I

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4285

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

to reform the budget process, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1996

Mr. COX of California (for himself, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr.

GINGRICH, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. DELAY, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. LIVINGSTON,

Mr. ARCHER, Mr. KASICH, Mr. PAXON, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. CLINGER,

Mr. SOLOMON, Mr. GOSS, Mr. HORN, Mr. STENHOLM, Ms. HARMAN, Mr.

CONDIT, Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr.

POSHARD, Mr. MONTGOMERY, Mr. ROSE, Mr. PETE GEREN of Texas,

Mr. ALLARD, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. BAKER of Louisiana, Mr. BALLENGER, Mr. BARR of Georgia, Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. BARTLETT of Maryland, Mr. BASS, Mr. BATEMAN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BLILEY, Mr. BLUTE, Mr.

BOEHLERT, Mr. BONILLA, Mr. BONO, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. BRYANT of

Tennessee, Mr. BUNNING of Kentucky, Mr. BURR, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. BUYER, Mr. CALLAHAN, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CAMP, Mr. CAMPBELL, Mr. CANADY of Florida, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. CHABOT, Mr.

CHAMBLISS, Mrs. CHENOWETH, Mr. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CHRYSLER, Mr.

COBLE, Mr. COBURN, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, Mr. COMBEST, Mr.

COOLEY of Oregon, Mr. CRANE, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. CREMEANS, Mrs.

CUBIN, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr.

DICKEY, Mr. DOOLITTLE, Mr. DORNAN, Mr. DREIER, Mr. DUNCAN, Ms.

DUNN of Washington, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. EHRLICH, Mr. ENGLISH of

Pennsylvania, Mr. ENSIGN, Mr. EWING, Mr. FLANAGAN, Mr. FOLEY, Mr.

FOX of Pennsylvania, Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. FORBES, Mr. FRANKS

of New Jersey, Mr. FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN, Mr.

FRISA, Mr. FUNDERBURK, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GANSKE, Mr. GEKAS, Mr.

GILCHREST, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. GILMAN, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. GOODLING, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. GREENWOOD, Ms. GREENE of Utah, Mr. GUNDERSON, Mr. GUTKNECHT, Mr. HANCOCK, Mr. HANSEN, Mr. HASTERT,

Mr. HASTINGS of Washington, Mr. HAYES, Mr. HAYWORTH, Mr.

HEFLEY, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. HOKE, Mr.

HOSTETTLER, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. HYDE, Mr. INGLIS of

South Carolina, Mr. ISTOOK, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. SAM

JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JONES, Mrs. KELLY, Mr. KIM, Mr. KING, Mr.

KINGSTON, Mr. KLUG, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. KOLBE, Mr. LAHOOD,
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Mr. LATHAM, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. LAUGHLIN, Mr. LAZIO of New

York, Mr. LEACH, Mr. LEWIS of California, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr.

LIGHTFOOT, Mr. LINDER, Mr. LONGLEY, Mr. LUCAS of Oklahoma, Mr.

MCCOLLUM, Mr. MCCRERY, Mr. MCDADE, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr. MCINNIS,

Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MARTINI, Mr.

METCALF, Mrs. MEYERS of Kansas, Mr. MICA, Mr. MILLER of Florida,

Mr. MOORHEAD, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. NEUMANN, Mr.

NEY, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PACKARD, Mr. PARKER, Mr.

PETRI, Mr. POMBO, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. PRYCE, Mr. QUINN, Mr.

RADANOVICH, Mr. RAMSTAD, Mr. RIGGS, Mr. ROBERTS, Mr.

ROHRABACHER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. ROTH, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr.

ROYCE, Mr. SALMON, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. SCARBOROUGH,

Mr. SCHAEFER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. SEASTRAND, Mr. SENSENBRENNER,

Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SHAW, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SKEEN, Mr.

SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mrs. SMITH of Washington,

Mr. SMITH of Michigan, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. SPENCE, Mr. STEARNS, Mr.

STOCKMAN, Mr. STUMP, Mr. TALENT, Mr. TATE, Mr. TAUZIN, Mr.

THOMAS, Mr. THORNBERRY, Mr. TIAHRT, Mr. TORKILDSEN, Mr. UPTON,

Mrs. VUCANOVICH, Mr. WALKER, Mr. WALSH, Mr. WAMP, Mr. WATTS

of Oklahoma, Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania, Mr. WELDON of Florida,

Mr. WELLER, Mr. WHITE, Mr. WICKER, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WOLF,

and Mr. ZIMMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committees on Government Reform and Oversight, Appropriations, and 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 amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to reform the budget process, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

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

5 ‘‘Budget Process Reform Act’’.

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.

TITLE I—STATEMENT OF CONGRESSIONAL PURPOSE

Sec. 101. Improvement in decision-making process.

Sec. 102. Reform of fiscal management.

Sec. 103. Safeguards against delay and inaction.

TITLE II—BINDING BUDGET LAW

Sec. 201. Joint resolution establishing binding budget law.

Sec. 202. Budget required before spending bills may be considered.

Sec. 203. ‘‘Baseline’’ budgeting prohibited; objective year-to-year comparisons

required in budget law.

Sec. 204. ‘‘Rainy day’’ fund for natural disasters.

Sec. 205. President’s budget submissions.

TITLE III—ENFORCEMENT OF BUDGET DISCIPLINE

Subtitle A—Supermajority Required To Break Budget Law

Sec. 301. Two-thirds requirement for over-budget spending bills.

Sec. 302. Two-thirds requirement for waiver of this Act.

Subtitle B—Line Item Reduction

Sec. 303. Intent of Congress.

Sec. 304. President authorized to reduce spending to level contained in Congressional Budget Law.

Subtitle C—‘‘Blank Check’’ Appropriations Prohibited

Sec. 305. Intent of Congress.

Sec. 306. Fixed-dollar appropriations required.

Sec. 307. Agency authority to adjust expenditures to appropriated amounts.

Sec. 308. Budget authority and entitlement authority may cover only a single

fiscal period.

Subtitle D—‘‘Pay-as-You-Go’’ Requirement for New Spending

Sec. 309. Spending offsets required; two-thirds point of order.

Subtitle E—‘‘Lock-Box’’ for Savings From Spending Reductions

Sec. 310. Intent of Congress.

Sec. 311. Spending cuts by amendment to appropriations bills on House and

Senate floors.

Sec. 312. CBO reports on ‘‘lock-box’’ savings from floor amendments.

Sec. 313. Reduced spending allocations.

TITLE IV—SUSTAINING MECHANISM

Sec. 401. Automatic continuing resolution.

Sec. 402. Contingency regulations.

Sec. 403. Indefinite appropriations prohibited.

TITLE V—PROTECTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY

Sec. 501. Benefits protected against deficit reduction.

Sec. 502. Conforming amendment.
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TITLE VI—TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO FEDERAL LAW TO

CARRY OUT THIS ACT

Sec. 601. Amendments changing concurrent to joint resolutions.

Sec. 602. Further amendments to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Sec. 603. Technical amendments to the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Sec. 604. Technical amendments to title 31, United States Code.

TITLE VII—DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF INTERPRETATION

Sec. 701. Definitions.

Sec. 702. Use of terms.

Sec. 703. Effective date.

