I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5454 

To provide an optional fast-track procedure the President may use when 

submitting rescission requests, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 28, 2010 

Mr. SPRATT (for himself, Mr. MINNICK, Ms. BEAN, Mr. BOYD, Mr. BRALEY

of Iowa, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. COOPER, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. 

ELLSWORTH, Ms. GIFFORDS, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. MATHESON, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. MURPHY of New York, Mr. OWENS, Mr. 

PETERS, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Mr. 

SCHRADER, and Mr. WELCH) (all by request): introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition 

to the Committee on Rules, 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 provide an optional fast-track procedure the President 

may use when submitting rescission requests, 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. TITLE AND PURPOSES. 

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

5 ‘‘Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act of 2010’’. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 5454 IH

1 (b) PURPOSE.—This Act creates an optional fast2 track procedure the President may use when submitting 

3 rescission requests, which would lead to an up-or-down 

4 vote by Congress on the President’s package of rescissions, 

5 without amendment. 

6 SEC. 2. RESCISSIONS OF FUNDING. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part C of the Impoundment Con8 trol Act of 1974 is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘PART C—EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF 

10 PROPOSED RESCISSIONS 

11 ‘‘SEC. 1021. APPLICABILITY AND DISCLAIMER. 

12 ‘‘The rules, procedures, requirements, and definitions 

13 in this part apply only to executive and legislative actions 

14 explicitly taken under this part. They do not apply to ac15 tions taken under part B or to other executive and legisla16 tive actions not taken under this part. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 1022. DEFINITIONS. 

18 ‘‘As used in this part— 

19 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘appropriation Act’, ‘budget au20 thority’, and ‘new budget authority’ have the same 

21 meanings as in section 3 of the Congressional Budg22 et Act of 1974; 

23 ‘‘(2) the terms ‘account’, ‘current year’, ‘CBO’, 

24 and ‘OMB’ have the same meanings as in section 

25 250 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 5454 IH

1 Control Act of 1985 as in effect on September 30, 

2 2002; 

3 ‘‘(3) the term ‘days of session’ shall be cal4 culated by excluding weekends and national holidays; 

5 and any day during which a chamber of Congress is 

6 not in session shall not be counted as a day of ses7 sion of that chamber; and any day during which nei8 ther chamber is in session shall not be counted as 

9 a day of session of Congress; 

10 ‘‘(4) the term ‘entitlement law’ means the stat11 utory mandate or requirement of the United States 

12 to incur a financial obligation unless that obligation 

13 is explicitly conditioned on the appropriation in sub14 sequent legislation of sufficient funds for that pur15 pose, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 

16 Program; 

17 ‘‘(5) the term ‘funding’ refers to new budget 

18 authority and obligation limits except to the extent 

19 that the funding is provided for entitlement law; 

20 ‘‘(6) the term ‘rescind’ means to eliminate or 

21 reduce the amount of enacted funding; and 

22 ‘‘(7) the terms ‘withhold’ and ‘withholding’ 

23 apply to any executive action or inaction that pre24 cludes the obligation of funding at a time when it 

25 would otherwise have been available to an agency for 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 5454 IH

1 obligation; and the term does not include adminis2 trative or preparatory actions undertaken prior to 

3 obligation in the normal course of implementing 

4 budget laws. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1023. TIMING AND PACKAGING OF RESCISSION RE6 QUESTS. 

7 ‘‘(a) TIMING.—Whenever the President proposes that 

8 Congress rescind funding under the procedures in this 

9 part, OMB shall transmit a message to Congress con10 taining the information specified in section 1024, and the 

11 message transmitting the proposal shall be sent to Con12 gress no later than 45 days of session of Congress after 

13 the date of enactment of the funding. 

14 ‘‘(b) PACKAGING AND TRANSMITTAL OF REQUESTED

15 RESCISSIONS.—Except as provided in subsection (c), for 

16 each piece of legislation that provides funding, the Presi17 dent shall request at most one package of rescissions and 

18 the rescissions in that package shall apply only to funding 

19 contained in that legislation. OMB shall deliver each mes20 sage requesting a package of rescissions to the Clerk of 

21 the House of Representatives if the House is not in session 

22 and to the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not 

23 in session. OMB shall make a copy of the transmittal mes24 sage publicly available, and shall publish in the Federal 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 5454 IH

1 Register a notice of the message and information on how 

2 it can be obtained. 

