II

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2221

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 25, 1998

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself and Mr. COATS) 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 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 ‘‘The Separate Enroll5 ment and Line Item Veto Act of 1998’’.

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 appro-
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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 targeted

17 tax benefits unless such measure presents each new

18 direct spending or new targeted tax benefit as a sep19 arate 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 targeted 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
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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 targeted 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
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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 Sec15 retary of the Senate (in the case of a measure originating

16 in the Senate) or the Clerk of the House of Representa17 tives (in the case of a measure originating in the House

18 of Representatives) 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).
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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 bill shall be limited to not more than 1 hour,

21 which shall be divided equally between the majority leader

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

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

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

25 vote by which the bills are agreed to or disagreed to.
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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
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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 ‘‘targeted tax benefit’’ means any

21 provision—

22 (A) estimated by the Joint Committee on

23 Taxation as losing revenue for any one of the

24 three following periods—
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1 (i) the first fiscal year covered by the

2 most recently adopted concurrent resolu3 tion on the budget;

4 (ii) the period of the 5 fiscal years

5 covered by the most recently adopted con6 current resolution on the budget; or

7 (iii) the period of the 5 fiscal years

8 following the first 5 years covered by the

9 most recently adopted concurrent resolu10 tion on the budget; and

11 (B) having the practical effect of providing

12 more favorable tax treatment to a particular

13 taxpayer or limited group of taxpayers when

14 compared with other similarly situated tax15 payers.

16 SEC. 6. JUDICIAL REVIEW.

17 (a) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—

18 (1) Any Member of Congress may bring an ac19 tion, in the United States District Court for the Dis20 trict of Columbia, for declaratory judgment and in21 junctive relief on the ground that a provision of this

22 Act violates the Constitution.

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

24 brought under paragraph (1) shall be promptly de25 livered to the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk
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1 of the House of Representatives, and each House of

2 Congress shall have the right to intervene in such

3 action.

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

5 shall be heard and determined by a three-judge

6 court in accordance with section 2284 of title 28,

7 United States Code.

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

9 upon the right of the House of Representatives or the Sen10 ate to intervene in an action brought under paragraph (1)

11 without the necessity of adopting a resolution to authorize

12 such intervention.

13 (b) APPEAL TO SUPREME COURT.—Notwithstanding

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

15 District Court for the District of Columbia which is issued

16 pursuant to an action brought under paragraph (1) of sub17 section (a) shall be reviewable by appeal directly to the

18 Supreme Court of the United States. Any such appeal

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

20 after such order is entered; and the jurisdictional state21 ment shall be filed within 30 days after such order is en22 tered. No stay of an order issued pursuant to an action

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

24 issued by a single Justice of the Supreme Court.
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1 (c) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION.—It shall be the

2 duty of the District Court for the District of Columbia

3 and the Supreme Court of the United States to advance

4 on the docket and to expedite to the greatest possible ex5 tent the disposition of any matter brought under sub6 section (a).

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

8 the application of such provision to any person or cir9 cumstance is held unconstitutional, the remainder of this

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

11 any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

12 SEC. 7. TREATMENT OF EMERGENCY SPENDING.

13 (a) EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

14 251(b)(2)(D)(i) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency

15 Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by adding at the

16 end the following new sentence: ‘‘However, OMB shall not

17 adjust any discretionary spending limit under this clause

18 for any statute that designates appropriations as emer19 gency requirements if that statute contains an appropria20 tion for any other matter, event, or occurrence, but that

21 statute may contain rescissions of budget authority.’’.

22 (b) EMERGENCY LEGISLATION.—Section 252(e) of

23 the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act

24 of 1985 is amended by adding at the end the following

25 new sentence: ‘‘However, OMB shall not designate any
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1 such amounts of new budget authority, outlays, or receipts

2 as emergency requirements in the report required under

3 subsection (d) if that statute contains any other provisions

4 that are not so designated, but that statute may contain

5 provisions that reduce direct spending.’’.

6 (c) NEW POINT OF ORDER.—Title IV of the Congres7 sional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the

8 end the following new section:

9 ‘‘POINT OF ORDER REGARDING EMERGENCIES

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

11 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill or joint

12 resolution, or amendment thereto or conference report

13 thereon, containing an emergency designation for purposes

14 of section 251(b)(2)(D) or 252(e) of the Balanced Budget

15 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 if it also pro16 vides an appropriation or direct spending for any other

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

18 resolution, amendment, or conference report may contain

19 rescissions of budget authority or reductions of direct

20 spending, or that amendment may reduce for that emer21 gency.’’.

22 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con23 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget

24 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by in-
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1 serting after the item relating to section 407 the following

2 new item:

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

3 SEC. 8. SAVINGS FROM RESCISSION BILLS USED FOR DEFI4 CIT REDUCTION.

5 (a) Not later than 45 days of continuous session after

6 the President vetoes an appropriations measure or an au7 thorization measure, the President shall—

8 (1) with respect to appropriations measures, re9 duce the discretionary spending limits under section

10 601 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for the

11 budget year and each outyear by the amount by

12 which the measure would have increased the deficit

13 in each respective year; and

14 (2) with respect to a repeal of direct spending,

15 or a targeted tax benefit, reduce the balances for the

16 budget year and each outyear under section 252(b)

17 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Con18 trol Act of 1985 by the amount by which the meas19 ure would have increased the deficit in each respec20 tive year.

21 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—

22 (1) This section shall not apply if the vetoed

23 appropriations measure or authorization measure be24 comes law, over the objections of the President, be-
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1 fore the President orders the reduction required by

2 subsections (a)(1) or (a)(2).

3 (2) If the vetoed appropriations measure or au4 thorization measure becomes law, over the objections

5 of the President, after the President has ordered the

6 reductions required by subsections (a)(1) or (a)(2),

7 then the President shall restore the discretionary

8 spending limits under section 601 of the Congres9 sional Budget Act of 1974 or the balances under

10 section 252(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emer11 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to reflect the posi12 tions existing before the reduction ordered by the

13 President in compliance with subsection (a).

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

15 (a) LEGISLATION FOR SUNSETTING TAX EXPENDI16 TURES.—The President shall submit legislation for the

17 periodic review, reauthorization, and sunset of tax expend18 itures with his fiscal year 2000 budget.

19 (b) BUDGET CONTENTS AND SUBMISSION TO CON20 GRESS.—Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code,

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

22 ‘‘(30) beginning with fiscal year 2002, a Fed23 eral Government performance plan for measuring

24 the overall effectiveness of tax expenditures, includ25 ing a schedule for periodically assessing the effects
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1 of specific tax expenditures in achieving performance

2 goals.’’.

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

4 United States Code, is amended by—

5 (1) striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in para6 graph (2);

7 (2) redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph

8 (4); and

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

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

11 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg12 et, after consultation with the Secretary of the

13 Treasury, the Comptroller General of the United

14 States, and the Joint Committee on Taxation, for

15 undertaking periodic analyses of the effects of tax

16 expenditures in achieving performance goals and the

17 relationship between tax expenditures and spending

18 programs; and’’.

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

20 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding

21 at the end thereof the following:

22 ‘‘TAX EXPENDITURES

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

24 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint

25 resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that

26 contains a tax expenditure unless the bill, joint resolution,
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1 amendment, motion, or conference report provides that

2 the tax expenditure will terminate not later than 10 years

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

4 SEC. 10. EFFECTIVE DATE.

5 The provisions of this Act shall apply to measures

6 passed by the Congress beginning with the date of the en7 actment of this Act and ending on September 30, 2003.

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