1 TITLE I—STATEMENT OF

2 CONGRESSIONAL PURPOSE

3 SEC. 101. IMPROVEMENT IN DECISION-MAKING PROCESS.

4 Because the Federal budget process is the principal

5 vehicle by which many of the most fundamental policy

6 choices in Government are made, the purpose of this Act

7 is to facilitate rational, informed, and timely decisions by

8 the Congress in the course of that process.

9 SEC. 102. REFORM OF FISCAL MANAGEMENT.

10 It is the sense of the Congress that a properly func11 tioning Federal budget process should focus the attention

12 of policymakers and the public on the aggregate impact

13 of Federal spending on the economy, and on the tradeoffs

14 that must be made among priorities in order to control

15 overall levels of spending. To this end, the Act is intended

16 to establish a budget process that, in each fiscal period—

17 (1) requires the adoption of a budget before,

18 not after, any spending begins;
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1 (2) produces decisions on that budget early in

2 the budgeting cycle;

3 (3) encourages cooperation between Congress

4 and the President in adopting the budget;

5 (4) ties each subsequent spending decision to

6 an overall, binding budget total;

7 (5) requires regular, periodic decisions on ap8 propriate spending levels for all Federal programs,

9 not just those arbitrarily deemed ‘‘controllable’’; and

10 (6) produces a bias in favor of fiscal respon11 sibility that can be overcome only if the Congress ex12 pressly determines to do so.

13 SEC. 103. SAFEGUARDS AGAINST DELAY AND INACTION.

14 The Congress further finds that a properly function15 ing budget process should contain safeguards against

16 delay and inaction, so that temporary shut-downs of the

17 Federal Government may be avoided when the President

18 and the Congress fail to complete work on the budget prior

19 to the beginning of a fiscal period. Accordingly, this Act

20 is intended to provide an enforcement mechanism that

21 gives meaning and importance to the timely adoption of

22 a budget, and a sustaining mechanism that ensures a con23 tinuation of the Government should the political process

24 produce deadlock or a failure to act in a timely fashion.
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1 TITLE II—BINDING BUDGET LAW

2 SEC. 201. JOINT RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING BINDING

3 BUDGET LAW.

4 (a) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—(1) To encourage early

5 consultation and cooperation between the Congress and

6 the President on decisions concerning overall spending lev7 els for all Federal programs, the Congress shall enact a

8 binding budget law, in the form of a joint resolution, by

9 April 15 of the calendar year before that in which the fis10 cal period commences. The amendments contained in this

11 section and the technical amendments contained in sec12 tions 601 and 701 of this Act are intended to assist in

13 the establishment of this requirement. The budget law it14 self shall fit on a single page, which sets forth specific

15 budget ceilings for the major functional categories which

16 together comprise the entire Federal budget.

17 (2) By thus requiring that the budget process begin

18 with highly generalized macroeconomic decisions about

19 spending in major functional categories, this section is in20 tended to facilitate agreement within Congress itself, and

21 between Congress and the President, on how much the

22 Federal Government should spend in the ensuing fiscal pe23 riod.
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1 (b) REVISION OF TIMETABLE.—Section 300 of the

2 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 631) is

3 amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘TIMETABLE

5 ‘‘SEC. 300. The timetable with respect to the Con6 gressional budget process for any Congress (beginning

7 with the One Hundred Fifth Congress) is as follows:

‘‘On or before: Action to be completed:

First Monday in February ............ President submits proposed one-page

budget law.

February 15 ................................... Congressional Budget Office submits

report to Budget Committees.

February 25 ................................... Committees submit views and estimates to Budget Committees.

March 31 ....................................... Budget Committees report joint resolution on the budget.

April 15 ......................................... Congress completes action on joint

resolution on the budget and transmits it to the President for signature or veto.

President signs joint resolution or

Congress overrides veto.

Authorization and appropriations bills

may be considered in the Congress.

15th day after enactment of joint

budget resolution.

President submits detailed budget

and supporting documents.

June 10 ......................................... House Appropriations Committee report last of annual appropriation

bills.

June 30 ......................................... House completes action on annual appropriation bills.

August 1 ........................................ Senate completes action on annual

appropriation bills.

September 30 ................................. Congress completes action on reconciliation legislation and annual

appropriation bills.

October 1 ....................................... Fiscal period begins. Congress completes all necessary action on budget, authorizations and appropriations, or automatic continuing resolution takes effect.’’.
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1 SEC. 202. BUDGET REQUIRED BEFORE SPENDING BILLS

2 MAY BE CONSIDERED.

3 (a) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—The purpose of this pro4 vision is to ensure that until the budget is signed into law,

5 no authorization or appropriations bill shall be considered

6 in the Congress.

7 (b) TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR ALL SPENDING

8 BILLS IN ABSENCE OF BUDGET LAW.—Section 303 of the

9 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by striking

10 subsections (b) and (c) and inserting the following new

11 subsection:

12 ‘‘(b) Unless and until a joint resolution on the budget

13 is enacted with respect to any major functional category

14 for a fiscal period, it shall not be in order in either the

15 House of Representatives or the Senate or any committee

16 or subcommittee thereof to mark up, amend, report, or

17 approve any spending bill affecting spending in that cat18 egory, unless such bill is required to be approved by the

19 affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a

20 quorum being present.’’.

21 (c) REPEALER.—Section 603 of the Congressional

22 Budget Act of 1974, providing for consideration of spend23 ing bills prior to adoption of the budget resolution, is re24 pealed.
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1 SEC. 203. ‘‘BASELINE’’ BUDGETING PROHIBITED; OBJEC2 TIVE YEAR-TO-YEAR COMPARISONS RE3 QUIRED IN BUDGET LAW.

4 In order to facilitate honest comparison of budget fig5 ures, the starting point for Presidential and congressional

6 budgets shall be the levels of outlays for the current fiscal

7 period. Any increases or decreases proposed in the budget

8 for the next fiscal period shall be measured from such lev9 els. The technical amendments contained in title VI of this

10 Act are intended to assist in the establishment of this re11 quirement.

12 SEC. 204. ‘‘RAINY DAY’’ FUND FOR NATURAL DISASTERS.

13 (a) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con14 gress, by this provision, to require that the budget contain

15 a separate functional category for a contingency fund for

16 natural disasters. This budget category shall specify the

17 amount of funds to be available for programs, projects,

18 and activities designed to provide relief in the case of

19 floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disas20 ters. Disbursements from this ‘‘Rainy Day’’ fund shall be

21 permitted only for certified natural disasters, and shall not

22 be used for any other purpose. The purpose of this section

23 is to ensure that the unanticipated costs of disaster relief

24 do not disrupt the budget process, and that instead such

25 costs are provided for at the beginning of the budget cycle.
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1 (b) AMENDMENT TO TITLE III OF THE CONGRES2 SIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974.—Title III of the Congres3 sional Budget Act of 1974 (as amended by section 311)

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:

5 ‘‘RAINY DAY FUND FOR NATURAL DISASTERS

6 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) CONTINGENCY RESERVE FOR NATU7 RAL DISASTERS.—The budget law shall include a major

8 functional category for natural disasters.

