I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4663

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

Act of 1985 to establish discretionary spending limits and a pay-asyou-go requirement for mandatory spending. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 23, 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 establish discretionary 

spending limits and a pay-as-you-go requirement for 

mandatory spending.

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)(1) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
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1 Control Act of 1985 (relating to fiscal year 2004) is 

2 amended—

3 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

4 ‘‘$31,834,000,000’’ and inserting 

5 ‘‘$28,052,000,000’’; and 

6 (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

7 ‘‘$1,462,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,436,000,000’’ 

8 and by striking ‘‘$6,629,000,000’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘$6,271,000,000’’. 

10 (2) Section 251(c)(2) of the Balanced Budget and 

11 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by in12 serting a dash after ‘‘2005’’, by redesignating the remain13 ing portion of such paragraph as subparagraph (D) and 

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

15 the dash the following new subparagraphs: 

16 ‘‘(A) for the general purpose discretionary 

17 category: $817,726,000,000 in new budget au18 thority and $866,056,000,000 in outlays; 

19 ‘‘(B) for the highway category: 

20 $30,585,000,000 in outlays; and 

21 ‘‘(C) for the mass transit category: 

22 $1,554,000,000 in new budget authority and 

23 $6,787,000,000 in outlays; and’’. 

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

25 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by in-
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1 serting a dash after ‘‘2006’’, by redesignating the remain2 ing portion of such paragraph as subparagraph (D) and 

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

4 the dash the following new subparagraphs: 

5 ‘‘(A) for the general purpose discretionary 

6 category: $839,167,000,000 in new budget au7 thority and $851,731,000,000 in outlays; 

8 ‘‘(B) for the highway category: 

9 $33,271,000,000 in outlays; and 

10 ‘‘(C) for the mass transit category: 

11 $1,671,000,000 in new budget authority and 

12 $7,585,000,000 in outlays; and’’. 

13 (4) Section 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and 

14 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by re15 designating paragraphs (4) through (9) as paragraphs (7) 

16 through (12) and inserting after paragraph (3) the fol17 lowing new paragraphs: 

18 ‘‘(4) with respect to fiscal year 2007—

19 ‘‘(A) for the highway category: 

20 $35,248,000,000 in outlays; and 

21 ‘‘(B) for the mass transit category: 

22 $1,785,000,000 in new budget authority and 

23 $8,110,000,000 in outlays;

24 ‘‘(5) with respect to fiscal year 2008—
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1 ‘‘(A) for the highway category: 

2 $36,587,000,000 in outlays; and 

3 ‘‘(B) for the mass transit category: 

4 $1,890,000,000 in new budget authority and 

5 $8,517,000,000 in outlays; and 

6 ‘‘(6) with respect to fiscal year 2009—

7 ‘‘(A) for the highway category: 

8 $37,682,000,000 in outlays; and 

9 ‘‘(B) for the mass transit category: 

10 $2,017,000,000 in new budget authority and 

11 $8,968,000,000 in outlays;’’. 

12 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c)(4) of the Bal13 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

14 is amended—

15 (1) in subparagraph (B), by—

16 (A) striking ‘‘the Transportation Equity 

17 Act for the 21st Century and the Surface 

18 Transportation Extension Act of 2003’’ and in19 serting ‘‘the Transportation Equity Act: A Leg20 acy for Users’’; and 

21 (B) inserting before the period at the end 

22 the following new clauses: 

23 ‘‘(v) 69-8158-0-7-401 (Motor Carrier Safe24 ty Grants). 
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1 ‘‘(vi) 69-8159-0-7-401 (Motor Carrier 

2 Safety Operations and Programs).’’; 

3 (2) in subparagraph (C), by—

4 (A) inserting ‘‘(and successor accounts)’’ 

5 after ‘‘budget accounts’’; and 

6 (B) striking ‘‘the Transportation Equity 

7 Act for the 21st Century and the Surface 

8 Transportation Extension Act of 2003 or for 

9 which appropriations are provided pursuant to 

10 authorizations contained in those Acts (except 

11 that appropriations provided pursuant to sec12 tion 5338(h) of title 49, United States Code, as 

13 amended by the Transportation Equity Act for 

14 the 21st Century, shall not be included in this 

15 category)’’ and inserting ‘‘the Transportation 

16 Equity Act: A Legacy for Users or for which 

17 appropriations are provided pursuant to author18 izations contained in that Act’’; and 

19 (3) in subparagraph (D)(ii), by striking ‘‘sec20 tion 8103 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 

21 21st Century’’ and inserting ‘‘section 8103 of the 

22 Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users’’. 
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1 SEC. 3. ADJUSTMENTS TO ALIGN HIGHWAY SPENDING 

2 WITH REVENUES. 

3 Subparagraphs (B) through (E) of section 251(b)(1) 

4 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

5 Act of 1985 are amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘(B) ADJUSTMENT TO ALIGN HIGHWAY

7 SPENDING WITH REVENUES.—(i) When the 

8 President submits the budget under section 

9 1105 of title 31, United States Code, OMB 

10 shall calculate and the budget shall make ad11 justments to the highway category for the budg12 et year and each outyear as provided in clause 

13 (ii)(I)(cc). 

