IV 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 133

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a 

discretionary spending ledger and a mandatory spending ledger. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 6, 2003

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. CANNON, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. RYUN of 

Kansas, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. GIBBONS, Mr. OTTER, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. PITTS, Ms. HART, Mrs. MYRICK, 

and Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 

RESOLUTION

Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 

establish a discretionary spending ledger and a mandatory spending ledger.

1 Resolved, The Rules of the House of Representatives 

2 are amended by redesignating rule XXVIII as rule XXX 

3 and by inserting after rule XXVII the following new rules: 

4 ‘‘RULE XXVIII 

5 ‘‘DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LEDGER. 

6 ‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg7 et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Discre8 tionary Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided 
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1 into entries corresponding to the subcommittees of the 

2 Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist 

3 of the ‘Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’. 

4 ‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred5 ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative 

6 amount shall be made. 

7 ‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to an 

8 appropriation bill to reduce new budget authority in any 

9 account, that Member may state the portion of such reduc10 tion that shall be—

11 ‘‘(1) credited to the Deficit Reduction Safe12 guard Balance; 

13 ‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in new budget 

14 authority in any other account; or 

15 ‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable 

16 section 302(b) suballocation. 

17 If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction 

18 in new budget authority resulting from the amendment 

19 shall be credited to the Deficit Reduction Safeguard Bal20 ance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed to. 

21 ‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the 

22 chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the 

23 engrossment of any appropriation bill by the House of 

24 Representatives, credit to the entry balance amounts of 

25 new budget authority and outlays equal to the net 
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1 amounts of reductions in new budget authority and in out2 lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House 

3 to that bill. 

4 ‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions 

5 in new budget authority and in outlays resulting from 

6 amendments agreed to by the House to an appropriation 

7 bill, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall 

8 only count those portions of such amendments agreed to 

9 that were so designated by the Members offering such 

10 amendments as amounts to be credited to the Deficit Re11 duction Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last 

12 sentence of clause 1. 

13 ‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 

14 shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted 

15 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in 

16 the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem17 bers during consideration of any appropriation bill by the 

18 House. 

19 ‘‘4. (a) For purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of 

20 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross21 ment of any appropriation bill by the House, the amount 

22 of budget authority and outlays calculated pursuant to 

23 clause 2(b) shall be counted against the 302(a) allocation 

24 provided to the Committee on Appropriations as if the 
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1 amount calculated pursuant to such clause was included 

2 in the bill just engrossed. 

3 ‘‘(b) For purposes of enforcing section 302(b) of the 

4 Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engrossment 

5 of any appropriation bill by the House, the 302(b) alloca6 tion provided to the subcommittee for the bill just en7 grossed shall be deemed to have been reduced by the 

8 amount of budget authority and outlays calculated, pursu9 ant to clause 2(b). 

10 ‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’ 

11 means any general or special appropriation bill, and any 

12 bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or 

13 continuing appropriations through the end of fiscal year 

14 2004 or any subsequent fiscal year, as the case may be.’’. 

15 ‘‘RULE XXIX 

16 ‘‘MANDATORY SPENDING LEDGER. 

17 ‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg18 et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Mandatory 

19 Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided into entries 

20 corresponding to the House committees that received allo21 cations under section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget 

22 Act of 1974 in the most recently adopted concurrent reso23 lution on the budget, except that it shall not include the 

24 Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist 
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1 of the ‘First Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’ 

2 and the ‘Five Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’. 

3 ‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred4 ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative 

5 amount shall be made. 

6 ‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to a 

7 bill that reduces the amount of mandatory budget author8 ity provided either under current law or proposed to be 

9 provided by the bill under consideration, that Member may 

10 state the portion of such reduction achieved in the first 

11 year covered by the most recently adopted concurrent reso12 lution on the budget and in addition the portion of such 

13 reduction achieved in the first five years covered by the 

14 most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget 

15 that shall be—

16 ‘‘(1) credited to the First Year Deficit Reduc17 tion Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit 

18 Reduction Safeguard Balance; 

19 ‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in other new 

20 budget authority; or

21 ‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable 

22 section 302(a) allocation. 

23 If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction 

24 in new budget authority resulting from the amendment 

25 shall be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction Safe-
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1 guard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction Safe2 guard Balance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed 

3 to. 

4 ‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the 

5 chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the 

6 engrossment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, 

7 by the House, credit to the applicable entry balances 

8 amounts of new budget authority and outlays equal to the 

9 net amounts of reductions in budget authority and in out10 lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House 

11 to that bill. 

12 ‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions 

13 in budget authority and in outlays resulting from amend14 ments agreed to by the House to a bill, the chairman of 

15 the Committee on the Budget shall only count those por16 tions of such amendments agreed to that were so des17 ignated by the Members offering such amendments as 

18 amounts to be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction 

19 Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction 

20 Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last sentence 

21 of clause 1. 

22 ‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 

23 shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted 

24 reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in 
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1 the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem2 bers during consideration of any bill by the House. 

3 ‘‘4. For the purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of 

4 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross5 ment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, by the 

6 House, the amount of budget authority and outlays cal7 culated pursuant to paragraph 2(b) shall be counted 

8 against the 302(a) allocation provided to the applicable 

9 committee or committees which reported the bill as if the 

10 amount calculated pursuant to clause 2(b) was included 

11 in the bill just engrossed. 

12 ‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’ 

13 means any general or special appropriation bill, and any 

14 bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or 

15 continuing appropriations through the end of fiscal year 

16 2004 or any subsequent fiscal year, as the case may be.’’.

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