9 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS FROM NATURAL

10 DISASTER CATEGORY.—Any committee that receives an

11 allocation under section 602(a) for any budget authority

12 or outlays within functional category 950 (natural disas13 ters) may only report legislation providing that budget au14 thority or outlays if—

15 ‘‘(1) the President has made a request for such

16 disaster funds;

17 ‘‘(2) the programs to be funded are included in

18 the Presidential request; and

19 ‘‘(3) the projected obligations for unforeseen

20 emergency needs exceed the ten-year rolling average

21 annual expenditure for existing programs included in

22 the Presidential request for any applicable year.

23 ‘‘(c) MAINTENANCE OF STATE AND LOCAL EF24 FORTS.—States and local governments shall maintain cur25 rent disaster relief efforts so that Federal assistance pay26 ments do not replace, subvert, or otherwise have the effect
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1 of reducing regularly budgeted State and local expendi2 tures for law enforcement, fire fighting, road construction

3 and maintenance, building construction and maintenance

4 or any other category of regular government expenditure.

5 Federal payments for natural disasters within major func6 tional category 950 shall only be made for incremental

7 costs directly attributable to unforeseen events resulting

8 from unforeseen disasters, and shall not replace or reduce

9 regular State and local expenditures for the same or simi10 lar purposes.

11 ‘‘(d) INCENTIVE TO BUDGET SUFFICIENT FUNDS

12 FOR NATURAL DISASTERS.—In the event that the Con13 gress does not budget a sufficient amount for natural dis14 asters and then authorizes spending for natural disasters

15 in excess of the budgeted amount, the President shall im16 pound an amount equal to the excess in this or, if nec17 essary, subsequent fiscal years.

18 ‘‘(e) EXECUTIVE LIMITATIONS.—The President may

19 not waive any requirement for States or local governments

20 to make minimum matching payments as a condition of

21 receiving Federal payments for natural disasters within

22 major functional category 950 or waive all or part of any

23 repayment of Federal loans for any State or local govern24 ment matching share required as a condition of receiving

25 any such payment.
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1 ‘‘(f) CONGRESSIONAL LIMITATIONS.—The House of

2 Representatives or the Senate may only reduce or waive

3 any State matching requirement or forgive all or part of

4 loans for any State matching share as required under the

5 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist6 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) by an affirmative vote

7 of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being

8 present.’’.

9 SEC. 205. PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SUBMISSIONS.

10 (a) INTENT OF CONGRESS.—It is the intent of Con11 gress, by this provision, to require that not later than the

12 first Monday in February of each year before the begin13 ning of a new fiscal period the President submit a budget

14 of the United States Government for the following fiscal

15 period beginning on October 1 of the current calendar year

16 on a single page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings

17 in each major functional category. On or before the fif18 teenth day after a joint resolution on the budget is en19 acted, the President shall submit to the Congress a de20 tailed budget for that fiscal period, including all sum21 maries and explanations required under section 1105(a)

22 of title 31, United States Code.

23 (b) AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 31, UNITED STATES

24 CODE.—Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code

25 (relating to the contents of the President’s annual budget
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1 submission to the Congress), is amended by striking the

2 first two sentences thereof and all that follows through

3 ‘‘following:’’ and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

4 ‘‘(a)(1) Not later than the first Monday in February

5 of each year before that in which a fiscal period com6 mences, the President shall submit a budget of the United

7 States Government for the following fiscal period on a sin8 gle page, which sets forth specific budget ceilings in each

9 major functional category.

10 ‘‘(2) Not later than the fifteenth day after a joint

11 resolution on the budget for the following budget period

12 is enacted, the President shall submit a detailed budget

13 for that fiscal period, including a budget message and

14 summary and supporting information, including the fol15 lowing:’’.

16 TITLE III—ENFORCEMENT OF

17 BUDGET DISCIPLINE

18 Subtitle A—Supermajority

19 Required To Break Budget Law

20 SEC. 301. TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR OVER-BUDGET

21 SPENDING BILLS.

22 (a) ADDITIONAL CBO DUTIES.—Section 308 of the

23 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding

24 at the end the following new subsections:
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1 ‘‘(d) DETERMINATION OF BUDGET EFFECT OF PRO2 POSED SPENDING BILLS.—The Congressional Budget Of3 fice shall provide to the appropriate House of Congress

4 (or the appropriate committee, subcommittee, or con5 ference thereof) prior to any spending bill being voted on

6 by the House of Representatives or the Senate, or by any

7 subcommittee, committee, or conference committee there8 of, its estimate of the costs in each major functional cat9 egory attributable to that bill during the fiscal period in

10 which it is to become effective and in each of the next

11 4 years, together with the basis for such estimate. The

12 Congressional Budget Office report shall not be required,

13 however, if the Congressional Budget Office certifies that

14 a spending bill will likely result in applicable costs of less

15 than $10,000,000. For purposes of estimating the costs

16 attributable to any spending bill that includes new credit

17 authority, the report shall deem the difference between (1)

18 the market value of any loan or other credit made or guar19 anteed by the Federal Government during a fiscal period

20 (if the underlying obligation were sold by the Federal Gov21 ernment) and (2) its face amount, to be the costs attrib22 utable to such loan or guarantee in the fiscal period in

23 which it is made.

24 ‘‘(e) CBO REPORT REQUIRED PRIOR TO VOTE ON

25 SPENDING BILLS.—It shall not be in order in either the
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1 House of Representatives or the Senate, or in any sub2 committee, conference committee, or committee thereof, to

3 vote on any spending bill, unless and until the report re4 ferred to in subsection (d) has been made available to that

5 House of Congress or the appropriate committee, con6 ference committee, or subcommittee thereof. This require7 ment may be waived only by the affirmative vote of two8 thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present.’’.

9 (b) NEW BUDGET ENFORCEMENT POINT OF

10 ORDER.—Section 311 of the Congressional Budget Act of

11 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new

12 subsections:

13 ‘‘(d) TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR ALL OVER14 BUDGET SPENDING BILLS.—It shall not be in order in

15 either the House of Representatives or the Senate (or in

16 any committee, subcommittee, or conference committee

17 thereof) to vote on any spending bill that the report re18 ferred to in section 308(d) indicates would in any fiscal

19 period covered by the report exceed a budget ceiling, un20 less such bill is required to be approved by the affirmative

21 vote of two-thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being

22 present.

23 ‘‘(e) DETERMINATION OF SPENDING IN A CAT24 EGORY.—A spending bill shall be deemed to exceed a

25 budget ceiling if—
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1 ‘‘(1) its cost in any major functional category

2 as estimated in the report referred to in section

3 308(d);

4 ‘‘(2) all other budget authority, budget outlays,

5 and all entitlement authority, if any, in that major

6 functional category for the relevant fiscal periods

7 contained in any previously enacted legislation for

8 the fiscal period; and

9 ‘‘(3) to the extent that new budget authority or

10 entitlement authority for the relevant fiscal period

11 has not been granted (or modified or rescinded from

12 the level of the previous fiscal period) in any other

13 enacted legislation for any program within such

14 major functional category, the amounts of budget

15 authority and entitlement authority for such major

16 functional category (or part thereof) for the previous

17 fiscal period;

18 exceed the applicable budget ceiling for such major func19 tional category.’’.

