest.

151 International Development and Humanitarian Assistance.September 30, 2004.

276 Energy Information, Policy and Regulation.

372 Postal Service.

403 Water Transportation.

451 Community Development.

452 Area and Regional Development.

453 Disaster Relief and Insurance.

503 Research and General Education Aids.

552 Health Research and Training.

603 Unemployment Compensation.

705 Other Veterans Benefits and Services.

754 Criminal Justice Assistance.

804 General Property and Record Management.

901 Interest on the Public Debt.
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1 SEC. 202. PROGRAMS NOT SUBJECT TO REVIEW.

2 Section 201 shall not apply to the following:

3 (1) Programs included within functional cat4 egory 900 (Interest).

5 (2) Any Federal program or activity to enforce

6 civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the

7 United States or to enforce antidiscrimination laws

8 of the United States, including the investigation of

9 violations of civil rights, civil or criminal litigation

10 the implementation or enforcement of judgments re11 sulting from such litigation, and administrative ac12 tivities in support of the foregoing.

13 (3) Programs that are related to the adminis14 tration of the Federal judiciary and which are classi15 fied in the fiscal year 1997 budget under subfunc16 tional category 752 (Federal litigative and judicial

17 activities).

18 (4) Payments of refunds of internal revenue col19 lections as provided in title I of the Supplemental

20 Treasury and Post Office Departments Appropria21 tion Act of 1949 (62 Stat. 561).

22 (5) Programs included in the fiscal year 1997

23 budget in subfunctional categories 701 (Income se24 curity for veterans), 704 (Veterans housing), and

25 programs for providing health care which are in-
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1 cluded in such budget in subfunctional category 703

2 (Hospital and medical care for veterans).

3 (6) Social Security and Federal retirement pro4 grams including the following:

5 (A) Programs funded through trust funds

6 which are included with subfunctional cat7 egories 551 (Health care services), 601 (Gen8 eral retirement and disability insurance (exclud9 ing social security)), 602 (Federal employee re10 tirement and disability), or 602 (Department of

11 Defense military retirement and survivor annu12 ities).

13 (B) Retirement pay and medical benefits

14 for retired commissioned officers of the Coast

15 Guard, the Public Health Service Commissioned

16 Corps, and the National Oceanic and Atmos17 pheric Commissioned Corps and their survivors

18 and dependents, classified in the fiscal year

19 1997 budget in subfunctional category 551

20 (Health care services) or in subfunctional cat21 egory 306 (Other natural resources).

22 (C) Retired pay of military personnel of

23 the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve,

24 members of the former Lighthouse Service, and

25 for annuities payable to beneficiaries of retired
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1 military personnel under chapter 73 of title 10,

2 United States Code, classified in the fiscal year

3 1997 budget in subfunctional category 403

4 (Water transportation).

5 (D) Payments to the Central Intelligence

6 Agency Retirement and Disability Fund, classi7 fied in fiscal year 1997 budget in subfunctional

8 category 054 (Defense-related activities).

9 (E) Payments to the Civil Service Retire10 ment and Disability Fund for financing un11 funded liabilities, classified in fiscal year 1997

12 budget in subfunctional category 805 (Central

13 personnel management).

14 (F) Payments to the Foreign Service Re15 tirement and Disability Fund, classified in fis16 cal year 1997 budget in subfunctional category

17 153 (Conduct of foreign affairs) or in subfunc18 tional category 602 (Federal employee retire19 ment and disability).

20 (G) Payments to the Federal Old-Age and

21 Survivors Insurance and the Federal Disability

22 Insurance Trust Funds, classified in fiscal year

23 1997 budget in various subfunctional cat24 egories.
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1 (H) Administration of the retirement and

2 disability programs set forth in this section.

3 (7) Programs included within subfunctional cat4 egory 373 (Deposit insurance).

5 TITLE III—PROGRAM INVENTORY

6 SEC. 301. PROGRAM INVENTORY.

7 (a) PREPARATION.—The Comptroller General and

8 the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, in co9 operation with the Director of the Congressional Research

10 Service, shall prepare an inventory of Federal programs

11 (hereafter in this title referred to as the ‘‘program inven12 tory’’).