14 ‘‘(ii)(I)(aa) OMB shall take the actual level 

15 of highway receipts for the year before the cur16 rent year and subtract the sum of the estimated 

17 level of highway receipts in subclause (II) plus 

18 any amount previously calculated under item 

19 (bb) for that year. 

20 (bb) OMB shall take the current estimate 

21 of highway receipts for the current year and 

22 subtract the estimated level of receipts for that 

23 year. 

24 ‘‘(cc) OMB shall add one-half of the sum 

25 of the amount calculated under items (aa) and 

26 (bb) to the obligation limitations set forth in 
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1 the section 8103 of the Transportation Equity 

2 Act: A Legacy for Users and, using current es3 timates, calculate the outlay change resulting 

4 from the change in obligations for the budget 

5 year and the first outyear and the outlays flow6 ing therefrom through subsequent fiscal years. 

7 After making the calculations under the pre8 ceding sentence, OMB shall adjust the amount 

9 of obligations set forth in that section for the 

10 budget year and the first outyear by adding 

11 one-half of the sum of the amount calculated 

12 under items (aa) and (bb) to each such year. 

13 ‘‘(II) The estimated level of highway re14 ceipts for the purposes of this clause are—

15 ‘‘(aa) for fiscal year 2004, 

16 $30,572,000,000; 

17 ‘‘(bb) for fiscal year 2005, 

18 $34,260,000,000; 

19 ‘‘(cc) for fiscal year 2006, 

20 $35,586,000,000; 

21 ‘‘(dd) for fiscal year 2007, 

22 $36,570,000,000; 

23 ‘‘(ee) for fiscal year 2008, 

24 $37,603,000,000; and
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1 ‘‘(ff) for fiscal year 2009, 

2 $38,651,000,000. 

3 ‘‘(III) In this clause, the term ‘highway re4 ceipts’ means the governmental receipts cred5 ited to the highway account of the Highway 

6 Trust Fund. 

7 ‘‘(C) In addition to the adjustment required by 

8 subparagraph (B), when the President submits the 

9 budget under section 1105 of title 31, United States 

10 Code, for fiscal year 2006, 2007, 2008, or 2009, 

11 OMB shall calculate and the budget shall include for 

12 the budget year and each outyear an adjustment to 

13 the limits on outlays for the highway category and 

14 the mass transit category equal to—

15 ‘‘(i) the outlays for the applicable category 

16 calculated assuming obligation levels consistent 

17 with the estimates prepared pursuant to sub18 paragraph (D), as adjusted, using current tech19 nical assumptions; minus 

20 ‘‘(ii) the outlays for the applicable category 

21 set forth in the subparagraph (D) estimates, as 

22 adjusted. 

23 ‘‘(D)(i) When OMB and CBO submit their final 

24 sequester report for fiscal year 2004, that report 

25 shall include an estimate of the outlays for each of 
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1 the categories that would result in fiscal years 2005 

2 through 2009 from obligations at the levels specified 

3 in section 8103 of the Transportation Equity Act: A 

4 Legacy for Users using current assumptions. 

5 ‘‘(ii) When the President submits the budget 

6 under section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, 

7 for fiscal year 2006, 2007, 2008, or 2009, OMB 

8 shall adjust the estimates made in clause (i) by the 

9 adjustments by subparagraphs (B) and (C). 

10 ‘‘(E) OMB shall consult with the Committees 

11 on the Budget and include a report on adjustments 

12 under subparagraphs (B) and (C) in the preview re13 port.’’. 