20 SEC. 302. TWO-THIRDS REQUIREMENT FOR WAIVER OF

21 THIS ACT.

22 No waiver or contravention of any provision of this

23 Act, including the calendar deadlines for completion of

24 Congressional action, the provisions establishing par25 liamentary points of order, the provisions concerning over-
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1 budget spending, and the amendment of automatic con2 tinuing resolutions, shall be effective unless approved by

3 the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the Members of the

4 House of Representatives or the Senate, or both, as the

5 case may be, a quorum being present. No committee of

6 either the House of Representatives or the Senate shall

7 have jurisdiction to report a rule governing procedures for

8 consideration of spending bills covered by this Act, if such

9 rule would waive or violate the provisions of this section

10 or any other section of this Act. Nothing in this provision

11 shall be deemed to require a supermajority vote to amend

12 this Act. It shall not be in order in either the House of

13 Representatives or the Senate to proceed in violation of

14 this section.

15 Subtitle B—Line Item Reduction

16 SEC. 303. INTENT OF CONGRESS.

17 It is the purpose of this subtitle to provide a workable

18 means of enforcement of the binding budget law that Con19 gress is to enact prior to each fiscal period. The Presi20 dent’s line-item veto authority permits the elimination of

21 an appropriation, but does not permit enforcement of the

22 budget as written by Congress, a more traditional execu23 tive role. Line item reduction will permit enforcement of

24 the spending ceilings in the budget law already approved

25 by Congress, thus recognizing the respective roles given
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1 to the legislative branch to pass a budget law, and to the

2 executive branch to take care that it is faithfully executed.

3 SEC. 304. PRESIDENT AUTHORIZED TO REDUCE SPENDING

4 TO LEVEL CONTAINED IN CONGRESSIONAL

5 BUDGET LAW.

6 The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.

7 681 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 1013

8 the following new section:

9 ‘‘PRESIDENTIAL LINE-ITEM REDUCTION OF SPENDING IN

10 EXCESS OF LIMITS IN CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET LAW

11 ‘‘SEC. 1013A. (a) SCOPE OF LINE ITEM REDUCTION

12 AUTHORITY.—If the Congress, by two-thirds vote, as pre13 scribed in the Budget Process Reform Act, shall exceed

14 the budget ceilings in the binding budget law or an auto15 matic continuing resolution for a fiscal period, the Presi16 dent may exercise line-item reduction authority as pro17 vided in this section. The President’s line-item reduction

18 authority shall permit the reduction of over-budget spend19 ing in a major functional category to the level established

20 in the binding budget law or the automatic continuing res21 olution.

22 ‘‘(b) TRANSMITTAL OF MESSAGE DETAILING USE OF

23 LINE-ITEM REDUCTION.—The President shall transmit to

24 both Houses of Congress one or more special messages

25 detailing his use of line item reduction authority to rescind

26 (in whole or in part) items of budget authority or entitle-
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1 ment authority sufficient to ensure that the levels of budg2 et authority, entitlement authority, and outlays in a func3 tional category do not exceed the levels stated in the budg4 et law or an automatic continuing resolution for the appli5 cable fiscal period. The levels of budget authority, entitle6 ment authority, and outlays shall be determined on the

7 basis of the reports made by the Congressional Budget

8 Office pursuant to section 308.

9 ‘‘(c) CONTENTS OF SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Each spe10 cial message transmitted under subsection (a) shall speci11 fy, with respect to each item of budget authority to be

12 rescinded by line-item reduction, the matters referred to

13 in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 1012(a).

14 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENT NOT TO MAKE AVAILABLE FOR

15 OBLIGATION.—Any item of budget authority to be re16 scinded by means of line-item reduction as set forth in

17 a special message pursuant to this section shall not be

18 made available for obligation if, within 45 calendar days

19 after the transmittal by the President of such special mes20 sage to both Houses of Congress, a bill has not been en21 acted disapproving the line-item reduction of the amount

22 to be rescinded. Funds made available for obligation under

23 this procedure may not be included in a special message

24 again.’’.
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1 Subtitle C—‘‘Blank Check’’

2 Appropriations Prohibited

3 SEC. 305. INTENT OF CONGRESS.

4 It is the intent of Congress, by this provision, to put

5 an end to open-ended, ‘‘blank check’’ appropriations,

6 which typically provide for the spending of ‘‘such sums

7 as may be necessary.’’ By requiring explicit decisions con8 cerning the desired level of spending for each federal pro9 gram (except Social Security and interest on the debt),

10 it is intended that currently uncontrolled programs will be

11 brought within the discipline of an overall budget.

12 SEC. 306. FIXED-DOLLAR APPROPRIATIONS REQUIRED.

13 Section 401 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

14 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub15 section:

16 ‘‘(e) FIXED-DOLLAR APPROPRIATIONS.—(1) For

17 every account except Social Security, as defined in section

18 3(2)(B)(16) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and

19 interest on the debt—

20 ‘‘(A) every appropriation for a fiscal period for

21 any program, project, or activity (including claims,

22 judgments, and relief acts) shall be for a specific,

23 fixed dollar amount; and

24 ‘‘(B) any appropriations of ‘such sums as may

25 be necessary’ (except with respect to the automatic
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1 continuing resolution provided for by section 1311 of

2 title 31, United States Code) are hereby prohibited.

3 ‘‘(2) It shall not be in order in either the House of

4 Representatives or the Senate (or in any committee, sub5 committee, or conference) to consider any appropriation

6 that is in violation of paragraph (1).’’.

7 SEC. 307. AGENCY AUTHORITY TO ADJUST EXPENDITURES

8 TO APPROPRIATED AMOUNTS.

9 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code (as

10 amended by section 502) is amended by inserting after

11 section 1314 the following new section:

12 ‘‘§ 1315. Contingency regulations for former ‘blank13 check’ spending programs

14 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

15 head of each Executive agency that administers any pro16 gram that previously operated with ‘blank-check’ spending

17 authority shall provide for or approve the adjustments of

18 any agency expenditures, including eligibility require19 ments, or the scope, duration, level, and availability of

20 payments, salaries and benefits, grants, loans, benefits,

21 services, or reimbursements, or both, with respect to the

22 program, such that aggregate outlays for a fiscal period

23 do not exceed the fixed-dollar appropriation provided pur24 suant to section 401(e) of the Congressional Budget Act

25 of 1974 (requiring fixed-dollar appropriations). Notwith-
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1 standing any other provision of law, the obligation of the

2 United States to make payments (including loans and

3 grants) to any person or government shall be subject to

4 the authority granted under this section.

5 ‘‘(b) Before the beginning of a fiscal period, the head

6 of each Executive agency referred to in subsection (a) shall

7 promulgate a reasonably detailed plan for each of its pro8 grams that previously operated with ‘blank check’ spend9 ing authority, setting forth the manner in which the agen10 cy shall implement this section for that fiscal period.

11 ‘‘(c) In the event that any claim or judgment against

12 the United States exceeds the aggregate appropriations

13 for claims, judgments, and relief for the current fiscal pe14 riod, then the excess shall be paid first out of discretionary

15 funds appropriated in such fiscal period to the department

16 or agency against which the judgment or claim is due, next

17 out of unobligated funds appropriated to that department

18 or agency in such fiscal period, and finally out of such

19 funds as may be appropriated to that department or agen20 cy in the next and subsequent fiscal periods. The obliga21 tion set forth herein of a department or agency to pay

22 such claims or judgments in excess of amounts authorized

23 therefore in applicable judgment, claim and relief acts

24 shall supersede all other budget requirements for that de-
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1 partment or agency, any other provision of law to the con2 trary notwithstanding.’’.

