112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2560 

AN ACT 

To cut, cap, and balance the Federal budget. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cut, Cap, and Balance 

3 Act of 2011’’. 

4 TITLE I—CUT 

5 SEC. 101. MODIFICATION OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET 

6 ACT. 

7 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

8 is amended by inserting at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 316. DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in the 

11 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 

12 bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that 

13 would cause the discretionary spending limits as set forth 

14 in this section to be exceeded. 

15 ‘‘(b) LIMITS.—In this section, the term ‘discretionary 

16 spending limits’ means for fiscal year 2012: for the discre17 tionary category, $1,019,402,000,000 in new budget au18 thority and $1,224,568,000,000 in outlays. 

19 ‘‘(c) ADJUSTMENTS.—After the reporting of a bill or 

20 joint resolution relating to the global war on terrorism de21 scribed in subsection (d), or the offering of an amendment 

22 thereto or the submission of a conference report thereon— 

23 ‘‘(1) the chair of the House or Senate Com24 mittee on the Budget may adjust the discretionary 

25 spending limits provided in this section for purposes 

26 of congressional enforcement, the budgetary aggre-
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1 gates in the concurrent resolution on the budget 

2 most recently adopted by the Senate and the House 

3 of Representatives, and allocations pursuant to sec4 tion 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

5 1974, by the amount of new budget authority in 

6 that measure for that purpose and the outlays flow7 ing therefrom; and 

8 ‘‘(2) following any adjustment under paragraph 

9 (1), the House or Senate Committee on Appropria10 tions may report appropriately revised suballocations 

11 pursuant to section 302(b) of the Congressional 

12 Budget Act of 1974 to carry out this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(d) GLOBAL WAR ON TERRORISM.—If a bill or joint 

14 resolution is reported making appropriations for fiscal 

15 year 2012 that provides funding for the global war on ter16 rorism, the allowable adjustments provided for in sub17 section (c) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed 

18 $126,544,000,000 in budget authority and the outlays 

19 flowing therefrom. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 317. CERTAIN DIRECT SPENDING LIMITS. 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall not be in order in the 

22 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 

23 bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report that 

24 includes any provision that would cause total direct spend-
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1 ing, except as excluded in subsection (b), to exceed the 

2 limits specified in subsection (c). 

3 ‘‘(b) EXEMPT FROM DIRECT SPENDING LIMITS.— 

4 Direct spending for the following functions is exempt from 

5 the limits specified in subsection (c): 

6 ‘‘(1) Social Security, function 650. 

7 ‘‘(2) Medicare, function 570. 

8 ‘‘(3) Veterans Benefits and Services, function 

9 700. 

10 ‘‘(4) Net Interest, function 900. 

11 ‘‘(c) LIMITS ON OTHER DIRECT SPENDING.—The 

12 total combined outlays for all direct spending not exempt13 ed in subsection (b) for fiscal year 2012 shall not exceed 

14 $680,730,000,000.’’. 

15 SEC. 102. STATUTORY ENFORCEMENT OF SPENDING CAPS 

16 THROUGH SEQUESTRATION. 

17 Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

18 is amended by inserting after section 317 the following 

19 new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 318. ENFORCEMENT OF DISCRETIONARY AND DIRECT 

21 SPENDING CAPS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IMPLEMENTATION.—The sequesters shall be im23 plemented as follows: 

24 ‘‘(1) DISCRETIONARY SPENDING IMPLEMENTA25 TION.—For the discretionary limits in section 316 of 
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1 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, pursuant to 

2 section 251(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emer3 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 with each cat4 egory sequestered separately. 

5 ‘‘(2) DIRECT SPENDING IMPLEMENTATION.— 

6 (A) The sequestration to enforce this section for di7 rect spending shall be implemented pursuant to sec8 tion 254 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

9 Deficit Control Act of 1985. 

10 ‘‘(B) Section 255 of the Balanced Budget and 

11 Control Act of 1985 shall not apply to this section, 

12 except that payments for military personnel accounts 

13 (within subfunctional category 051), TRICARE for 

14 Life, Medicare (functional category 570), military 

15 retirement, Social Security (functional category 

16 650), veterans (functional category 700), net inter17 est (functional category 900), and discretionary ap18 propriations shall be exempt. 

19 ‘‘(b) MODIFICATION OF PRESIDENTIAL ORDER.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—At any time after the Di21 rector of OMB issues a sequestration report under 

22 subsection (a) and section 319(c) the provisions of 

23 section 258A of the Balanced Budget and Emer24 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 shall apply to the 

25 consideration in the House of Representatives and 
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1 the Senate of a bill or joint resolution to override the 

2 order if the bill or joint resolution, as enacted, would 

3 achieve the same level of reductions in new budget 

4 authority and outlays for the applicable fiscal year 

5 as set forth in the order. 

6 ‘‘(2) POINT OF ORDER.—In the House of Rep7 resentatives or Senate, it shall not be in order to 

8 consider a bill or joint resolution which waives, 

9 modifies, or in any way alters a sequestration order 

10 unless the chair of the House or Senate Committee 

11 on the Budget certifies that the measure achieves 

12 the same levels of reductions in new budget author13 ity and outlays for the applicable year as set forth 

14 in the order.’’. 