14 SEC. 4. LEVEL OF OBLIGATION LIMITATIONS. 

15 (a) HIGHWAY CATEGORY.—For the purposes of sec16 tion 251(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Def17 icit Control Act of 1985, the level of obligation limitations 

18 for the highway category is—

19 (1) for fiscal year 2004, $34,309,000,000; 

20 (2) for fiscal year 2005, $35,671,000,000; 

21 (3) for fiscal year 2006, $36,719,000,000; 

22 (4) for fiscal year 2007, $37,800,000,000; 

23 (5) for fiscal year 2008, $38,913,000,000; and 

24 (6) for fiscal year 2009, $40,061,000,000. 
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1 (b) MASS TRANSIT CATEGORY.—For the purposes of 

2 section 251(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

3 Deficit Control Act of 1985, the level of obligation limita4 tions for the mass transit category is—

5 (1) for fiscal year 2004, $7,266,000,000; 

6 (2) for fiscal year 2005, $7,750,000,000; 

7 (3) for fiscal year 2006, $8,266,000,000; 

8 (4) for fiscal year 2007, $8,816,000,000; 

9 (5) for fiscal year 2008, $9,403,000,000; and 

10 (6) for fiscal year 2009, $10,029,000,000. 

11 For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘obligation limi12 tations’’ means the sum of budget authority and obligation 

13 limitations. 

14 SEC. 5. ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 Section 251 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

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

17 end the following new subsection: 

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

19 years 2005 through 2006, discretionary advance appro20 priations provided in appropriation Acts in excess of 

21 $23,558,000,000 shall be counted against the discre22 tionary spending limits for the fiscal year for which the 

23 appropriation Act containing the advance appropriation is 

24 enacted.’’. 
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1 SEC. 6. EXTENSION OF PAY-AS-YOU-GO REQUIREMENT. 

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

3 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

4 amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to as6 sure that any legislation that is enacted before October 

7 1, 2009, that causes a net increase in direct spending will 

8 trigger an offsetting sequestration.’’. 

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

10 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

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

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

13 increase in direct spending enacted before October 1, 

14 2009,’’. 

15 (c) CALCULATION OF DIRECT SPENDING IN16 CREASE.—Section 252(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and 

17 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended—

18 (1) by striking ‘‘deficit’’ the first place it ap19 pears and inserting ‘‘direct spending’’; 

20 (2) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and re21 ceipts’’; 

22 (3) in subparagraph (C) by striking ‘‘and re23 ceipts’’; and 

24 (4) by amending the heading to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘CALCULATION OF DIRECT SPENDING INCREASE.—

26 ’’.
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1 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—(1) The heading 

2 of section 252(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

3 Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended to read as follows: 

4 ‘‘ELIMINATING A DIRECT SPENDING INCREASE.—’’. 

5 (2) Paragraphs (1), (2), and (4) of section 252(d) 

6 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

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

8 place it appears. 

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

10 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by 

11 striking ‘‘or receipts’’ and by striking ‘‘, outlays, and re12 ceipts’’ and inserting ‘‘and outlays’’. 

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

14 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended—

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

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

17 or decrease in direct spending’’; 

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

19 of deficit increase or decrease’’ and by inserting ‘‘in20 crease or decrease in direct spending’’; and 

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

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

23 spending’’. 
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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

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

3 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

4 amended by adding at the end the following new para5 graphs: 

6 ‘‘(20) The term ‘advance appropriation’ means 

7 appropriations that first become available one fiscal 

8 year or more beyond the fiscal year for which an ap9 propriation Act making such funds available is en10 acted. 

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

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

13 provision that provides new budget authority and re14 sulting outlays for a situation that poses a threat to 

15 life, property, or national security and is—

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

17 not building up over time; 

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

19 need requiring immediate action; 

20 ‘‘(iii) subject to subparagraph (B), unfore21 seen, unpredictable, and unanticipated; and 

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

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

24 level of anticipated emergencies, particularly when 

25 normally estimated in advance, is not unforeseen.’’. 
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1 (b) FIRE SUPPRESSION; CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS

2 RELATED TO GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM.—Section 

3 251(b)(2) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

4 Control Act of 1985 is amended by adding at the end the 

5 following new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(I) FIRE SUPPRESSION.—(i) If a bill or 

7 joint resolution is enacted that provides new 

8 budget authority for wildland fire suppression 

9 for fiscal year 2005 or fiscal year 2006 that 

10 would cause the level of total new budget au11 thority for wildland fire suppression to exceed 

12 the base amount for that fiscal year, the adjust13 ment for that fiscal year shall be the additional 

14 new budget authority provided for such purpose 

15 and the additional outlays flowing from such 

16 amounts, but shall not exceed—

17 ‘‘(I) for the Forest Service for fiscal year 

18 2005 or fiscal year 2006 (as applicable), 

19 $400,000,000; and 

20 ‘‘(II) for the Department of the Interior 

21 for fiscal year 2005 or fiscal year 2006 (as ap22 plicable), $100,000,000. 