3 SEC. 308. BUDGET AUTHORITY AND ENTITLEMENT AU4 THORITY MAY COVER ONLY A SINGLE FISCAL

5 PERIOD.

6 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code (as

7 amended by sections 401 and 402), is amended by insert8 ing after section 1312 the following new section:

9 ‘‘§ 1313. Budget authority and entitlement authority

10 must cover single fiscal period

11 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and

12 except as provided by subsection (b), no budget authority

13 or entitlement authority—

14 ‘‘(1) enacted on or after the date of enactment

15 of this section shall be effective for more than one

16 fiscal period; or

17 ‘‘(2) enacted before the date of enactment of

18 this section shall continue in effect beyond the end

19 of the first fiscal period beginning after the date of

20 enactment of this section.

21 ‘‘(b) Subsection (a) does not apply with respect to

22 appropriations for the repayment of indebtedness incurred

23 under chapter 31 or benefits payable under the old-age,

24 survivors, and disability insurance program established

25 under title II of the Social Security Act, as in effect on
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1 the date of enactment of the Budget Process Reform Act

2 of 1996.’’.

3 Subtitle D—‘‘Pay-as-You-Go’’

4 Requirement for New Spending

5 SEC. 309. SPENDING OFFSETS REQUIRED; TWO-THIRDS

6 POINT OF ORDER.

7 (a) SPENDING OFFSETS AND POINT OF ORDER.—

8 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is

9 amended by adding at the end the following new section:

10 ‘‘SPENDING OFFSETS REQUIRED

11 ‘‘SEC. 314. (a)(1) Except as provided by paragraph

12 (2), it shall not be in order in either the House of Rep13 resentatives or the Senate to consider any spending bill

14 that a report referred to in section 308(d) indicates would

15 in any fiscal period exceed a budget ceiling, unless the

16 Congressional Budget Office has further determined that

17 any such increased spending called for therein is offset

18 fully in each such fiscal period in that spending bill by

19 at least an equal amount of reductions in spending in the

20 same functional category.

21 ‘‘(2) In the case of a spending bill that a report re22 ferred to in section 308(d) indicates would in any fiscal

23 period would exceed a budget ceiling for the natural disas24 ter functional category, the increased spending called for

25 therein may be fully offset by at least an equal amount
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1 of reductions in spending in any other functional category

2 or categories.

3 ‘‘(b)(1) The point of order set forth in subsection

4 (a)(1) may be waived or suspended in the Senate or in

5 the House of Representatives, and an appeal of the ruling

6 of the Chair on a point of order raised under this section

7 may be sustained, only by the affirmative vote of two8 thirds of the Members voting, a quorum being present.

9 ‘‘(2) In the case of a spending bill covered by sub10 section (a)(2), an appeal of the ruling of the chair on a

11 point of order raised under paragraph (1) may be sus12 tained by a majority of the Members voting, a quorum

13 being present.’’.

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 602(e) of

15 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, providing for an

16 exemption in the House from pay-as-you-go rules, is re17 pealed.

18 Subtitle E—‘‘Lock-Box’’ for Savings

19 From Spending Reductions

20 SEC. 310. INTENT OF CONGRESS.

21 It is the purpose of this subtitle to establish proce22 dures to ensure that budget savings from House and Sen23 ate amendments to appropriations bills result in actual

24 spending cuts, rather than higher spending on other pro25 grams.
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1 SEC. 311. SPENDING CUTS BY AMENDMENT TO APPROPRIA2 TIONS BILLS ON HOUSE AND SENATE

3 FLOORS.

4 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

5 (as amended by section 311) is amended by adding at the

6 end the following new section:

7 ‘‘LOCK-BOX FOR SAVINGS FROM SPENDING REDUCTIONS

8 ‘‘SEC. 315. (a) CONTEMPORANEOUS RECORD OF

9 SPENDING CUT AMENDMENTS DURING FLOOR CONSID10 ERATION.—During floor consideration of any appropria11 tion bill, the Clerk of the House shall make available to

12 Members in the House of Representatives, and the Sec13 retary of the Senate shall make available to Members of

14 the Senate, a running tally of the amendments adopted

15 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority

16 from the levels in the bill as reported from the Committee

17 on Appropriations of that House.

18 ‘‘(b) CBO RECORD OF SPENDING REDUCTIONS.—

19 The Director of the Congressional Budget Office (the ‘Di20 rector’) shall maintain a record of net spending reductions

21 made by floor amendments to appropriation bills in the

22 House of Representatives and in the Senate. These ‘lock23 box’ totals shall be recorded for each subcommittee of the

24 respective Committees on Appropriations, separately re25 flecting the net amount of spending cuts made by the

26 House, and the net amount of spending cuts made by the
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1 Senate. Each total shall include only amounts correspond2 ing to amendments that result in net spending reductions.

3 ‘‘(c) CBO PROCEDURES FOR MAINTAINING RECORD

4 OF SPENDING CUTS.—(1) Upon the engrossment of any

5 appropriation bill by either House of Congress, the Direc6 tor shall credit the applicable appropriations subcommittee

7 ‘lock-box’ totals with amounts equal to the net reductions

8 in new budget authority and in outlays resulting from

9 floor amendments agreed to by that House.

10 ‘‘(2) CALCULATION OF ‘LOCK-BOX’ SAVINGS IN SEN11 ATE.—For purposes of calculating under this section and

12 section 315(a) the net amounts of reductions in new budg13 et authority and in outlays resulting from amendments

14 agreed to by the Senate on an appropriation bill, the

15 amendments reported to the Senate by its Committee on

16 Appropriations shall be considered to be part of the origi17 nal text of the bill.

18 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION.—As used in this section, the term

19 ‘appropriation bill’ means any general or special appro20 priation bill, and any bill or joint resolution making sup21 plemental, deficiency, or continuing appropriations.’’.

22 SEC. 312. CBO REPORTS ON ‘‘LOCK-BOX’’ SAVINGS FROM

23 FLOOR AMENDMENTS.

24 Section 308(b)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act

25 of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following
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1 new sentence: ‘‘Such reports shall also include an up-to2 date tabulation of the amounts contained in the record of

3 spending reductions under section 315(a).’’.

