I 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1122 
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to simplify annual 
concurrent resolutions on the budget and to budget for emergencies. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 16, 2007 
Mr. BARRETT of South Carolina introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee 
on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to simplify 
annual concurrent resolutions on the budget and to budg-
et for emergencies. 
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 ‘‘Emergency Spending 
Control Act of 2007’’. 
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TITLE I—ONE-PAGE BUDGET 
RESOLUTIONS 
SEC. 101. ONE-PAGE BUDGET RESOLUTIONS. 
(a) CONTENT OF ANNUAL CONCURRENT RESOLU-
TIONS ON THE BUDGET.—Section 301(a)(4) of the Con-
gressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(4) subtotals of new budget authority and out-
lays for nondefense discretionary spending, defense 
discretionary spending, direct spending (excluding 
interest), interest, and emergencies (for the reserve 
fund in section 316(b) and for military operations in 
section 316(c));’’. 
(b) ADDITIONAL MATTERS IN CONCURRENT RESO-
LUTION.—Section 301(b) of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974 is amended as follows: 
(1) Strike paragraphs (2), (4), and (6) through 
(9). 
(2) After paragraph (1), insert the following 
new paragraph: 
‘‘(2) require such other congressional proce-
dures, relating to the budget, as may be appropriate 
to carry out the purposes of this Act;’’. 
(3) At the end of paragraph (3), insert ‘‘and’’ 
and redesignate paragraph (5) as paragraph (4) and 
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in such paragraph strike the semicolon and insert a 
period. 
(c) REQUIRED
CONTENTS
OF
REPORT.—Section 
301(e)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is 
amended as follows: 
(1) Redesignate subparagraphs (A), (B), (C), 
(D), (E), and (F) as subparagraphs (B), (C), (E), 
(F), and (G), respectively. 
(2) Before subparagraph (B) (as redesignated), 
insert the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(A) new budget authority and outlays for 
each major functional category, based on alloca-
tions of the total levels set forth pursuant to 
subsection (a)(1);’’. 
(3) In subparagraph (C) (as redesignated), 
strike ‘‘mandatory’’ and insert ‘‘direct spending’’. 
(d) ADDITIONAL CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Section 
301(e)(3) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is 
amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph 
(D), by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ at the 
end of subparagraph (E), and by adding at the end the 
following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(F) reconciliation directives described in 
section 310.’’. 
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(e) PRESIDENT’S BUDGET SUBMISSION TO THE CON-
GRESS.—(1) The first two sentences of section 1105(a) 
of title 31, United States Code, are amended to read as 
follows: 
‘‘On or after the first Monday in January but not later 
than the first Monday in February of each year the Presi-
dent shall submit a budget of the United States Govern-
ment for the following fiscal year which shall set forth the 
following levels: 
‘‘(A) totals of new budget authority and out-
lays; 
‘‘(B) total Federal revenues and the amount, if 
any, by which the aggregate level of Federal reve-
nues should be increased or decreased by bills and 
resolutions to be reported by the appropriate com-
mittees; 
‘‘(C) the surplus or deficit in the budget; 
‘‘(D) subtotals of new budget authority and 
outlays for nondefense discretionary spending, de-
fense discretionary spending, direct spending (ex-
cluding interest), interest, and emergencies (for the 
reserve fund in section 316(b) and for military oper-
ations in section 316(c)); and 
‘‘(E) the public debt. 
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Each budget submission shall include a budget message 
and summary and supporting information and, as a sepa-
rately delineated statement, the levels required in the pre-
ceding sentence for at least each of the 4 ensuing fiscal 
years.’’. 
(2) The third sentence of section 1105(a) of title 31, 
United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘submission’’ 
after ‘‘budget’’. 
(f) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO SECTION 310 RE-
GARDING
RECONCILIATION
DIRECTIVES.—(1) Section 
310(a) of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘A’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘The joint explanatory statement accompanying the 
conference report on a’’. 
(2) The first sentence of section 310(b) of such Act 
is amended by striking ‘‘If’’ and inserting ‘‘If the joint 
explanatory statement accompanying the conference re-
port on’’. 
(3) Section 310(c)(1) of such Act is amended by in-
serting ‘‘the joint explanatory statement accompanying 
the conference report on’’ after ‘‘pursuant to’’. 
TITLE II—EMERGENCIES 
SEC. 201. REPEAL OF ADJUSTMENTS FOR EMERGENCIES. 