3 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL PACKAGING RULES.—After enactment 

4 of— 

5 ‘‘(1) a joint resolution making continuing ap6 propriations; 

7 ‘‘(2) a supplemental appropriation bill; or 

8 ‘‘(3) an omnibus appropriation bill, 

9 covering some or all of the activities customarily funded 

10 in more than one regular appropriation bill, the President 

11 may propose as many as two packages rescinding funding 

12 contained in that legislation, each within the 45-day period 

13 specified in subsection (a). OMB shall not include the 

14 same rescission in both packages, and, if the President 

15 requests the rescission of more than one discrete amount 

16 of funding under the jurisdiction of a single subcommittee, 

17 OMB shall include each of those discrete amounts in the 

18 same package. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 1024. REQUESTS TO RESCIND FUNDING. 

20 ‘‘For each request to rescind funding, the transmittal 

21 message shall specify— 

22 ‘‘(1) the dollar amount to be rescinded; 

23 ‘‘(2) the agency, bureau, and account from 

24 which the rescission shall occur; 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 5454 IH

1 ‘‘(3) the program, project, or activity within the 

2 account (if applicable) from which the rescission 

3 shall occur; 

4 ‘‘(4) the amount of funding, if any, that would 

5 remain for the account, program, project, or activity 

6 if the rescission request is enacted; and 

7 ‘‘(5) the reasons the President requests the re8 scission. 

9 In addition, OMB shall designate each separate rescission 

10 request by number and shall include proposed legislative 

11 language to accomplish the requested rescission. The pro12 posed legislative language shall not include any changes 

13 in existing law other than the rescission of funding, and 

14 shall not include any supplemental appropriations, trans15 fers, or reprogrammings. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 1025. GRANTS OF AND LIMITATIONS ON PRESI17 DENTIAL AUTHORITY. 

18 ‘‘(a) PRESIDENTIAL AUTHORITY TO WITHHOLD

19 FUNDING.—If the President proposes a rescission of fund20 ing under this part, then notwithstanding any other provi21 sion of law, OMB is hereby authorized, subject to the time 

22 limits of subsection (c), to temporarily withhold that fund23 ing from obligation. 

24 ‘‘(b) EXPEDITED PROCEDURES AVAILABLE ONLY

25 ONCE PER BILL.—The President may not invoke the proVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:49 Jun 02, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5454.IH H5454

jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 5454 IH

1 cedures of this part, or the authority to withhold funding 

2 granted by subsection (a), on more than one occasion for 

3 any Act providing funding. 

4 ‘‘(c) TIME LIMITS.—OMB shall make available for 

5 obligation any funding withheld under subsection (a) on 

6 the earliest of— 

7 ‘‘(1) the day on which the President determines 

8 that the continued withholding or reduction no 

9 longer advances the purpose of legislative consider10 ation of the rescission request; 

11 ‘‘(2) starting from the day on which OMB 

12 transmitted a message to Congress requesting the 

13 rescission of funding, 25 calendar days in which the 

14 House of Representatives has been in session or 25 

15 calendar days in which the Senate has been in ses16 sion, whichever occurs second; or 

17 ‘‘(3) the last day after which the obligation of 

18 the funding in question can no longer be fully ac19 complished in a prudent manner before its expira20 tion. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 1026. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF RESCIS22 SION REQUESTS. 

23 ‘‘(a) PREPARATION OF LEGISLATION TO CONSIDER

24 A PACKAGE OF EXPEDITED RESCISSION REQUESTS.— 

25 When the House of Representatives receives a package of 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 5454 IH

1 expedited rescission requests, the Clerk shall prepare a 

2 House bill that only rescinds the amounts requested. The 

3 bill shall read as follows: 

4 ‘‘ ‘There is hereby enacted the rescissions num5 bered [insert number or numbers] as set forth in the 

6 Presidential message of [insert date] transmitted 

7 under part C of the Impoundment Control Act of 

8 1974 as amended.’. 

