Secretary under this subsection may be for a 
period not to exceed 5 years. 
‘‘(B) EXTENSION.—The Secretary may ex-
tend the period described in subparagraph (A) 
if the Secretary determines that the waiver has 
been effective in enabling the State or Indian 
tribe to carry out the activities for which the 
waiver was requested and the waiver has im-
proved or enhanced performance related to 1 or 
more of the purposes of this part. 
‘‘(5) APPROVAL PROCEDURE.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 60 
days after the date of receiving a request for a 
waiver under this subsection, the Secretary 
shall provide a response that— 
‘‘(i) approves the waiver request; 
‘‘(ii) provides a description of modi-
fications that would be necessary in order 
to secure approval for the waiver; 
‘‘(iii) denies the request and describes 
the grounds for the denial; or 
‘‘(iv) requests clarification of the 
waiver request. 
‘‘(B) APPROVAL
DECISIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall not approve any waiver request that
does not include all the information required in 
subparagraph (2)(A) and shall take into ac-
count how the waiver is likely to further the 
purposes of section 401(a) and comments re-
ceived regarding the waiver request. 
‘‘(C) WAIVER APPROVALS AND DENIALS.— 
All waiver approvals and denials shall be made 
publicly available by the Secretary. 
‘‘(6) REPORTS ON PROJECTS.—The Secretary 
shall provide annually to Congress a report con-
cerning waivers approved under this subsection, in-
cluding— 
‘‘(A) the projects approved and denied for 
each applicant; 
‘‘(B) the number of waivers granted under 
this subsection; 
‘‘(C) the specific statutory provisions 
waived; and 
‘‘(D) descriptive information about the na-
ture and status of approved waivers, including 
findings from interim and final evaluation re-
ports. 
‘‘(g) COST-NEUTRALITY REQUIREMENT.— 
‘‘(1) GENERAL
RULE.—Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law (except as provided in para-
graph (2)), the total of the amounts that may be 
paid by the Federal Government for a fiscal year 
with respect to the programs in a State for which 
a waiver has been granted under subsection (e) or 
(f) shall not exceed the estimated total amount that 
the Federal Government would have paid for the fis-
cal year with respect to the programs if the waiver 
had not been granted, as determined by the Director 
of the Office of Management and Budget. 
‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE.—If an applicant submits 
to the Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget a request to apply the rules of this para-
graph to the programs in the State with respect to 
which a waiver under subsection (e) or (f) has been 
provided, during such period of not more than 5 
consecutive fiscal years in which the waiver is in ef-
fect, and the Director determines, on the basis of 
supporting information provided by the applicant, to 
grant the request, then, notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the total of the amounts that may 
be paid by the Federal Government for the period 
with respect to the programs shall not exceed the es-
timated total amount that the Federal Government
would have paid for the period with respect to the 
programs if the waiver had not been granted.’’. 
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