13 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program inven14 tory is to advise and assist Congress in carrying out the

15 requirements of titles I and II. Such inventory shall not

16 in any way bind the committees of the Senate or the

17 House of Representatives with respect to their responsibil18 ities under such titles and shall not infringe on the legisla19 tive and oversight responsibilities of such committees. The

20 Comptroller General shall compile and maintain the inven21 tory and the Director of the Congressional Budget Office

22 shall provide budgetary information for inclusion in the

23 inventory.

24 (c) SUBMISSION.—Not later than 120 days of the

25 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General,
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1 after consultation with the Director of the Congressional

2 Budget Office, the Director of the Congressional Research

3 Service, and each committee of the Senate and the House

4 of Representatives, shall submit the program inventory to

5 the Senate and the House of Representatives.

6 (d) GROUPING OF PROGRAMS.—In the report submit7 ted under subsection (c), the Comptroller General, after

8 consultation and in cooperation with and consideration of

9 the views and recommendations of each committee of the

10 Senate and the House of Representatives and of the Direc11 tor of the Congressional Budget Office, shall group pro12 grams into program areas appropriate for the exercise of

13 the review and reexamination requirements of this Act.

14 Such groupings shall identify program areas in a manner

15 that classifies each program in only 1 functional and only

16 1 subfunctional category and that is consistent with the

17 structure of national needs, agency missions, and basic

18 programs developed pursuant to section 1105 of title 31,

19 United States Code.

20 (e) INVENTORY CONTENT.—The program inventory

21 shall set forth for each program each of the following mat22 ters:

23 (1) The specific provision or provisions of law

24 authorizing the program.
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1 (2) The committees of the Senate and the

2 House of Representatives which have legislative or

3 oversight jurisdiction over the program.

4 (3) A brief statement of the purpose or pur5 poses to be achieved by the program.

6 (4) The committees that have jurisdiction over

7 legislation providing new budget authority for the

8 program, including the appropriate subcommittees of

9 the Committees on Appropriations of the Senate and

10 the House of Representatives.

11 (5) The agency and, if applicable, the subdivi12 sion thereof responsible for administering the pro13 gram.

14 (6) The grants-in-aid, if any, provided by such

15 program to State and local governments.

16 (7) The next review date for the program.

17 (8) A unique identification number which links

18 the program and functional category structure.

19 (9) The year in which the program was origi20 nally established and, where applicable, the year in

21 which the program expires.

22 (10) Where applicable, the year in which new

23 budget authority for the program was last author24 ized and the year in which current authorizations of

25 new budget authority expire.
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1 (f) LISTING OF EXEMPT PROGRAMS.—The inventory

2 shall contain a separate tabular listing of programs that

3 are not required to be reviewed pursuant to section 102.

4 (g) BUDGET AUTHORITY.—The report also shall set

5 forth for each program whether the new budget authority

6 provided for such programs is—

7 (1) authorized for a definite period of time;

8 (2) authorized in a specific dollar amount but

9 without limit of time;

10 (3) authorized without limit of time or dollar

11 amounts;

12 (4) not specifically authorized; or

13 (5) permanently provided,

14 as determined by the Director of the Congressional Budg15 et Office.

16 (h) CBO INFORMATION.—For each program or

17 group of programs, the program inventory also shall in18 clude information prepared by the Director of the Con19 gressional Budget Office indicating each of the following

20 matters:

21 (1) The amounts of new budget authority au22 thorized and provided for the program for each of

23 the preceding 4 fiscal years and, where applicable,

24 the 4 succeeding fiscal years.
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1 (2) The functional and subfunctional category

2 in which the program is presently classified and was

3 classified under the fiscal year 1997 budget.

4 (3) The identification code and title of the ap5 propriation account in which budget authority is

6 provided for the program.

7 SEC. 302. MUTUAL EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION.

8 The General Accounting Office, the Congressional

9 Research Service, and the Congressional Budget Office

10 shall permit the mutual exchange of available information

11 in their possession that would aid in the compilation of

12 the program inventory.

