II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2911 

To reduce the deficit by establishing 5-year discretionary spending caps and 

strengthened Pay-As-You-Go procedures. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 18, 2009 

Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. BUNNING, Mr. VITTER, Mr. LEMIEUX, Mr. 

ENZI, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. BARRASSO, and Mr. HATCH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Budget 

A BILL 

To reduce the deficit by establishing 5-year discretionary 

spending caps and strengthened Pay-As-You-Go procedures. 

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 ‘‘Common Sense Budg5 eting Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—DISCRETIONARY 

2 SPENDING LIMITS 

3 SEC. 101. DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS. 

4 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

5 is amended by inserting at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS

7 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIM8 ITS.—It shall not be in order in the House of Representa9 tives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, 

10 amendment, or conference report that includes any provi11 sion that would cause the discretionary spending limits as 

12 set forth in subsection (b) to be exceeded. 

13 ‘‘(b) LIMITS.—The discretionary spending limits are 

14 as follows: 

15 ‘‘(1) For fiscal year 2010— 

16 ‘‘(A) for defense, $556,128,000,000 in 

17 budget authority; and 

18 ‘‘(B) for nondefense, $670,108,000,000 in 

19 budget authority. 

20 ‘‘(2) For fiscal year 2011— 

21 ‘‘(A) for defense, $564,293,000,000 in 

22 budget authority; and 

23 ‘‘(B) for nondefense, $593,769,000,000 in 

24 budget authority. 

25 ‘‘(3) For fiscal year 2012— 


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1 ‘‘(A) for defense, $573,612,000,000 in 

2 budget authority; and 

3 ‘‘(B) for nondefense, $597,461,000,000 in 

4 budget authority. 

5 ‘‘(4) For fiscal year 2013— 

6 ‘‘(A) for defense, $584,421,000,000 in 

7 budget authority; and 

8 ‘‘(B) for nondefense, $605,156,000,000 in 

9 budget authority. 

10 ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2014— 

11 ‘‘(A) for defense, $598,249,000,000 in 

12 budget authority; and 

13 ‘‘(B) for nondefense, $615,110,000,000 in 

14 budget authority. 

15 ‘‘(c) POINT OF ORDER IN THE SENATE.— 

16 ‘‘(1) WAIVER.—The provisions of this section 

17 shall be waived or suspended in the Senate only— 

18 ‘‘(A) by the affirmative vote of two-thirds 

19 of the Members, duly chosen and sworn; or 

20 ‘‘(B) in the case of the defense budget au21 thority, if Congress declares war. 

22 ‘‘(2) APPEAL.—Appeals in the Senate from the 

23 decisions of the Chair relating to any provision of 

24 this section shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally 

25 divided between, and controlled by, the appellant 


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1 and the manager of the measure. An affirmative 

2 vote of two-thirds of the Members of the Senate, 

3 duly chosen and sworn, shall be required to sustain 

4 an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of 

5 order raised under this section.’’. 

6 TITLE II—PAY-AS-YOU-GO 

7 SEC. 201. PAY-AS-YOU-GO POINT OF ORDER IN THE SENATE. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 

9 Budget Act of 1974, as amended by section 101, is 

10 amended by inserting at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘PAY-AS-YOU-GO

12 ‘‘SEC. 317. (a) POINT OF ORDER.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in 

14 the Senate to consider any direct spending or rev15 enue legislation that would increase the on-budget 

16 deficit or cause an on-budget deficit for either of the 

17 applicable time periods as measured in paragraphs 

18 (5) and (6). 

19 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE TIME PERIODS.—For pur20 poses of this subsection, the term ‘applicable time 

21 period’ means any 1 of the 4 following periods— 

22 ‘‘(A) the period of the current fiscal year; 

23 ‘‘(B) the budget year; 

24 ‘‘(C) the period of the 5 fiscal years fol25 lowing the current fiscal year; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) the period of the 5 fiscal years fol2 lowing the 5 fiscal years referred to in subpara3 graph (C). 

4 ‘‘(3) DIRECT SPENDING LEGISLATION.—For 

5 purposes of this subsection and except as provided 

6 in paragraph (4), the term ‘direct spending legisla7 tion’ means any bill, joint resolution, amendment, 

8 motion, or conference report that affects direct 

9 spending as that term is defined by, and interpreted 

10 for purposes of, the Balanced Budget and Emer11 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

12 ‘‘(4) EXCLUSION.—For purposes of this sub13 section, the terms ‘direct spending legislation’ and 

14 ‘revenue legislation’ do not include— 

15 ‘‘(A) any concurrent resolution on the 

16 budget; or 

17 ‘‘(B) any provision of legislation that af18 fects the full funding of, and continuation of, 

19 the deposit insurance guarantee commitment in 

20 effect on the date of enactment of the Budget 

21 Enforcement Act of 1990. 

22 ‘‘(5) METHODS FOR ESTIMATION.—Estimates 

23 prepared pursuant to this subsection shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) use the baseline surplus or deficit 

2 used for the most recently adopted concurrent 

3 resolution on the budget; 

4 ‘‘(B) except as provided in subparagraphs 

5 (C) and (D), be calculated under the require6 ments of subsections (b) through (d) of section 

7 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

8 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (as in effect prior 

9 to September 30, 2002) for fiscal years beyond 

10 those covered by that concurrent resolution on 

11 the budget; and 

12 ‘‘(C) assume the continuation of all expir13 ing direct spending programs, revenue reduc14 tions, excise taxes and customs duties. 

15 ‘‘(b) SUPERMAJORITY WAIVER AND APPEALS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) WAIVER.—This section may be waived or 

17 suspended in the Senate only by the affirmative vote 

18 of two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and 

19 sworn. 

20 ‘‘(2) APPEALS.—Appeals in the Senate from 

21 the decisions of the Chair relating to any provision 

22 of this section shall be limited to 1 hour, to be 

23 equally divided between, and controlled by, the ap24 pellant and the manager of the bill or joint resolu25 tion, as the case may be. An affirmative vote of twoVerDate Nov 24 2008 22:17 Dec 21, 2009 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2911.IS S2911

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1 thirds of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen 

2 and sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of 

3 the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised 

4 under this section. 

5 ‘‘(c) DETERMINATION OF BUDGET LEVELS.—For 

6 purposes of this section, the levels of new budget author7 ity, outlays, and revenues for a fiscal year shall be deter8 mined on the basis of estimates made by the Senate Com9 mittee on the Budget. 

10 ‘‘(d) REPEAL.—In the Senate, section 201 of S. Con. 

11 Res. 21 (110th Congress), the fiscal year 2008 concurrent 

12 resolution on the budget, shall no longer apply.’’. 

13 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents set 

14 forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Im15 poundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by inserting 

16 after the item relating to section 315 the following new 

17 item: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Discretionary spending limits. 

‘‘Sec. 317. Pay-as-you-go.’’. 

Æ 


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