(a) ELIMINATION OF EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.— 
Sections 251(b)(2)(A), 252(e), and 252(d)(4)(B) of the 
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Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 
1985 are repealed. 
(b) 
ELIMINATION
OF
ADJUSTMENTS.—Section 
314(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amend-
ed by striking paragraph (1) and by redesignating para-
graphs (2) through (5) as paragraphs (1) through (4), re-
spectively. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Clause 2 of rule 
XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives is 
amended by repealing paragraph (e) and by redesignating 
paragraph (f) as paragraph (e). 
SEC. 202. OMB EMERGENCY CRITERIA. 
Section 3 of the Congressional Budget and Impound-
ment Control Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the 
end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(11)(A) The term ‘emergency’ means an un-
derlying situation that— 
‘‘(i) requires new budget authority and 
outlays (or new budget authority and the out-
lays flowing therefrom) for the prevention or 
mitigation of, or response to, loss of life or 
property, or a threat to national security; and 
‘‘(ii) is unanticipated. 
‘‘(B) As used in subparagraph (A), the term 
‘unanticipated’ means that the situation is— 
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‘‘(i) sudden, which means quickly coming 
into being or not building up over time; 
‘‘(ii) urgent, which means a pressing and 
compelling need requiring immediate action; 
‘‘(iii) unforeseen, which means not pre-
dicted or anticipated as an emerging need; and 
‘‘(iv) temporary, which means not of a per-
manent duration.’’. 
SEC. 203. DEVELOPMENT OF GUIDELINES FOR APPLICA-
TION OF EMERGENCY DEFINITION. 
Not later than 5 months after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the chairmen of the Committees on the Budget 
(in consultation with the President) shall, after consulting 
with the chairmen of the Committees on Appropriations 
and applicable authorizing committees of their respective 
Houses and the Directors of the Congressional Budget Of-
fice and the Office of Management and Budget, jointly 
publish in the Congressional Record guidelines for applica-
tion of the definition of emergency set forth in section 
3(11) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act of 1974. 
SEC. 204. RESERVE FUND FOR EMERGENCIES IN PRESI-
DENT’S BUDGET. 
Section 1105(f) of title 31, United States Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new sen-
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tences: ‘‘Such budget submission shall also comply with 
the requirements of subsections (b) and (c) of section 316 
of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and, in the case 
of any budget authority requested for an emergency, such 
submission shall include a detailed justification of why 
such emergency is an emergency within the meaning of 
section 3(11) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.’’. 
SEC. 205. BUDGETING FOR EMERGENCIES. 
(a) EMERGENCIES.—Title III of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section: 
‘‘EMERGENCIES 
‘‘SEC. 316. (a) ADJUSTMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—After the reporting of a bill 
or joint resolution or the submission of a conference 
report thereon that provides budget authority for 
any emergency as identified pursuant to subsection 
(d) that is not covered by subsection (c)— 
‘‘(A) the chairman of the Committee on 
the Budget of the House of Representatives or 
the Senate shall determine and certify, pursu-
ant to the guidelines referred to in section 203 
of the , the portion (if any) of the amount so 
specified that is for an emergency within the 
meaning of section 3(11); and 
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‘‘(B) such chairman shall make the adjust-
ment set forth in paragraph (2) for the amount 
of new budget authority (or outlays) in that 
measure and the outlays flowing from that 
budget authority. 
‘‘(2) MATTERS TO BE ADJUSTED.—The adjust-
ments referred to in paragraph (1) are to be made 
to the allocations made pursuant to the appropriate 
concurrent resolution on the budget pursuant to sec-
tion 302(a) and shall be in an amount not to exceed 
the amount reserved for emergencies pursuant to the 
requirements of subsection (b). 
‘‘(b) RESERVE FUND
FOR NONMILITARY EMER-
GENCIES.—The amount set forth in the reserve fund for 
emergencies for budget authority and outlays for a fiscal 
year pursuant to section 301(a)(4) shall equal— 
‘‘(1) the average of the enacted levels of budget 
authority for emergencies (other than those covered 
by subsection (c)) in the 5 fiscal years preceding the 
current year; and 
‘‘(2) the average of the levels of outlays for 
emergencies in the 5 fiscal years preceding the cur-
rent year flowing from the budget authority referred 
to in paragraph (1), but only in the fiscal year for 
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