Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010

Bill: 111-s-3026
Sponsor: Sen. Bayh, Evan [D-IN]
Introduced: 2010-02-23 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Appropriations
Budget deficits and national debt
Budget process
Congress
Congressional oversight
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Income tax exclusion
Legislative rules and procedure
Presidents and presidential powers, Vice Presidents
Public participation and lobbying
Senate
Tariffs

Summary:
action_date: 2010-02-23
text: 
Fiscal Freeze Act of 2010 - Congressional Accountability and Line Item Veto Act of 2010 - Amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to authorize the President to propose the repeal of any congressional earmark or the cancellation (line item veto) of any limited tariff or targeted tax benefit.
 
Dedicates any such repeal or cancellation solely to deficit reduction or increase of a surplus.
 
Prescribes procedures for expedited consideration in each chamber for such proposals.
 
Authorizes the President temporarily to withhold congressional earmarks from obligation or suspend a limited tariff or targeted tax benefit.
 
Expresses the sense of Congress on abuse of proposed repeals and cancellations.
 
Makes it out of order in both chambers to consider legislation containing a congressional earmark or an earmark attributable to the President for any fiscal year in which there is or will be a deficit as determined by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
 
Permits waiver or suspension of such prohibition, or successful appeals from rulings of the Chair, only by an affirmative vote of three-fifths (60) of the Senate.
 
Directs the chairs of the congressional budget committees to each maintain a deficit reduction Discretionary Account and a deficit reduction Mandatory Account.
 
Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to define the total level of discretionary spending for all non-security discretionary spending programs, projects, and activities to mean, in any fiscal year through FY2020 in which there is a deficit, an amount of discretionary spending outlays not exceeding the discretionary spending outlays for the preceding fiscal year as adjusted for inflation.
 
Establishes total spending limits for FY2010-FY2020 and thereafter, as well as total deficit limits for FY2011-FY2020 and thereafter.
 
Prescribes administrative procedures for: (1) spending reduction orders; and (2) sequestration reports for discretionary spending limits, total spending limits, and deficit limits.
 
Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) with respect to spending and deficit limit enforcement mechanisms.
 
Amends the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to prescribe administrative and legislative procedures for spending reduction orders for discretionary spending limits, total spending limits, and deficit limits, with specified exceptions.
 

 
Amends the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to suspend sequestration procedures for the spending or deficit limits in this Act upon the enactment of a declaration of war or the joint resolution suspending certain provisions of law.
 
Provides for continuing appropriations if any regular appropriation bill for a fiscal year (or, if applicable, for each fiscal year in a biennium) does not become law before the beginning of such fiscal year or a joint resolution making continuing appropriations is not in effect. (Thus prevents federal government shutdown.)
 
Amends the CBA to require joint budget resolutions signed by the President (currently, concurrent resolutions, which do not have to be signed by the President).
 
Repeals the requirement for submission to the House of Representatives of an allocation and sub-allocations, consistent with the discretionary spending levels in the most recently agreed to budget resolution, in the event that no new budget resolution becomes law before April 15 of any year.
 
Requires consideration of budget-related legislation before the budget resolution becomes law.
 
Prescribes procedures for expedited consideration in each chamber of a presidential veto of a budget resolution.
 
Fiscal Discipline, Earmark Reform, and Accountability Act - Amends the Standing Rules of the Senate to revise procedures for consideration of points of order against consideration of certain general appropriations bills in the Senate.
 
Amends the Rules to require all conference reports to be searchable online. 
 
Amends the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to require a recipient of federal funds to disclose any registered lobbyist to whom the recipient paid money to lobby on behalf of such funding, including the amount of such funds. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-02-23
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
action_date: 2010-02-23
text: Introduced in Senate