Relief From Sequestration Act of 2017

Bill: 115-hr-1745
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Smith, Adam [D-WA-9]
Introduced: 2017-03-27
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Budget deficits and national debt

Budget process
Latest action: action_date: 2017-03-27
text: Referred to the House Committee on the Budget.

Summaries:
action_date: 2017-03-27
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Relief From Sequestration Act of 2017</b></p> <p>This bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to eliminate the sequestration, or automatic spending cuts, scheduled to occur because the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to recommend legislation to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years, as required by the Budget Control Act of 2011. </p>

tv_txt: I 115th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1745 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES March 27, 2017 Mr. Smith of Washington (for himself, Mr. Conyers , Ms. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico , Mr. McGovern , Ms. Jayapal , and Ms. DelBene ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget A BILL To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to eliminate the section 251A sequestrations.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Relief From Sequestration Act of 2017 . 2. Findings and purposes (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Sequestration was designed as a forcing mechanism for an agreement on a comprehensive, deficit reduction plan. It has failed to produce the intended results. (2) The Budget Control Act of 2011 was enacted to avert a default on Federal debt obligations. (3) Because the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to recommend legislation providing an additional $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, Federal law mandates that the additional savings be sequestered. (4) Congress must enact a comprehensive, deficit reduction plan to solve the country’s fiscal challenges and to promote national security, economic stability, and the continued growth and prosperity of the United States. (5) It no longer makes sense to rely on sequestration as a forcing mechanism for a balanced solution. The costs to our Government and to the economy are too great. (6) Under sequestration, damaging cuts would be applied, through fiscal year 2021, to a wide variety of discretionary spending programs to achieve $1.2 trillion in savings, forestalling the sound planning needed for prudent and meaningful investments in national security, the workforce, transportation infrastructure, education, health care, public safety, housing, innovation, small business development, and many other facets of enduring national strength. (7) Even the prospect of sequestration is disruptive to regular order and to the congressional appropriations process, and it fosters damaging economic uncertainty, while short-term solutions only suspend the prospect and continue to undermine the certainty needed for economic recovery. (b) Purposes The purposes of this Act are to— (1) eliminate sequestration resulting from the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction; and (2) offer the Federal Government, industry, and the American people the predictability that economic recovery demands. 3. Repeal of section 251A sequestrations (a) Repealer Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed. (b) Conforming amendment The item relating to section 251A in the table of contents set forth in section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is repealed.