9 The Clerk shall include in the bill each numbered rescis10 sion request listed in the Presidential package in question, 

11 except that the Clerk shall omit a numbered rescission re12 quest if the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, 

13 after consulting with the Senate Budget Committee, CBO, 

14 GAO, and the House and Senate committees that have 

15 jurisdiction over the funding, determines that the num16 bered rescission does not refer to funding or includes mat17 ter not permitted under a request to rescind funding. 

18 ‘‘(b) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL OF LEGISLA19 TION TO ENACT A PACKAGE OF EXPEDITED RESCIS20 SIONS.—The majority leader or the minority leader of the 

21 House of Representatives, or a designee, shall (by request) 

22 introduce each bill prepared under subsection (a) not later 

23 than 4 days of session of the House after its transmittal, 

24 or, if no such bill is introduced within that period, any 

25 member of the House may introduce the required bill in 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 5454 IH

1 the required form on the fifth or sixth day of session of 

2 the House after its transmittal. When such an expedited 

3 rescission bill is introduced in accordance with the prior 

4 sentence, it shall be referred to the House committee of 

5 jurisdiction. A copy of the introduced House bill shall be 

6 transmitted to the Secretary of the Senate, who shall pro7 vide it to the Senate committee of jurisdiction. 

8 ‘‘(c) HOUSE REPORT AND CONSIDERATION OF LEG9 ISLATION TO ENACT A PACKAGE OF EXPEDITED RESCIS10 SIONS.—The House committee of jurisdiction shall report 

11 without amendment the bill referred to it under subsection 

12 (b) not more than 5 days of session of the House after 

13 the referral. The Committee may order the bill reported 

14 favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation. If the 

15 Committee has not reported the bill by the end of the 5- 

16 day period, the Committee shall be automatically dis17 charged from further consideration of the bill and it shall 

18 be placed on the appropriate calendar. 

19 ‘‘(d) HOUSE MOTION TO PROCEED.—After a bill to 

20 enact an expedited rescission package has been reported 

21 or the committee of jurisdiction has been discharged under 

22 subsection (c), it shall be in order to move to proceed to 

23 consider the bill in the House. A Member who wishes to 

24 move to proceed to consideration of the bill must announce 

25 that fact, and the motion to proceed shall be in order only 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 5454 IH

1 during a time designated by the Speaker within the legis2 lative schedule for the next calendar day of legislative ses3 sion or the one immediately following it. If the Speaker 

4 does not designate such a time, then 3 or more calendar 

5 days of legislative session after the bill has been reported 

6 or discharged, it shall be in order for any Member to move 

7 to proceed to consider the bill. A motion to proceed shall 

8 not be in order after the House has disposed of a prior 

9 motion to proceed with respect to that package of expe10 dited rescissions. The previous question shall be consid11 ered as ordered on the motion to proceed, without inter12 vening motion. A motion to reconsider the vote by which 

13 the motion to proceed has been disposed of shall not be 

14 in order. If 5 calendar days of legislative session have 

15 passed since the bill was reported or discharged under this 

16 subsection and no Member has made a motion to proceed, 

17 the bill shall be removed from the calendar. 

18 ‘‘(e) HOUSE CONSIDERATION.—A bill consisting of a 

19 package of rescissions shall be considered as read. All 

20 points of order against the bill are waived, except that a 

21 point of order may be made that one or more numbered 

22 rescissions included in the bill would enact language con23 taining matter not requested by the President or not per24 mitted under this Act as part of that package. If the Pre25 siding Officer sustains such a point of order, the numVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:49 Jun 02, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5454.IH H5454

jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 5454 IH

1 bered rescission or rescissions that would enact such lan2 guage are deemed to be automatically stripped from the 

3 bill and consideration proceeds on the bill as modified. The 

4 previous question shall be considered as ordered on the 

5 bill to its passage without intervening motion, except that 

6 4 hours of debate equally divided and controlled by a pro7 ponent and an opponent are allowed, as well as one motion 

8 to further limit debate on the bill. A motion to reconsider 

9 the vote on passage of the bill shall not be in order. 