4 SEC. 313. REDUCED SPENDING ALLOCATIONS.

5 (a) ALLOCATIONS TO HOUSE AND SENATE COMMIT6 TEES ON APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 602(a) of the Con7 gressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at

8 the end the following new paragraph:

9 ‘‘(5) Upon the engrossment of Senate amend10 ments to any appropriation bill (as defined in section

11 315(d)), the amounts allocated under paragraph (1)

12 or (2) to the Committee on Appropriations of each

13 House shall be reduced by the amount of any ‘lock14 box’ savings, as follows: New budget authority shall

15 be reduced by the average of the applicable House

16 and Senate ‘lock-box’ totals. Outlays shall also be re17 duced by the average of the applicable House and

18 Senate totals. The revised levels of budget authority

19 and outlays shall be submitted to each House by the

20 chairman of the Committee on the Budget of that

21 House and shall be printed in the Congressional

22 Record. Once an allocation has been reduced under

23 this section, the same spending reduction shall not

24 be used to reduce it further.’’.
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1 (b) ALLOCATIONS TO SUBCOMMITTEES OF HOUSE

2 AND SENATE COMMITTEES ON APPROPRIATIONS.—Sec3 tion 602(b)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new sen5 tence: ‘‘Whenever an adjustment is made to an allocation

6 pursuant to subsection (a)(5), the chairman of the Com7 mittee on Appropriations of each House shall reduce the

8 most recent suballocations under subparagraph (A) by the

9 same total amount as that adjustment. The revised sub10 allocations shall be submitted to each House by the chair11 man of the Committee on Appropriations of that House

12 and shall be printed in the Congressional Record.’’.

13 TITLE IV—SUSTAINING

14 MECHANISM

15 SEC. 401. AUTOMATIC CONTINUING RESOLUTION.

16 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amend17 ed by inserting after section 1310 the following new sec18 tion:

19 ‘‘§ 1311. Automatic continuing resolution

20 ‘‘(a) If any appropriation bill, as defined in sub21 section (b) of this section, has not become law before the

22 beginning of a fiscal period, then the automatic continuing

23 resolution provided for in this section shall immediately

24 take effect. The automatic continuing resolution shall re25 main in effect for the entirety of the fiscal period, unless
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1 amended in whole or in part by two-thirds vote of both

2 Houses of Congress, as provided in section 302 of the

3 Budget Process Reform Act. If the automatic continuing

4 resolution shall take effect, then there is hereby appro5 priated, out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise

6 appropriated, and out of applicable corporate or other rev7 enues, receipts, and funds, an amount equal to the budget

8 authority for each program, project, or activity regularly

9 provided for under that appropriation bill in the most re10 cent fiscal period. In no case shall the total dollar amount

11 of appropriations for any program, project or activity pur12 suant to an automatic continuing resolution exceed the

13 fixed-dollar appropriation for such program, project, or ac14 tivity in the most recent appropriation Act, determined on

15 a fiscal-period basis. In no case shall the total dollar

16 amount of appropriations pursuant to an automatic con17 tinuing resolution for any program, project, or activity in

18 a major functional category, when added to all other

19 spending appropriated by law for that major functional

20 category, exceed the ceiling in a binding budget law in ef21 fect for the fiscal period.

22 ‘‘(b) ‘Appropriation bill’, for purposes of subsection

23 (a) of this section, means any of the 13 appropriations

24 bills that together comprise the regular appropriations

25 process, as revised to include any programs funded pursu-
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1 ant to ‘blank check’ spending authority, as that term is

2 defined in section 3(16) (2 U.S.C. 622), prior to the enact3 ment of the Budget Process Reform Act of 1996.’’.

4 SEC. 402. CONTINGENCY REGULATIONS.

5 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code (as

6 amended by section 401), is amended by inserting after

7 section 1311 the following new section:

8 ‘‘§ 1312. Contingency regulations for automatic con9 tinuing resolution

10 ‘‘(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and

11 except as provided by subsection (b), the head of each Ex12 ecutive agency shall provide for or approve the adjust13 ments of any agency expenditures, including eligibility re14 quirements, or the scope, duration, level, and availability

15 of payments, salaries and benefits, grants, loans, benefits,

16 services, or reimbursements, or both, such that aggregate

17 outlays for a fiscal period do not exceed the appropriation

18 provided pursuant to section 1311 (providing for an auto19 matic continuing resolution) for such fiscal period. Not20 withstanding any other provision of law, the obligation of

21 the United States to make payments (including loans and

22 grants) to any person or government shall be subject to

23 the authority granted under this section.

24 ‘‘(b) Exclusively for purposes of the implementation

25 of an automatic continuing resolution pursuant to section
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1 1311, in the case of social safety net programs, each State

2 shall have the option of receiving an aggregate amount

3 for the fiscal period for such programs equal to the

4 amount allocated for the benefit of persons in that State

5 in the preceding fiscal period for such programs. In the

6 event a State elects this option, it may, in its discretion,

7 allocate such aggregate amount among any or all of the

8 social safety net programs in the way that it determines

9 will best meet the needs of recipients in that State (in

10 which case such State may exercise the discretion over the

11 administration of such programs set forth in subsection

12 (a) of this section). Alternatively, each State shall have

13 the option of receiving for the fiscal period the amounts

14 it received for each social safety net program in the pre15 ceding fiscal period.

16 ‘‘(c) As used in this section—

17 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Executive agency’ has the mean18 ing given such term in section 105 of title 5, United

19 States Code; and

20 ‘‘(2) the term ‘social safety net programs’

21 means the following programs: family support pay22 ments, adoption assistance, child support enforce23 ment, food stamps, foster care, Medicaid, child nu24 trition programs, social services block grant, and

25 supplemental security income (SSI).’’.
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1 SEC. 403. INDEFINITE APPROPRIATIONS PROHIBITED.

2 Section 401(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of

3 1974 is amended to read as follows:

4 ‘‘(b) CONTROLS ON LEGISLATION PROVIDING FUND5 ING.—(1) It shall not be in order in either the House of

6 Representatives or the Senate to consider any bill, resolu7 tion, amendment, motion, or conference report that pro8 vides budget authority or spending authority described in

9 subsection (c)(2)(C) except a bill or resolution reported

10 by the Committee on Appropriations of that House or a

11 conference report made by a committee of conference all

12 of whose conferees are members of the Committee on Ap13 propriations.

14 ‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to Social Security

15 benefits, as defined in section 3(2)(B)(16) of this Act.’’.

16 TITLE V—PROTECTION OF

17 SOCIAL SECURITY

18 SEC. 501. BENEFITS PROTECTED AGAINST DEFICIT REDUC19 TION.

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require or

21 permit reductions in Social Security benefits otherwise

22 payable pursuant to applicable law or regulations.

23 SEC. 502. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.

24 Chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code (as

25 amended by section 310), is amended by inserting after

26 section 1313 the following new section:
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1 ‘‘§ 1314. Protection of social security from budget def2 icit reduction measures

3 ‘‘No reductions in benefits payable under the old-age,

4 survivors, and disability insurance program established

5 under title II of the Social Security Act shall be made as

6 a consequence of the Budget Process Reform Act.’’.

7 TITLE VI—TECHNICAL AMEND8 MENTS TO FEDERAL LAW TO

9 CARRY OUT THIS ACT

10 SEC. 601. AMENDMENTS CHANGING CONCURRENT TO

11 JOINT RESOLUTIONS.

12 (a) Sections 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 308, 310,

13 311, 401, 406, 602 (except subsection (d)), 603, 604, 605,

14 and 606(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2

15 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) are amended by striking ‘‘concurrent’’

16 each place it appears and by inserting ‘‘joint’’.

17 (b) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) of

18 the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

19 of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘Concurrent’’ in the item

20 relating to section 303 and inserting ‘‘Joint’’ and by strik21 ing ‘‘concurrent’’ in the items relating to sections 301 and

22 304 and inserting ‘‘joint’’.