13 SEC. 303. ASSISTANCE BY EXECUTIVE BRANCH.

14 The Office of Management and Budget, and the Ex15 ecutive agencies and the subdivisions thereof shall, to the

16 extent necessary and possible, provide the General Ac17 counting Office with assistance requested by the Comp18 troller General in the compilation of the program inven19 tory.

20 SEC. 304. REVISION OF PROGRAM INVENTORY.

21 (a) REVIEW AND REVISION.—The Comptroller Gen22 eral, after the close of each session of Congress, shall re23 view and revise the program inventory and report the revi24 sions to the Senate and the House of Representatives.
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1 (b) REPORT.—After the close of each session of Con2 gress, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office

3 shall prepare a report, for inclusion in the revised inven4 tory, with respect to each program included in the pro5 gram inventory and each program established by law dur6 ing such session, that includes the amount of the new

7 budget authority authorized and the amount of new budg8 et authority provided for the current fiscal year and each

9 of the 5 succeeding fiscal years. If new budget authority

10 is not authorized or provided or is authorized or provided

11 for an indefinite amount for any of such 5 succeeding fis12 cal years with respect to any program, the Director shall

13 make projections of the amounts of such new budget au14 thority necessary to be authorized or provided for any such

15 fiscal year to maintain a current level of services.

16 (c) NEW BUDGET AUTHORITY NOT AUTHORIZED.—

17 Not later than 1 year after the first or any subsequent

18 review date, the Director of the Congressional Budget Of19 fice, in consultation with the Comptroller General and the

20 Director of the Congressional Research Service, shall com21 pile a list of the provisions of law related to all programs

22 subject to such review date for which new budget authority

23 was not authorized. The Director of the Congressional

24 Budget Office shall include such a list in the report re25 quired by subsection (a). The committees with legislative
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1 jurisdiction over the affected programs shall study the af2 fected provisions and make any recommendations they

3 deem to be appropriate with regard to such provisions to

4 the Senate and the House of Representatives.

5 TITLE IV—MISCELLANEOUS

6 SEC. 401. APPROPRIATION REQUESTS.

7 Section 1108(e) of title 31, United States Code, is

8 amended by inserting before the period ‘‘or at the request

9 of a committee of either House of Congress or of the Joint

10 Committee on Sunset Review of Federal Programs pre11 sented after the day on which the President transmits the

12 budget to Congress under section 1105 of this title for

13 the fiscal year’’.

14 SEC. 402. DISCLOSURE.

15 Nothing in this Act shall require the public disclosure

16 of matters that are specifically authorized under criteria

17 established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the

18 interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in

19 fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order,

20 or which are otherwise specifically protected by law.

21 SEC. 403. RULEMAKING.

22 The provisions of this section, section 304, and titles

23 I and II are enacted by Congress—

24 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

25 the Senate and the House of Representatives respec-
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1 tively, and as such they shall be considered as part

2 of the rules of each House, respectively, or of that

3 House to which they specifically apply, and such

4 rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent

5 that they are inconsistent therewith; and

6 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

7 right of either House to change such rules (so far

8 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same

9 manner, and to the same extent as in the case of

10 any other rule of such House.

11 SEC. 404. EXECUTIVE BRANCH ASSISTANCE.

12 To assist in the review or reexamination of a pro13 gram, the head of an agency that administers such pro14 gram and the head of any other agency, when requested,

15 shall provide to each committee of the Senate and the

16 House of Representatives that has legislative jurisdiction

17 over such program, or to the Joint Committee on Sunset

18 Review of Federal Programs, such studies, information,

19 analyses, reports, and assistance as the committee may re20 quest.

21 SEC. 405. CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW.

22 The Committee on Rules and Administration of the

23 Senate and the Committee on Rules of the House of Rep24 resentatives shall review the operation of the procedures

25 established by this Act, and shall submit a report not later
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1 than December 31, 2002, and each 5 years thereafter, set2 ting forth their findings and recommendations. Such re3 views and reports may be conducted jointly.

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