I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3973

To amend part C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

Act of 1985 to extend the discretionary spending limits and pay-asyou-go through fiscal year 2009. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 16, 2004

Mr. NUSSLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Budget 

A BILL

To amend part C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

Deficit Control Act of 1985 to extend the discretionary 

spending limits and pay-as-you-go through fiscal year 

2009.

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 ‘‘Spending Control Act 

5 of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS. 

7 (a) DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS.—(1) Section 

8 251(c)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
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1 Control Act of 1985 is amended by inserting a dash after 

2 ‘‘2005’’, by redesignating the remaining portion of such 

3 paragraph as subparagraph (B) and by moving it two ems 

4 to the right, and by inserting after the dash the following 

5 new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(A) for the general purpose discretionary 

7 category: $llll in new budget authority 

8 and $llll in outlays; and’’. 

9 (2) Section 251(c)(3) of the Balanced Budget and 

10 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by in11 serting a dash after ‘‘2006’’, by redesignating the remain12 ing portion of such paragraph as subparagraph (B) and 

13 by moving it two ems to the right, and by inserting after 

14 the dash the following new subparagraph: 

15 ‘‘(A) for the general purpose discretionary 

16 category: $llll in new budget authority 

17 and $llll in outlays; and’’. 

18 (3) Section 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and 

19 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by re20 designating paragraphs (4) through (9) as paragraphs (7) 

21 through (12) and inserting after paragraph (3) the fol22 lowing new paragraphs: 

23 ‘‘(4) with respect to fiscal year 2007 for the 

24 general purpose discretionary category: $llll

25 in new budget authority and $llll in outlays; 
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1 ‘‘(5) with respect to fiscal year 2008 for the 

2 general purpose discretionary category: $llll

3 in new budget authority and $llll in outlays; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(6) with respect to fiscal year 2009 for the 

6 general purpose discretionary category: $llll

7 in new budget authority and $llll in outlays;’’. 

8 (b) ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 251 of the 

9 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

10 1985 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

11 subsection: 

12 ‘‘(d) ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS.—In any of fiscal 

13 years 2005 through 2009, discretionary advance appro14 priations provided in appropriation Acts in excess of 

15 $llll shall be counted against the discretionary 

16 spending limits for the fiscal year for which the appropria17 tion Act containing the advance appropriation is en18 acted.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF PAY-AS-YOU-GO REQUIREMENT. 

20 (a) PURPOSE.—Section 252(a) of the Balanced 

21 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

22 amended to read as follows: 

23 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to as24 sure that any legislation that is enacted before October 
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1 1, 2009, that causes a net increase in direct spending will 

2 trigger an offsetting sequestration.’’. 

3 (b) TIMING.—Section 252(b)(1) of the Balanced 

4 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

5 amended by striking ‘‘any net deficit increase’’ and all 

6 that follows through ‘‘2002,’’ and by inserting ‘‘any net 

7 increase in direct spending enacted before October 1, 

8 2009,’’. 

9 (c) CALCULATION OF DIRECT SPENDING IN10 CREASE.—Section 252(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and 

11 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended—

12 (1) by striking ‘‘deficit’’ the first place it ap13 pears and inserting ‘‘direct spending’’; 

14 (2) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and re15 ceipts’’; 

16 (3) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘and re17 ceipts’’; and 

18 (4) by amending its side heading to read as fol19 lows: ‘‘CALCULATION OF DIRECT SPENDING IN20 CREASE’’. 

21 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) The side head22 ing of section 252(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emer23 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended to read as 

24 follows: ‘‘ELIMINATING A DIRECT SPENDING INCREASE’’. 
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1 (2) Paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of section 252(d) 

2 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

3 Act of 1985 are amended by striking ‘‘or receipts’’ each 

4 place it appears. 

5 (3) Section 252(e) of the Balanced Budget and 

6 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by 

7 striking ‘‘or receipts’’ and by striking ‘‘, outlays, and re8 ceipts’’ and inserting ‘‘and outlays’’. 

9 (4) Section 254(c)(3) of the Balanced Budget and 

10 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended—

11 (A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘net deficit 

12 increase or decrease’’ and by inserting ‘‘net increase 

13 or decrease in direct spending’’; 

14 (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking ‘‘amount 

15 of deficit increase or decrease’’ and by inserting ‘‘in16 crease or decrease in direct spending’’; and 

17 (C) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘a deficit 

18 increase’’ and by inserting ‘‘an increase in direct 

19 spending’’. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 

22 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is

23 amended by adding at the end the following new para24 graphs: 
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1 ‘‘(20) The term ‘advance appropriation’ means 

2 appropriations that first become available one fiscal 

3 year or more beyond the fiscal year for which an ap4 propriation Act making such funds available is en5 acted. 

6 ‘‘(21)(A) Except as provided by subparagraph 

7 (B), the term ‘emergency requirement’ means any 

8 provision that provides new budget authority and re9 sulting outlays for a situation that poses a threat to 

10 life, property, or national security and is—

11 ‘‘(i) sudden, quickly coming into being, and 

12 not building up over time; 

13 ‘‘(ii) an urgent, pressing, and compelling 

14 need requiring immediate action; 

15 ‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (B), unfore16 seen, unpredictable, and unanticipated; and 

17 ‘‘(iv) not permanent, temporary in nature. 

