IV 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 133
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to establish a 
discretionary spending ledger and a mandatory spending ledger. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 6, 2003
Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself, Mr. CANNON, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. RYUN of 
Kansas, Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, Mr. GIB-
BONS, Mr. OTTER, Mr. TOOMEY, Mr. PITTS, Ms. HART, Mrs. MYRICK, 
and Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida) submitted the following reso-
lution; which was referred to the Committee on Rules 
RESOLUTION 
Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to 
establish a discretionary spending ledger and a manda-
tory spending ledger.
Resolved, The Rules of the House of Representatives 
are amended by redesignating rule XXVIII as rule XXX 
and by inserting after rule XXVII the following new rules: 
‘‘RULE XXVIII 
‘‘DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LEDGER. 
‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg-
et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Discre-
tionary Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided
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into entries corresponding to the subcommittees of the 
Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist 
of the ‘Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’. 
‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred-
ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative 
amount shall be made. 
‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to an 
appropriation bill to reduce new budget authority in any 
account, that Member may state the portion of such reduc-
tion that shall be—
‘‘(1) credited to the Deficit Reduction Safe-
guard Balance; 
‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in new budget 
authority in any other account; or 
‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable 
section 302(b) suballocation. 
If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction 
in new budget authority resulting from the amendment 
shall be credited to the Deficit Reduction Safeguard Bal-
ance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed to. 
‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the 
chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the 
engrossment of any appropriation bill by the House of 
Representatives, credit to the entry balance amounts of 
new budget authority and outlays equal to the net
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amounts of reductions in new budget authority and in out-
lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House 
to that bill. 
‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions 
in new budget authority and in outlays resulting from 
amendments agreed to by the House to an appropriation 
bill, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall 
only count those portions of such amendments agreed to 
that were so designated by the Members offering such 
amendments as amounts to be credited to the Deficit Re-
duction Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last 
sentence of clause 1. 
‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 
shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted 
reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in 
the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem-
bers during consideration of any appropriation bill by the 
House. 
‘‘4. (a) For purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of 
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross-
ment of any appropriation bill by the House, the amount 
of budget authority and outlays calculated pursuant to 
clause 2(b) shall be counted against the 302(a) allocation 
provided to the Committee on Appropriations as if the
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amount calculated pursuant to such clause was included 
in the bill just engrossed. 
‘‘(b) For purposes of enforcing section 302(b) of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engrossment 
of any appropriation bill by the House, the 302(b) alloca-
tion provided to the subcommittee for the bill just en-
grossed shall be deemed to have been reduced by the 
amount of budget authority and outlays calculated, pursu-
ant to clause 2(b). 
‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’ 
means any general or special appropriation bill, and any 
bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or 
continuing appropriations through the end of fiscal year 
2004 or any subsequent fiscal year, as the case may be.’’. 
‘‘RULE XXIX 
‘‘MANDATORY SPENDING LEDGER. 
‘‘1. (a) The chairman of the Committee on the Budg-
et shall maintain a ledger to be known as the ‘Mandatory 
Spending Ledger’. The Ledger shall be divided into entries 
corresponding to the House committees that received allo-
cations under section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974 in the most recently adopted concurrent reso-
lution on the budget, except that it shall not include the 
Committee on Appropriations and each entry shall consist
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of the ‘First Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’ 
and the ‘Five Year Deficit Reduction Safeguard Balance’. 
‘‘(b) Each entry shall consist only of amounts cred-
ited to it under paragraph (c). No entry of a negative 
amount shall be made. 
‘‘(c) Whenever a Member offers an amendment to a 
bill that reduces the amount of mandatory budget author-
ity provided either under current law or proposed to be 
provided by the bill under consideration, that Member may 
state the portion of such reduction achieved in the first 
year covered by the most recently adopted concurrent reso-
lution on the budget and in addition the portion of such 
reduction achieved in the first five years covered by the 
most recently adopted concurrent resolution on the budget 
that shall be—
‘‘(1) credited to the First Year Deficit Reduc-
tion Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit 
Reduction Safeguard Balance; 
‘‘(2) used to offset an increase in other new 
budget authority; or
‘‘(3) allowed to remain within the applicable 
section 302(a) allocation. 
If no such statement is made, the amount of reduction 
in new budget authority resulting from the amendment 
shall be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction Safe-
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guard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction Safe-
guard Balance, as applicable, if the amendment is agreed 
to. 
‘‘2. (a) Except as provided by paragraph (b), the 
chairman of the Committee on the Budget shall, upon the 
engrossment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, 
by the House, credit to the applicable entry balances 
amounts of new budget authority and outlays equal to the 
net amounts of reductions in budget authority and in out-
lays resulting from amendments agreed to by the House 
to that bill. 
‘‘(b) When computing the net amounts of reductions 
in budget authority and in outlays resulting from amend-
ments agreed to by the House to a bill, the chairman of 
the Committee on the Budget shall only count those por-
tions of such amendments agreed to that were so des-
ignated by the Members offering such amendments as 
amounts to be credited to the First Year Deficit Reduction 
Safeguard Balance and the Five Year Deficit Reduction 
Safeguard Balance, or that fall within the last sentence 
of clause 1. 
‘‘3. The chairman of the Committee on the Budget 
shall maintain a running tally of the amendments adopted 
reflecting increases and decreases of budget authority in
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the bill as reported. This tally shall be available to Mem-
bers during consideration of any bill by the House. 
‘‘4. For the purposes of enforcing section 302(a) of 
the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, upon the engross-
ment of any bill, other than an appropriation bill, by the 
House, the amount of budget authority and outlays cal-
culated pursuant to paragraph 2(b) shall be counted 
against the 302(a) allocation provided to the applicable 
committee or committees which reported the bill as if the 
amount calculated pursuant to clause 2(b) was included 
in the bill just engrossed. 
‘‘5. As used in this rule, the term ‘appropriation bill’ 
means any general or special appropriation bill, and any 
bill or joint resolution making supplemental, deficiency, or 
continuing appropriations through the end of fiscal year 
2004 or any subsequent fiscal year, as the case may be.’’.
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