I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 24

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

JANUARY 5, 1993

Mr. SOLOMON (for himself, Mr. ALLARD, Mr. BACHUS of Alabama, Mr.

BARRETT of Nebraska, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr.

DREIER, Mr. DUNCAN, Ms. FOWLER, Mr. GALLEGLY, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr.

HALL of Texas, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of

Texas, Mr. LEWIS of Florida, Mr. MCCANDLESS, Mr. MCHUGH, Mr.

MICHEL, Ms. MOLINARI, Mr. OXLEY, Mr. PACKARD, Mr. QUILLEN, Mr.

RAMSTAD, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. SAXTON, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. STUMP, Mr. SUNDQUIST, Mr.

UPTON, Mr. WALKER, Mr. WALSH, and Mr. ZELIFF) 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 ‘‘The Legislative Line

5 Item Veto Act of 1993’’.
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1 SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO RESCISSION AU2 THORITY.

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

4 part B of title X of The Congressional Budget and Im5 poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi6 sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part

7 of any discretionary budget authority for fiscal years 1994

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

9 President—

10 (1) determines that—

11 (A) such rescission would help balance the

12 Federal budget, reduce the Federal budget defi13 cit, or reduce the public debt;

14 (B) such rescission will not impair any es15 sential Government functions;

16 (C) such rescission will not harm the na17 tional interest; and

18 (D) such rescission will directly contribute

19 to the purpose of this Act of limiting discre20 tionary spending in fiscal years 1994 or 1995,

21 as the case may be; and

22 (2) notifies the Congress of such rescission by

23 a special message not later than twenty calendar

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

25 after the date of enactment of a regular or supple26 mental appropriations act for fiscal year 1994 or
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1 1995 or a joint resolution making continuing appro2 priations providing such budget authority for fiscal

3 year 1994 or 1995, as the case may be.

4 The President shall submit a separate rescission message

5 for each appropriations bill under this paragraph.

6 SEC. 3 RESCISSION EFFECTIVE UNLESS DISAPPROVED.

7 (a) Any amount of budget authority rescinded under

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

9 shall be deemed canceled unless during the period de10 scribed in subsection (b), a rescission disapproval bill mak11 ing available all of the amount rescinded is enacted into

12 law.

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

14 (1) a congressional review period of twenty cal15 endar days of session during which Congress must

16 complete action on the rescission disapproval bill and

17 present such bill to the President for approval or

18 disapproval;

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

20 an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur21 ing which the President may exercise his authority

22 to sign or veto the rescission disapproval bill; and

23 (3) if the President vetoes the rescission dis24 approval bill during the period provided in para-
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1 graph (2), an additional five calendar days of session

2 after the date of the veto.

3 (c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi4 dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress

5 adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de6 scribed in subsection (b), the rescission shall not take ef7 fect. The message shall be deemed to have been

8 retransmitted on the first day of the succeeding Congress

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

10 respect to such message) shall run beginning after such

11 first day.

12 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

13 For purposes of this Act—

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

15 a bill or joint resolution which only disapproves a re16 scission of discretionary budget authority for fiscal

17 year 1993, in whole, rescinded in a special message

18 transmitted by the President under this Act; and

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

20 mean only those days on which both Houses of Con21 gress are in session.

22 SECTION 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LEGIS23 LATIVE LINE ITEM VETO RESCISSIONS.

24 (a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever

25 the President rescinds any budget authority as provided
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1 in this Act, the President shall transmit to both Houses

2 of Congress a special message specifying—

3 (1) the amount of budget authority rescinded;

4 (2) any account, department, or establishment

5 of the Government to which such budget authority

6 is available for obligation, and the specific project or

7 governmental functions involved;

8 (3) the reasons and justifications for the deter9 mination to rescind budget authority pursuant to

10 this Act;

11 (4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti12 mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the

13 rescission; and

14 (5) all factions, circumstances, and consider15 ations relating to or bearing upon the rescission and

16 the decision to effect the rescission, and to the maxi17 mum extent practicable, the estimated effect of the

18 rescission upon the objects, purposes, and programs

19 for which the budget authority is provided.

20 (b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND

21 SENATE.—

22 (1) Each special message transmitted under

23 this Act shall be transmitted to the House or Rep24 resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and

25 shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep-
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1 resentatives if the House is not in session, and to

2 the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate if the Sen3 ate is not in session. Each special message so trans4 mitted shall be referred to the appropriate commit5 tees of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

6 Each message shall be printed as a document of

7 each House.

8 (2) Any special message transmitted under this

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

10 Register published after such transmittal.

11 (c) REFERRAL OF RESCISSION DISAPPROVAL

12 BILLS.—Any rescission disapproval bill introduced with

13 respect to a special message shall be referred to the appro14 priate committees of the House of Representatives or the

15 Senate, as the case may be.

16 (d) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—

17 (1) Any rescission disapproval bill received in

18 the Senate from the House shall be considered in

19 the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this Act.

20 (2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission dis21 approval bill and debatable motions and appeals in

22 connection therewith, shall be limited to not more

23 than ten hours. The time shall be equally divided be24 tween, and controlled by, the majority leader and the

25 minority leader or their designees.
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1 (3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo2 tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be

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

4 and controlled by the mover and the manager of the

5 bill, except that in the event the manager of the bill

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

7 in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi8 nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either

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

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

11 Senator during the consideration of any debatable

12 motion or appeal.

13 (4) A motion to further limit debate is not de14 batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to

15 recommit with instructions to report back within a

16 specified number of days not to exceed one, not

17 counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses18 sion) is not in order.

19 (e) POINTS OF ORDER.—

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

21 House of Representatives to consider any rescission

22 disapproval bill that relates to any matter other than

23 the rescission budget authority transmitted by the

24 President under this Act.
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1 (2) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the

2 House of Representatives to consider any amend3 ment to a rescission disapproval bill.

4 (3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or

5 suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three6 fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.

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