15 TITLE II—CAP 

16 SEC. 201. LIMIT ON TOTAL SPENDING. 

17 (a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 

18 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

19 amended by striking paragraph (4), redesignating the suc20 ceeding paragraphs accordingly, and adding the following 

21 new paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(19) The term ‘GDP’, for any fiscal year, 

23 means the gross domestic product during such fiscal 

24 year consistent with Department of Commerce defi25 nitions.’’. 
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1 (b) CAPS.—The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

2 is amended by inserting after section 318 the following 

3 new section: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 319. ENFORCING GDP OUTLAY LIMITS. 

5 ‘‘(a) ENFORCING GDP OUTLAY LIMITS.—In this sec6 tion, the term ‘GDP outlay limit’ means an amount, as 

7 estimated by OMB, equal to— 

8 ‘‘(1) projected GDP for that fiscal year as esti9 mated by OMB, multiplied by 

10 ‘‘(2) 21.7 percent for fiscal year 2013; 20.8 

11 percent for fiscal year 2014; 20.2 percent for fiscal 

12 year 2015; 20.1 percent for fiscal year 2016; 19.9 

13 percent for fiscal year 2017; 19.7 percent for fiscal 

14 year 2018; 19.9 percent for fiscal year 2019; 19.9 

15 percent for fiscal year 2020; and 19.9 percent for 

16 fiscal year 2021. 

17 ‘‘(b) GDP OUTLAY LIMIT AND OUTLAYS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) DETERMINING THE GDP OUTLAY LIMIT.— 

19 The Office of Management and Budget shall estab20 lish in the President’s budget the GDP outlay limit 

21 for the budget year. 

22 ‘‘(2) TOTAL FEDERAL OUTLAYS.—In this sec23 tion, total Federal outlays shall include all on-budget 

24 and off-budget outlays. 
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1 ‘‘(c) SEQUESTRATION.—The sequestration to enforce 

2 this section shall be implemented pursuant to section 254 

3 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 

4 Act of 1985. 

5 ‘‘(d) EXEMPT PROGRAMS.—Section 255 of the Bal6 anced Budget and Control Act of 1985 shall not apply 

7 to this section, except that payments for military per8 sonnel accounts (within subfunctional category 051), 

9 TRICARE for Life, Medicare (functional category 570), 

10 military retirement, Social Security (functional category 

11 650), veterans (functional category 700), and net interest 

12 (functional category 900) shall be exempt.’’. 

13 SEC. 202. ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES UNDER THE CON14 GRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974. 

15 (a) ENFORCEMENT.—Title III of the Congressional 

16 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding after section 

17 319 the following new section: 

18 ‘‘SEC. 320. ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES. 

19 ‘‘It shall not be in order in the House of Representa20 tives or the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, 

21 amendment, or conference report that would cause the 

22 most recently reported current GDP outlay limits set forth 

23 in section 319 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

24 to be exceeded.’’. 
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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents in 

2 section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget and Impound3 ment Control Act of 1974 is amended by inserting after 

4 the item relating to section 315 the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 316. Discretionary spending limits. 

‘‘Sec. 317. Certain direct spending limits. 

‘‘Sec. 318. Enforcement of discretionary and direct spending caps. 

‘‘Sec. 319. Enforcing GDP outlay limits. 

‘‘Sec. 320. Enforcement procedures.’’. 

5 TITLE III—BALANCE 

6 SEC. 301. REQUIREMENT THAT A BALANCED BUDGET 

7 AMENDMENT BE SUBMITTED TO STATES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

9 shall not exercise the additional borrowing authority pro10 vided under subsection (b) until the Archivist of the 

11 United States transmits to the States H.J. Res. 1 in the 

12 form reported on June 23, 2011, S.J. Res. 10 in the form 

13 introduced on March 31, 2011, or H.J. Res. 56 in the 

14 form introduced on April 7, 2011, a balanced budget 

15 amendment to the Constitution, or a similar amendment 

16 if it requires that total outlays not exceed total receipts, 

17 that contains a spending limitation as a percentage of 

18 GDP, and requires that tax increases be approved by a 

19 two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress for their ratifi20 cation. 

21 (b) AMENDMENT TO TITLE 31.—Effective on the 

22 date the Archivist of the United States transmits to the 

23 States H.J. Res 1 in the form reported, S.J. Res. 10 in 
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1 the form introduced, or H.J. Res. 56 in the form intro2 duced, a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, 

3 or a similar amendment if it requires that total outlays 

4 not exceed total receipts, contains a spending limitation 

5 as a percentage of GDP, and requires tax increases be 

6 approved by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress 

7 for their ratification, section 3101(b) of title 31, United 

8 States Code, is amended by striking the dollar limitation 

9 contained in such subsection and inserting 

10 $16,700,000,000,000. 

Passed the House of Representatives July 19, 2011. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2560 

AN ACT 

To cut, cap, and balance the Federal budget.