23 (c) Clauses 1(d)(2), 4(a)(2), 4(b)(2), 4(g), 4(h), and

24 4(i) of rule X, clause 2(l)(6) of rule XI, clause 7 of rule

25 XV, clause 8 of rule XXIII, and rule XLIX of the Rules
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1 of the House of Representatives are amended by striking

2 ‘‘concurrent’’ and by inserting ‘‘joint’’.

3 (d) Section 258C(b)(1) of the Balanced Budget and

4 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by

5 striking ‘‘concurrent’’ and by inserting ‘‘joint’’.

6 SEC. 602. FURTHER AMENDMENTS TO THE CONGRES7 SIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974.

8 (a) The table of contents set forth in section 1(b) of

9 the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

10 of 1974—

11 (1) relating to section 302 is amended to read

12 as follows:

‘‘Sec. 302. Two-thirds requirement for over-budget spending bills.’’;

13 (2) is amended by striking ‘‘new budget author14 ity, new spending authority,’’ and the comma before

15 ‘‘or changes’’ in the item relating to section 303;

16 and

17 (3) is amended by inserting after the item relat18 ing to section 313 the following new items:

‘‘Sec. 314. Spending offsets required.

‘‘Sec. 315. Lock-box for savings from spending reductions.

‘‘Sec. 316. Rainy day fund for natural disasters.’’.

19 (b) Section 302(f) of the Congressional Budget Act

20 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633(f)) is amended—

21 (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘(1) IN THE

22 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—’’, by striking ‘‘new

23 budget authority for such fiscal year, new entitle-
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1 ment authority effective during such fiscal year, or’’

2 and by striking ‘‘new discretionary budget authority,

3 new entitlement authority, or’’; and

4 (2) by striking paragraph (2).

5 (c) Section 303 of the Congressional Budget Act of

6 1974 is amended—

7 (1) in its heading by striking ‘‘NEW BUDGET

8 AUTHORITY, NEW SPENDING AUTHORITY,’’ and the

9 comma before ‘‘OR CHANGES’’; and

10 (2) in subsection (a) by striking paragraphs

11 (1), (4) and (5) and by redesignating paragraphs

12 (2), (3), and (6) as paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), re13 spectively.

14 (d) Section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act of

15 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new

16 subsection:

17 ‘‘(c) In the House of Representatives and in the Sen18 ate, the vote on final passage upon the adoption of any

19 joint resolution on the budget which revises any joint reso20 lution pursuant to this section shall require the approval

21 of two-thirds of those voting, a quorum being present.’’.

22 (e) The last sentence of clause 4(b) of rule XI of the

23 Rules of the House of Representatives is amended by in24 serting before the period at the end the following: ‘‘; nor

25 shall it report any rule or order which would waive any
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1 point of order set forth in the Budget Process Reform Act

2 or any amendment made by it’’.

3 (f) The first sentence of section 202(f)(1) of the Con4 gressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended to read as fol5 lows: ‘‘On or before February 15 of each year, the Direc6 tor shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of the

7 House of Representatives and the Senate a report, for the

8 fiscal period commencing on October 1 of that year, with

9 respect to fiscal policy, including (A) estimated budget

10 outlays in all functions and subfunctions for appropriated

11 accounts for the current fiscal period and estimated budg12 et outlays under current law for all entitlement programs

13 for the next fiscal period, and (B) alternative levels of total

14 revenues, total new budget authority, and total outlays

15 (including related surpluses and deficits) compared to

16 comparable levels for the current fiscal period.’’.

17 (g) Section 202(f)(3) of the Congressional Budget

18 Act of 1974 is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ before ‘‘(B)’’

19 and inserting a comma, and by inserting before the period

20 at the end the following: ‘‘, and (C) all programs and ac21 tivities that fall within section 401(c)(2)(C)’’.

22 (h) Section 308(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget

23 Act of 1974 is amended—

24 (1) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘, and

25 shall include a comparison of those levels to com-
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1 parable levels for the current fiscal period’’ before

2 ‘‘if timely submitted’’; and

3 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara4 graph (C), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘;

5 and’’ at the end of subparagraph (D), and by adding

6 at the end the following new subparagraph:

7 ‘‘(E) comparing the levels in existing pro8 grams in such measure to the levels for the cur9 rent fiscal period.’’.

10 (i) Except for purposes of adjusting the discretionary

11 spending limits set forth in section 601(a)(2) of the Con12 gressional Budget Act of 1974, section 257(c) of the Bal13 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

14 is amended—

15 (1) in the second sentence of paragraph (1), by

16 striking ‘‘sequentially and cumulatively’’ and by

17 striking ‘‘for inflation as specified in paragraph

18 (5),’’; and

19 (2) by striking paragraph (5) and redesignating

20 paragraph (6) as paragraph (5).

21 (j) Section 301(e) of the Congressional Budget Act

22 of 1974 is amended—

23 (1) by inserting after the second sentence the

24 following: ‘‘The starting point for the President and

25 the Congressional Budget Office and for any delib-
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1 erations in the Committee on the Budget of each

2 House on the joint resolution on the budget for the

3 next fiscal period shall be the level of outlays for the

4 current fiscal period in each function and subfunc5 tion. Any increases or decreases in the Congressional

6 budget for the next and subsequent fiscal periods

7 shall be from such levels.’’;

8 (2) by amending paragraph (3) to read as fol9 lows:

10 ‘‘(3) a comparison of spending levels for the

11 current fiscal period with proposed spending levels

12 for the subsequent fiscal periods along with the pro13 posed increase or decrease of spending in percentage

14 terms for each function and subfunction;’’ and

15 (3) by amending paragraph (8) to read as fol16 lows:

17 ‘‘(8) information, data, and comparisons indi18 cating the manner in which and the basis on which

19 the committee determined each of the matters set

20 forth in the joint resolution on the budget, including

21 information on outlays for the current fiscal period

22 and the decisions reached to set funding for the sub23 sequent fiscal periods;’’.
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1 SEC. 603. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO THE IMPOUND2 MENT CONTROL ACT OF 1974.

3 (a) Section 1014 of the Impoundment Control Act

4 of 1974 is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘1012 or 1013’’ each place it

6 appears and inserting ‘‘1012, 1013, or 1013A’’;

7 (2) in subsection (b)(1) by striking ‘‘1012’’ and

8 inserting ‘‘1012 or 1013A’’; and

9 (3) in subsection (e)(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at

10 the end of subparagraph (A), by redesignating sub11 paragraph (B) as subparagraph (C), by striking

12 ‘‘1013’’ in subparagraph (C) (as redesignated), and

13 by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following

14 new subparagraph:

15 ‘‘(B) he has transmitted a special message

16 under section 1013A with respect to a proposed

17 rescission; and’’.

18 (b) Section 1015 is amended by striking ‘‘1012 or

19 1013’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘1012, 1013,

20 or 1013A’’.

21 (c) Section 1012(b) is amended by inserting before

22 the last sentence the following new sentence: ‘‘The preced23 ing sentence shall not apply to any item or portion of any

24 item of budget authority proposed by the President to be

25 rescinded under this section that the President has also

26 proposed to rescind under section 1013A and with respect
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1 to which the 45-day period referred to in subsection (e)

2 of such section has not expired.’’.