23 ‘‘(ii) For this subparagraph, the term ‘‘base 

24 amount’’ refers to the average of the obligations of 

25 the 10 fiscal years preceding the current year for 
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1 wildfire suppression in the Forest Service and in the 

2 Department of the Interior, as calculated by OMB, 

3 but for fiscal year 2005 the base amount is 

4 $880,000,000. 

5 ‘‘(J) CONTINGENCY OPERATIONS RELATED

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

7 year 2005, appropriations for discretionary ac8 counts are enacted for contingency operations 

9 related to the global war on terrorism that, pur10 suant to this subparagraph, the President des11 ignates as a contingency operation related to 

12 the global war on terrorism and the Congress 

13 so designates in statute, the adjustment shall be 

14 the total of such appropriations in discretionary 

15 accounts so designated, but not to exceed 

16 $50,000,000,000, and the outlays flowing in all 

17 fiscal years from such appropriations.’’. 

18 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The second sen19 tence of section 250(c)(4)(A) of the Balanced Budget and 

20 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended to 

21 read as follows: ‘‘The general purpose discretionary cat22 egory shall consist of accounts designated in the joint ex23 planatory statement of managers accompanying the con24 ference report on the Spending Control Act of 2004.’’.
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1 SEC. 8. PROJECTIONS UNDER SECTION 257. 

2 Section 257(c) of the Balanced Budget and Emer3 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by inserting 

4 after paragraph (6) the following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(7) EMERGENCIES.—New budgetary resources 

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

7 251(b)(2)(J) shall not be assumed beyond the fiscal 

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

9 SEC. 9. EXCEPTION FOR OUTLAY COMPONENTS OF EXPIR10 ING RECEIPTS LEGISLATION. 

11 Section 252(d)(4) of the Balanced Budget and Emer12 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by striking 

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

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

15 (B), and by adding at the end the following new subpara16 graph: 

17 ‘‘(C) extending provisions in the Economic 

18 Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 

19 2001 or provisions in sections 101 through 104, 

20 section 202, or sections 301 and 302 of the 

21 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act 

22 of 2003.’’. 

23 SEC. 10. REPORTS. 

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

25 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

26 1985 are amended by striking ‘‘2002’’ and inserting 
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1 ‘‘2006 (or 2009 solely for purposes of enforcing the discre2 tionary spending limits for the highway and mass transit 

3 categories)’’. 

4 SEC. 11. EXPIRATION. 

5 Section 275(b) of the Balanced Budget and Emer6 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended by striking 

7 ‘‘2002’’ and inserting ‘‘2006 (or 2009 solely for purposes 

8 of enforcing the discretionary spending limits for the high9 way and mass transit categories)’’ and by striking ‘‘2006’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘2013’’. 

11 SEC. 12. TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO THE BALANCED 

12 BUDGET AND EMERGENCY DEFICIT CONTROL 

13 ACT OF 1985. 

14 Part C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Def15 icit Control Act of 1985 is amended as follows: 

16 (1) In section 250(a), strike ‘‘SEC. 256. GEN17 ERAL AND SPECIAL SEQUESTRATION 

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

19 sequestration rules’’ in the item relating to section 

20 256. 

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

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

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

24 (3) In section 250(c)(18), insert ‘‘of’’ after ‘‘ex25 penses’’. 
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1 (4) In section 251(b)(1)(A), strike ‘‘commit2 tees’’ the first place it appears and insert ‘‘Commit3 tees’’. 

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

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

6 (6) In section 251(b)(1)(D)(ii), strike ‘‘fiscal 

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

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

9 ‘‘budget year’’. 

10 (8) In section 252(c)(1)(C)(i), strike ‘‘para11 graph (1)’’ and insert ‘‘subsection (b)’’. 

12 (9) In section 254(c)(3)(A), strike ‘‘subsection’’ 

13 and insert ‘‘section’’. 

14 (10) In section 254(f)(4), strike ‘‘subsection’’ 

15 and insert ‘‘section’’ and strike ‘‘sequesterable’’ and 

16 insert ‘‘sequestrable’’. 

17 (11) In section 255(g)(1)(B), move the four18 teenth undesignated clause 2 ems to the right. 

19 (12) In section 255(g)(2), insert ‘‘and’’ after 

20 the semicolon at the end of the next-to-last undesig21 nated clause. 

22 (13) In section 255(h)—

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

24 ninth undesignated clause; 
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1 (B) insert ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon at the 

2 end of the tenth undesignated clause; and 

3 (C) strike the semicolon at the end and in4 sert a period. 

5 (14) In section 256(k)(1), strike ‘‘paragraph 

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

7 (15) In section 257(b)(2)(A)(i), strike 

8 ‘‘differenes’’ and insert ‘‘differences’’.

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