II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2183 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze certain 

legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing 

Federal programs, offices, and initiatives. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 18, 2019 

Mr. PAUL (for himself, Ms. HASSAN, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require the Comptroller General of the United States 

to analyze certain legislation in order to prevent duplication of and overlap with existing Federal programs, offices, and initiatives. 

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 ‘‘Duplication Scoring 

5 Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ASSESSMENTS OF REPORTED BILLS BY GAO. 

7 Section 719 of title 31, United States Code, is 

8 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(i)(1) In this subsection— 

2 ‘‘(A) the term ‘covered bill or resolution’ means 

3 a bill or joint resolution of a public character re4 ported by any committee of Congress (including the 

5 Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 

6 the Budget of either House); 

7 ‘‘(B) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

8 the Congressional Budget Office; 

9 ‘‘(C) the term ‘existing duplicative or overlap10 ping feature’ means an element of the Federal Gov11 ernment previously identified in a GAO duplication 

12 and overlap report; 

13 ‘‘(D) the term ‘GAO duplication and overlap re14 port’ means each annual report prepared by the 

15 Comptroller General under section 21 of the Joint 

16 Resolution entitled ‘Joint Resolution increasing the 

17 statutory limit on the public debt’, approved Feb18 ruary 12, 2010 (31 U.S.C. 712 note); and 

19 ‘‘(E) the term ‘new duplicative or overlapping 

20 feature’ means a new Federal program, office, or 

21 initiative created under a covered bill or joint resolu22 tion that would duplicate or overlap with an existing 

23 duplicative or overlapping feature. 

24 ‘‘(2) For each covered bill or joint resolution— 

25 ‘‘(A) the Comptroller General shall— 


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1 ‘‘(i) prepare an assessment— 

2 ‘‘(I) to determine whether the covered 

3 bill or joint resolution creates a new dupli4 cative or overlapping feature; and 

5 ‘‘(II) if the covered bill or joint resolu6 tion creates a new duplicative or overlap7 ping feature, that includes— 

8 ‘‘(aa) the name of the new Fed9 eral program, office, or initiative; and 

10 ‘‘(bb) a reference to— 

11 ‘‘(AA) the section of the cov12 ered bill or joint resolution at 

13 which the new duplicative or 

14 overlapping feature is estab15 lished; and 

16 ‘‘(BB) the GAO duplication 

17 and overlap report in which the 

18 existing duplicative or overlap19 ping feature is identified; 

20 ‘‘(ii) submit the assessment prepared 

21 under clause (i) to the Director; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) publish the assessment prepared 

23 under clause (i) on the website of the Govern24 ment Accountability Office; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (3), the Director 

2 may include the assessment submitted by the Comp3 troller General under subparagraph (A)(ii) with the 

4 estimate for the covered bill or joint resolution to 

5 which the assessment pertains submitted by the Di6 rector under section 402 of the Congressional Budg7 et Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653). 

8 ‘‘(3) If the Comptroller General has not submitted 

9 to the Director an assessment for a covered bill or joint 

10 resolution under paragraph (2)(A)(ii) on the date on 

11 which the Director submits the estimate for the covered 

12 bill or joint resolution to which the assessment pertains 

13 under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 

14 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653), the Director may, on the date on 

15 which the Comptroller General submits the assessment to 

16 the Director, prepare and submit to each applicable com17 mittee a version of the estimate for the covered bill or joint 

18 resolution that includes the assessment.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

20 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 

21 on the earlier of— 

22 (1) the date that is 60 days after the date on 

23 which the Director of the Office of Management and 

24 Budget next, in accordance with section 1122(a) of 

25 title 31, United States Code, updates the informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2183.IS S2183

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1 tion made available on the website required under 

2 that section; or 

3 (2) the date on which a new Congress begins 

4 after the date that is 1 year after the date of enact5 ment of this Act. 

Æ 


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