I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1642

To give the President legislative, line-item veto authority over budget authority

in appropriations bills in fiscal years 1994 and 1995.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 1, 1993

Mr. CASTLE (for himself, Mr. QUINN, and Mr. BLUTE) introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Government Operations and Rules

A BILL

To give the President legislative, line-item veto authority

over budget authority in appropriations bills in fiscal

years 1994 and 1995.

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 Legislative Line Item

5 Veto Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO RESCISSION AU7 THORITY.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provisions of

9 part B of title X of The Congressional Budget and Im-
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1 poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi2 sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part

3 of any discretionary budget authority for fiscal years 1994

4 or 1995 which is subject to the terms of this Act if the

5 President—

6 (1) determines that—

7 (A) such rescission would help balance the

8 Federal budget, reduce the Federal budget defi9 cit, or reduce the public debt;

10 (B) such rescission will not impair any es11 sential Government functions;

12 (C) such rescission will not harm the na13 tional interest; and

14 (D) such rescission will directly contribute

15 to the purpose of this Act of limiting discre16 tionary spending in fiscal years 1994 or 1995,

17 as the case may be; and

18 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission by

19 a special message not later than twenty calendar

20 days (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays)

21 after the date of enactment of a regular or supple22 mental appropriations act for fiscal year 1994 or

23 1995 or a joint resolution making continuing appro24 priations providing such budget authority for fiscal

25 year 1994 or 1995, as the case may be.
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1 The President shall submit a separate rescission message

2 for each appropriations bill under this paragraph.

3 SEC. 3. RESCISSION EFFECTIVE UNLESS DISAPPROVED.

4 (a) Any amount of budget authority rescinded under

5 this Act as set forth in a special message by the President

6 shall be deemed canceled unless during the period de7 scribed in subsection (b), a rescission disapproval bill mak8 ing available all of the amount rescinded is enacted into

9 law.

10 (b) The period referred to in subsection (a) is—

11 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal12 endar days of session during which Congress must

13 complete action on the rescission disapproval bill and

14 present such bill to the President for approval or

15 disapproval;

16 (2) after the period provided in paragraph (1),

17 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur18 ing which the President may exercise his authority

19 to sign or veto the rescission disapproval bill; and

20 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission dis21 approval bill during the period provided in para22 graph (2), an additional five calendar days of session

23 after the date of the veto.

24 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi25 dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress
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1 adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de2 scribed in subsection (b), the rescission shall not take ef3 fect. The message shall be deemed to have been

4 retransmitted on the first day of the succeeding Congress

5 and the review period referred to in subsection (b) (with

6 respect to such message) shall run beginning after such

7 first day.

8 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

9 For purposes of this Act—

10 (a) the term ‘‘rescission disapproval bill’’ means

11 a bill or joint resolution which only disapproves a re12 scission of discretionary budget authority for fiscal

13 year 1994 or 1995, in whole, rescinded in a special

14 message transmitted by the President under this

15 Act; and

16 (b) the term ‘‘Calendar days of session’’ shall

17 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con18 gress are in session.

19 SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATIVE

20 LINE ITEM VETO RESCISSIONS.

21 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever

22 the President rescinds any budget authority as provided

23 in this Act, the President shall transmit to both Houses

24 of Congress a special message specifying—

25 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded;
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1 (2) any account, department, or establishment

2 of the Government to which such budget authority

3 is available for obligation, and the specific project or

4 governmental functions involved;

5 (3) the reasons and justifications for the deter6 mination to rescind budget authority pursuant to

7 this Act;

8 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti9 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the

10 rescission; and

11 (5) all factions, circumstances, and consider12 ations relating to or bearing upon the rescission and

13 the decision to effect the rescission, and to the maxi14 mum extent practicable, the estimated effect of the

15 rescission upon the objects, purposes, and programs

16 for which the budget authority is provided.

17 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND

18 SENATE.—

19 (1) Each special message transmitted under

20 this Act shall be transmitted to the House of Rep21 resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and

22 shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep23 resentatives if the House is not in session, and to

24 the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in

25 session. Each special message so transmitted shall
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1 be referred to the appropriate committees of the

2 House of Representatives and the Senate. Each mes3 sage shall be printed as a document of each House.

4 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

5 Act shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal

6 Register published after such transmittal.

7 (c) REFERRAL OF RESCISSION DISAPPROVAL

8 BILLS.—Any rescission disapproval bill introduced with

9 respect to a special message shall be referred to the appro10 priate committees of the House of Representatives or the

11 Senate, as the case may be.

12 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

13 (1) Any rescission disapproval bill received in

14 the Senate from the House shall be considered in

15 the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this Act.

16 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission dis17 approval bill and debatable motions and appeals in

18 connection therewith, shall be limited to not more

19 than ten hours. The time shall be equally divided be20 tween, and controlled by, the majority leader and the

21 minority leader or their designees.

22 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo23 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be

24 limited to one hour, to be equally divided between,

25 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the
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1 bill, except that in the event the manager of the bill

2 is in favor of any such motion or appeal, the time

3 in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi4 nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either

5 of them, may, from the time under their control on

6 the passage of the bill, allot additional time to any

7 Senator during the consideration of any debatable

8 motion or appeal.

9 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not de10 batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to

11 recommit with instructions to report back within a

12 specified number of days not to exceed one, not

13 counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses14 sion) is not in order.

15 (e) POINTS OF ORDER.—

16 (1) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the

17 House of Representatives to consider any rescission

18 disapproval bill that relates to any matter other than

19 the rescission budget authority transmitted by the

20 President under this Act.

21 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the

22 House of Representatives to consider any amend23 ment to a rescission disapproval bill.
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1 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or

2 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three3 fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.

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