18 ‘‘(B) An emergency that is part of an aggregate 

19 level of anticipated emergencies, particularly when 

20 normally estimated in advance, is not unforeseen.’’. 

21 (b) CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS RELATED TO GLOB22 AL WAR ON TERRORISM.—Section 251(b)(2) of the Bal23 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

24 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub25 paragraph: 
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1 ‘‘(I) CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS RELATED

2 TO GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM.—If, for fiscal 

3 year 2005, supplemental appropriations for dis4 cretionary accounts are enacted for contingency 

5 operations related to the global war on ter6 rorism that, pursuant to this subparagraph, the 

7 President designates as a contingency operation 

8 related to the global war on terrorism and the 

9 Congress so designates in statute, the adjust10 ment shall be the total of such appropriations 

11 in discretionary accounts so designated and the 

12 outlays flowing in all fiscal years from such ap13 propriations.’’. 

14 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen15 tence of section 250(c)(4)(A) of the Balanced Budget and 

16 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended to 

17 read as follows: ‘‘The general purpose discretionary cat18 egory shall consist of accounts designated in the joint ex19 planatory statement of managers accompanying the con20 ference report on the Spending Control Act of 2004.’’. 

21 SEC. 5. PROJECTIONS UNDER SECTION 257. 

22 Section 257(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emer23 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by inserting 

24 after paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: 
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1 ‘‘(7) EMERGENCIES.—New budgetary resources 

2 designated under section 251(b)(2)(A) or 

3 251(b)(2)(I) shall not be assumed beyond the fiscal 

4 year for which they have been enacted.’’. 

5 SEC. 6. EXCEPTION FOR OUTLAY COMPONENTS OF EXPIR6 ING RECEIPTS LEGISLATION. 

7 Section 252(d)(4) of the Balanced Budget and Emer8 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by striking 

9 ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (A), by striking the 

10 period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ at the end of subparagraph 

11 (B), and by adding at the end the following new subpara12 graph: 

13 ‘‘(C) extending provisions in the Economic 

14 Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 

15 2001 or provisions in sections 101 through 104, 

16 section 202, or sections 301 and 302 of the 

17 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act 

18 of 2003.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. REPORTS. 

20 Subsections (c)(2) and (f)(2)(A) of section 254 of the 

21 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

22 1985 are amended by striking ‘‘2002’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘2009’’. 
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1 SEC. 8. EXPIRATION. 

2 Section 275(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emer3 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by striking 

4 ‘‘2002’’ and inserting ‘‘2009’’ and by striking ‘‘2006’’ and 

5 inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

6 SEC. 9. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE BALANCED 

7 BUDGET AND EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL 

8 ACT OF 1985. 

9 Part C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Def10 icit Control Act of 1985 is amended as follows: 

11 (1) In section 250(a), strike ‘‘SEC. 256. GEN12 ERAL AND SPECIAL SEQUESTRATION 

13 RULES’’ and insert ‘‘Sec. 256. General and special 

14 sequestration rules’’ in the item relating to section 

15 256. 

16 (2) In subparagraphs (F), (G), (H), (I), (J), 

17 and (K) of section 250(c)(4), insert ‘‘subparagraph’’ 

18 after ‘‘described in’’ each place it appears. 

19 (3) In section 250(c)(18), insert ‘‘of’’ after ‘‘ex20 penses’’. 

21 (4) In section 251(b)(1)(A), strike ‘‘commit22 tees’’ the first place it appears and insert ‘‘Commit23 tees’’. 

24 (5) In section 251(b)(1)(C)(i), strike ‘‘fiscal 

25 years’’ and insert ‘‘fiscal year’’. 
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1 (6) In section 251(b)(1)(D)(ii), strike ‘‘fiscal 

2 years’’ and insert ‘‘fiscal year’’. 

3 (7) In section 252(b)(2)(B), insert ‘‘the’’ before 

4 ‘‘budget year’’. 

5 (8) In section 251(c)(5), move subparagraph 

6 (A) 2 ems to the right. 

7 (9) In section 252(c)(1)(C)(i), strike ‘‘para8 graph (1)’’ and insert ‘‘subsection (b)’’. 

9 (10) In section 254(c)(3), amend subparagraph 

10 (A) to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(A) The amount of the sequestration, if 

12 any, calculated under section 252(b).’’. 

13 (11) In section 254(f)(4), strike ‘‘subsection’’ 

14 and insert ‘‘section’’ and strike ‘‘sequesterable’’ and 

15 insert ‘‘sequestrable’’. 

16 (12) In section 255(g)(1)(B), move the four17 teenth undesignated clause 2 ems to the right. 

18 (13) In section 255(g)(2), insert ‘‘and’’ after 

19 the semicolon at the end of the next-to-last undesig20 nated paragraph. 

21 (14) In section 255(h)—

22 (A) strike ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon in the 

23 ninth undesignated clause; 

24 (B) insert ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the 

25 end of the tenth undesignated clause; and 
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1 (C) strike the semicolon at the end and in2 sert a period. 

3 (15) In section 256(k)(1), strike ‘‘paragraph 

4 (5)’’ and insert ‘‘paragraph (6)’’. 

5 (16) In section 257(b)(2)(A)(i), strike 

6 ‘‘differenes’’ and insert ‘‘differences’’.

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