10 ‘‘(f) SENATE CONSIDERATION.—If the House of Rep11 resentatives approves a House bill enacting a package of 

12 rescissions, that bill as passed by the House shall be sent 

13 to the Senate and referred to the Senate committee of ju14 risdiction. That committee shall report without amend15 ment the bill referred to it under this subsection not later 

16 than 3 days of session of the Senate after the referral. 

17 The committee may order the bill reported favorably, un18 favorably, or without recommendation. If the committee 

19 has not reported the bill by the end of the 3-day period, 

20 the committee shall be automatically discharged from fur21 ther consideration of the bill and it shall be placed on the 

22 appropriate calendar. On the following day and for 3 sub23 sequent calendar days in which the Senate is in session, 

24 it shall be in order for any Senator to move to proceed 

25 to consider the bill in the Senate. Upon such a motion 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 5454 IH

1 being made, it shall be deemed to have been agreed to 

2 and the motion to reconsider shall be deemed to have been 

3 laid on the table. Debate on the bill in the Senate under 

4 this subsection, and all debatable motions and appeals in 

5 connection therewith, shall not exceed 10 hours, equally 

6 divided and controlled in the usual form. Debate in the 

7 Senate on any debatable motion or appeal in connection 

8 with such a bill shall be limited to not more than 1 hour, 

9 to be equally divided and controlled in the usual form. A 

10 motion to further limit debate on such a bill is not debat11 able. A motion to amend such a bill or strike a provision 

12 from it is not in order. A motion to recommit such a bill 

13 is not in order. 

14 ‘‘(g) SENATE POINT OF ORDER.—It shall not be in 

15 order for the Senate to employ the procedures in this part 

16 while considering a bill approved by the House enacting 

17 a package of rescissions under this part if any numbered 

18 rescission in the bill would enact matter not requested by 

19 the President or not permitted under this Act as part of 

20 that package. If a point of order under this section is sus21 tained, consideration of the bill shall no longer be governed 

22 by subsection (f); instead, consideration shall be governed 

23 by the Standing Rules of the Senate and any other rules 

24 applicable to Senate consideration of legislation.’’. 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 5454 IH

1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con2 tents set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 

3 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by 

4 striking the items relating to part C of title 10 and insert5 ing the following new items: 

‘‘PART C—EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED RESCISSIONS

‘‘Sec. 1021. Applicability and disclaimer. 

‘‘Sec. 1022. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 1023. Timing and packaging of rescission requests. 

‘‘Sec. 1024. Requests to rescind funding. 

‘‘Sec. 1025. Grants of and limitations on presidential authority. 

‘‘Sec. 1026. Congressional consideration of rescission requests.’’. 

6 SEC. 3. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 

7 (a) TEMPORARY WITHHOLDING.—In section 1013(c) 

8 of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, strike ‘‘section 

9 1012.’’ and insert ‘‘section 1012 or section 1025.’’ 

10 (b) RULEMAKING.—Section 904(a) of the Congres11 sional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and 

12 1017’’ and inserting ‘‘1017, and 1026’’ and section 

13 904(d)(1) is amended by striking ‘‘or section 1017’’ and 

14 inserting ‘‘or section 1017 or 1026’’. 

15 SEC. 4. EXPIRATION. 

16 Part C of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as 

17 amended by this Act) shall expire on December 31, 2014. 

18 SEC. 5. AMENDMENTS TO PART A OF THE IMPOUNDMENT 

19 CONTROL ACT. 

20 Immediately after section 1001 of the Impoundment 

21 Control Act of 1974, insert the following: 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 5454 IH

1 ‘‘SEC. 1002. RESCINDED FUNDS. 

2 ‘‘If budget authority is rescinded under part B or 

3 funding is rescinded under part C, the amount so re4 scinded shall revert to the fund whence it came (general 

5 fund, trust fund, special fund, revolving fund, and so on 

6 as applicable), except to the extent legislation specifies 

7 otherwise. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 1003. SEVERABILITY. 

9 ‘‘If the judicial branch of the United States finally 

10 determines that one or more of the provisions of parts B 

11 or C violate the Constitution of the United States, the re12 maining provisions of those parts shall continue in ef13 fect.’’. 

Æ 


jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with BILLS