3 (d) The table of sections set forth in section 1(b) is

4 amended by inserting after the item relating to section

5 1013 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 1013A. Rescission of spending outside of congressional budget.’’.

6 SEC. 604. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 31, UNITED

7 STATES CODE.

8 (a)(1) Paragraph (5) of section 1105(a) of title 31,

9 United States Code, is amended to read as follows:

10 ‘‘(5) except as provided in subsection (b) of this

11 section, estimated expenditures and appropriations

12 for the current fiscal period and estimated expendi13 tures and proposed appropriations the President de14 cides are necessary to support the Government in

15 the fiscal period for which the budget is submitted

16 and the 4 years following that period;’’.

17 (2) Section 1105(a)(6) of title 31, United States

18 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘current fiscal period and

19 the’’ before ‘‘fiscal year’’.

20 (3) Section 1105(a)(12) of title 31, United States

21 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara22 graph (A), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’

23 at the end of subparagraph (B), and by adding at the end

24 the following new subparagraph:
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1 ‘‘(C) the estimated amount for the same activ2 ity (if any) in the current fiscal period.’’.

3 (4) Section 1105(a)(18) of title 31, United States

4 Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘new budget authority

5 and’’ before ‘‘budget outlays’’.

6 (5) Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code,

7 is amended by adding at the end the following new para8 graph:

9 ‘‘(32) a comparison of levels of estimated ex10 penditures and proposed appropriations for each

11 function and subfunction in the current fiscal period

12 and the fiscal period for which the budget is submit13 ted, along with the proposed increase or decrease of

14 spending in percentage terms for each function and

15 subfunction.’’.

16 (b) Section 1109(a) of title 31, United States Code,

17 is amended by adding after the first sentence the following

18 new sentence: ‘‘These estimates shall not include any ad19 justment for inflation.’’.

20 (c) Section 1104(c) of title 31, United States Code,

21 is amended by striking the second and third sentences and

22 inserting the following new sentence: ‘‘However, a func23 tional category in the budget may be changed only by law

24 and the subfunctions comprising any such category may

25 also only be changed by law except to the extent necessary
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1 to initially establish appropriate subfunctions within func2 tional category 950 (natural disasters).’’.

3 (d) Section 1312(b) of title 31, United States Code,

4 as added by section 402 of this Act, is amended by adding

5 at the end thereof the following new sentence: ‘‘The deci6 sion of a State to receive either an aggregate amount for

7 such programs (and its allocation of benefits among such

8 programs) or the amounts it received for, each such pro9 gram shall not be reviewable in any Federal court.’’.

10 (e) The analysis of chapter 13 of title 31, United

11 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat12 ing to section 1310 the following new items:

‘‘Sec. 1311. Automatic continuing resolution.

‘‘Sec. 1312. Contingency regulations for automatic continuing resolution.

‘‘Sec. 1313. Budget authority and entitlement authority must cover single fiscal

period.

‘‘Sec. 1314. Protection of Social Security from budget deficit reduction measures.

‘‘Sec. 1315. Contingency regulations for former ‘blank-check’ spending programs.’’.

13 TITLE VII—DEFINITIONS AND

14 RULES OF INTERPRETATION

15 SEC. 701. DEFINITIONS.

16 (a) DEFINITION OF BUDGET LAW.—Section 3(4) of

17 the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act

18 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622(4)), containing general definitions,

19 is amended to read as follows:

20 ‘‘(4) The term ‘budget law’ or ‘joint resolution

21 on the budget’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) a joint resolution setting forth the

2 simplified budget for the United States Govern3 ment for a fiscal period as provided in section

4 301; and

5 ‘‘(B) any other joint resolution revising the

6 budget for the United States Government for a

7 fiscal period as described in section 304.’’.

8 (b) CHANGING DEFINITION OF BUDGET AUTHORITY

9 TO EXCLUDE OFFSETTING RECEIPTS.—Section 3(2)(A)

10 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control

11 Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622(2)(A)) is amended by inserting

12 ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (ii), by striking ‘‘; and’’ at

13 the end of clause (iii), and by striking clause (iv).

14 (c) ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS.—Section 3 of the

15 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of

16 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622) is amended by adding at the end

17 the following new paragraphs:

18 ‘‘(11) The term ‘major functional category’ re19 fers to a grouping of budget authority, budget out20 lays, and credit authority into any one of the follow21 ing categories:

22 ‘‘Function 050: National Defense

23 ‘‘Function 150: International Affairs

24 ‘‘Function 250: General Science, Space

25 and Technology
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1 ‘‘Function 270: Energy

2 ‘‘Function 300: Natural Resources and

3 Environment

4 ‘‘Function 350: Agriculture

5 ‘‘Function 400: Transportation

6 ‘‘Function 450: Community and Regional

7 Development

8 ‘‘Function 500: Education, Training, Em9 ployment and Social Services

10 ‘‘Function 550: Health

11 ‘‘Function 570: Medicare

12 ‘‘Function 600: Welfare, Federal Employee

13 Benefits, and Social Transfer Payments

14 ‘‘Function 650: Social Security

15 ‘‘Function 700: Veterans Benefits and

16 Services

17 ‘‘Function 750: Administration of Justice

18 ‘‘Function 800: General Government

19 ‘‘Function 900: Net Interest

20 ‘‘Function 920: Allowances

21 ‘‘Function 950: Natural Disasters.’’.

22 For purposes of this definition, the foregoing func23 tional classifications shall be deemed to include the

24 subfunctions corresponding thereto as set forth in

25 the Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget
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1 Process published by the United States General Ac2 counting Office (Revised January 1993).

3 ‘‘(12) The term ‘budget ceiling’ means the dol4 lar amount set forth in a budget law for a major

5 functional category.

6 ‘‘(13) The term ‘spending’ means budget au7 thority, spending authority, credit authority, or out8 lays of the term ‘spending bill’ means any bill or res9 olution, or amendment thereto or conference report

10 thereon, which provides budget authority, spending

11 authority, credit authority, or outlays.

12 ‘‘(14) The term ‘blank-check’ spending author13 ity means authority (whether temporary or perma14 nent) to make payments (including loans and

15 grants), the budget authority for which is not pro16 vided for in advance by appropriation Acts, to any

17 person or government if, under the provisions of the

18 law containing such authority, the United States is

19 obligated to make such payments to persons or gov20 ernments who meet the requirements established by

21 such law: Provided, That such term does not include

22 Social Security or interest on the debt.

23 ‘‘(15) The term ‘fiscal period’ means a twelve24 month fiscal year beginning on October 1 of a cal-
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1 endar year for the management of the budget of the

2 United States.

3 ‘‘(16) The term ‘Social Security’ means the Old

4 Age, Survivors, and Disability Program established

5 under title II of the Social Security Act, as in effect

6 on the date of enactment of the Budget Process Re7 form Act of 1996.’’.

8 SEC. 702. USE OF TERMS.

9 Whenever any term is used in this Act which is de10 fined in section 3 of the Congressional Budget and Im11 poundment Control Act of 1974, the term shall have the

12 meaning given to such term in that Act.

13 SEC. 703. EFFECTIVE DATE.

14 This Act and the amendments made by it shall be15 come effective January 1, 1997, and shall apply to the

16 budget process for fiscal periods beginning after Septem17 ber 30, 1997.

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