I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1253
To give the President line-item veto rescission authority over appropriation
bills.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 9, 1993
Mr. BUNNING introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Government Operations and Rules
A BILL
To give the President line-item veto rescission authority over
appropriation bills.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The Legislative Line
Item Veto Act of 1993’’.
SEC. 2. LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO RESCISSION AU-
THORITY.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding the provisions of
part B of title X of The Congressional Budget and Im-
poundment Control Act of 1974, and subject to the provi-
sions of this section, the President may rescind all or part
of any discretionary budget authority pursuant to this Act
if the President—
(1) determines that such rescission—
(A) would help reduce the Federal budget
deficit;
(B) will not impair any essential Govern-
ment functions; and
(C) will not harm the national interest;
and
(2) notifies the Congress of such rescission by
a special message not later than twenty calendar
days (not including Saturdays, Sundays, or holidays)
after the date of enactment of a regular or supple-
mental appropriation Act or a joint resolution mak-
ing continuing appropriations providing such budget
authority.
The President shall submit a separate rescission message
for each item rescinded under this paragraph.
SEC. 3. RESCISSION EFFECTIVE UNLESS DISAPPROVED.
(a) Any amount of budget authority rescinded under
this Act as set forth in a special message by the President
shall be deemed canceled unless during the period de-
scribed in subsection (b), a rescission disapproval bill mak-
ing available all of the amount rescinded is enacted into
law.
(b) The period referred to in subsection (a) is—
(1) a congressional review period of 20 calendar
days of session during which Congress must com-
plete action on the rescission disapproval bill and
present such bill to the President for approval or
disapproval;
(2) after the period provided in paragraph (1),
an additional ten days (not including Sundays) dur-
ing which the President may exercise his authority
to sign or veto the rescission disapproval bill; and
(3) if the President vetoes the rescission dis-
approval bill during the period provided in para-
graph (2), an additional five calendar days of session
after the date of the veto.
(c) If a special message is transmitted by the Presi-
dent under this Act and the last session of the Congress
adjourns sine die before the expiration of the period de-
scribed in subsection (b), the rescission shall not take ef-
fect. The message shall be deemed to have been
retransmitted on the first day of the succeeding Congress
and the review period referred to in subsection (b) (with
respect to such message) shall run beginning after such
first day.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act—
(a) the term ‘‘rescission disapproval bill’’ means
a bill or joint resolution which only disapproves a re-
scission of discretionary budget authority, in whole,
rescinded in a special message transmitted by the
President under this Act; and
(b) the term ‘‘calendar days of session’’ shall
mean only those days on which both Houses of Con-
gress are in session.
SEC. 5. CONGRESSIONAL CONSIDERATION OF LINE ITEM
VETO RESCISSIONS.
(a) PRESIDENTIAL SPECIAL MESSAGE.—Whenever
the President rescinds any budget authority as provided
in this Act, the President shall transmit to both Houses
of Congress a special message specifying—
(1) the amount of budget authority rescinded;
(2) any account, department, or establishment
of the Government to which such budget authority
is available for obligation, and the specific project or
governmental functions involved;
(3) the reasons and justifications for the deter-
mination to rescind budget authority pursuant to
this Act;
(4) to the maximum extent practicable, the esti-
mated fiscal, economic, and budgetary effect of the
rescission; and
(5) all facts, circumstances, and considerations
relating to or bearing upon the rescission and the
decision to effect the rescission, and to the maxi-
mum extent practicable, the estimated effect of the
rescission upon the objects, purposes, and programs
for which the budget authority is provided.
(b) TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES TO HOUSE AND
SENATE.—
(1) Each special message transmitted under
this Act shall be transmitted to the House of Rep-
resentatives and the Senate on the same day, and
shall be delivered to the Clerk of the House of Rep-
resentatives if the House is not in session, and to
the Secretary of the Senate if the Senate is not in
session. Each special message so transmitted shall
be referred to the appropriate committees of the
House of Representatives and the Senate. Each such
message shall be printed as a document of each
House.
(2) Any special message transmitted under this
Act shall be printed in the first issue of the Federal
Register published after such transmittal.
(c) 
REFERRAL
OF
RESCISSION
DISAPPROVAL
BILLS.—Any rescission disapproval bill introduced with
respect to a special message shall be referred to the appro-
priate committees of the House of Representatives or the
Senate, as the case may be.
(d) CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.—
(1) Any rescission disapproval bill received in
the Senate from the House shall be considered in
the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this Act.
(2) Debate in the Senate on any rescission dis-
approval bill and debatable motions and appeals in
connection therewith, shall be limited to not more
than ten hours. The time shall be equally divided be-
tween, and controlled by, the majority leader and the
minority leader or their designees.
(3) Debate in the Senate on any debatable mo-
tions or appeal in connection with such bill shall be
limited to one hour, to be equally divided between,
and controlled by the mover and the manager of the
bill, except that in the event the manager of the bill
is in favor of any such motion or appeal, the time
in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the mi-
nority leader or his designee. Such leaders, or either
of them, may, from the time under their control on
the passage of the bill, allot additional time to any
Senator during the consideration of any debatable
motion or appeal.
(4) A motion to further limit debate is not de-
batable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to
recommit with instructions to report back within a
specified number of days not to exceed one, not
counting any day on which the Senate is not in ses-
sion) is not in order.
(e) POINTS OF ORDER.—
(1) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the
House of Representatives to consider any rescission
disapproval bill that relates to any matter other than
the rescission budget authority transmitted by the
President under this Act.
(2) It shall not be in order in the Senate or the
House of Representatives to consider any amend-
ment to a rescission disapproval bill.
(3) Paragraphs (1) and (2) may be waived or
suspended in the Senate only by a vote of three-
fifths of the members duly chosen and sworn.
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