[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 595 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 595
To provide for expedited rescissions of budget authority.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 19, 2007
Mr. Udall of Colorado (for himself and Mr. Ryan of Wisconsin)
introduced the following bill; which was referred 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 jurisdiction of the
committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide for expedited rescissions of budget authority.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE, FINDINGS, AND PURPOSE.
(a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Stimulating
Leadership in Limiting Expenditures (or `SLICE') Act of 2007''.
(b) Findings.--Congress finds that--
(1) the Congressional Budget Office has projected that
unless current laws and policies are changed Federal
expenditures will exceed revenues during and after fiscal year
2007, which will require the Government to borrow funds to
offset these deficits;
(2) substantial Federal appropriations will continue to be
required for ongoing costs of national defense and homeland
security, as well as for other urgent purposes;
(3) rescinding previously-mandated spending on lower-
priority items would help reduce the extent to which such
necessary appropriations for urgent purposes would require
increases in the national debt that must be repaid, with
interest, in the future; and
(4) however, under current law, while the President can
propose rescinding such spending, the Congress is not required
to act on any such proposals by the President.
(c) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to enable the President to
require Congress to debate and vote on certain presidential proposals
for reducing spending.
SEC. 2. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.
(a) In General.--Part B of title X of the Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) is amended by
redesignating sections 1013 through 1017 as sections 1014 through 1018,
respectively, and inserting after section 1012 the following new
section:
``SEC. 1013. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.
``(a) Proposed Rescission of Budget Authority.--In addition to the
method of rescinding budget authority specified in section 1012, the
President may propose, at the time and in the manner provided in
subsection (b), the rescission of any budget authority provided in an
appropriation Act. Funds made available for obligation under this
procedure may not be proposed for rescission again under this section
or section 1012.
``(b) Transmittal of Special Message.--
``(1) Not later than 3 calendar days after the date of
enactment of an appropriation Act, the President may transmit
to Congress one special message proposing to rescind amounts of
budget authority provided in that Act and include with that
special message a draft bill that, if enacted, would only
rescind that budget authority. That bill shall clearly identify
the amount of budget authority that is proposed to be rescinded
for each program, project, or activity to which that budget
authority relates.
``(2) In the case of an appropriation Act that includes
accounts within the jurisdiction of more than one subcommittee
of the Committee on Appropriations, the President in proposing
to rescind budget authority under this section shall send a
separate special message and accompanying draft bill for
accounts within the jurisdiction of each such subcommittee.
``(3) Each special message shall specify, with respect to
the budget authority proposed to be rescinded, the matters
referred to in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 1012(a).
``(c) Procedures for Expedited Consideration.--
``(1)(A) Before the close of the second legislative day of
the House of Representatives after the date of receipt of a
special message transmitted to Congress under subsection (b),
the majority leader or minority leader of the House of
Representatives shall introduce (by request) the draft bill
accompanying that special message. If the bill is not
introduced as provided in the preceding sentence, then, on the
third legislative day of the House of Representatives after the
date of receipt of that special message, any Member of that
House may introduce the bill.
``(B) The bill shall be referred to the Committee on
Appropriations of the House of Representatives. The Committee
shall report the bill without substantive revision and with or
without recommendation. The bill shall be reported not later
than the seventh legislative day of that House after the date
of receipt of that special message. If the Committee on
Appropriations fails to report the bill within that period,
that committee shall be automatically discharged from
consideration of the bill, and the bill shall be placed on the
appropriate calendar.
``(C) A vote on final passage of the bill referred to in
subparagraph (B) shall be taken in the House of Representatives
on or before the close of the 10th legislative day of that
House after the date of the introduction of the bill in that
House. If the bill is passed, the Clerk of the House of
Representatives shall cause the bill to be engrossed,
certified, and transmitted to the Senate within one calendar
day of the day on which the bill is passed.
``(2)(A) A motion in the House of Representatives to
proceed to the consideration of a bill under this section shall
be highly privileged and not debatable. An amendment to the
motion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move
to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or
disagreed to.
``(B) Debate in the House of Representatives on a bill
under this section shall not exceed 4 hours, which shall be
divided equally between those favoring and those opposing the
bill. A motion further to limit debate shall not be debatable.
It shall not be in order to move to recommit a bill under this
section or to move to reconsider the vote by which the bill is
agreed to or disagreed to.
``(C) Appeals from decisions of the Chair relating to the
application of the Rules of the House of Representatives to the
procedure relating to a bill under this section shall be
decided without debate.
``(3)(A) A bill transmitted to the Senate pursuant to
paragraph (1) (C) or (E) shall be referred to its Committee on
Appropriations. The committee shall report the bill either
without substantive revision or with an amendment in the nature
of a substitute, and with or without recommendation. The bill
shall be reported not later than the seventh legislative day of
the Senate after it receives the bill. A committee failing to
report the bill within such period shall be automatically
discharged from consideration of the bill, and the bill shall
be placed upon the appropriate calendar.
``(B) A vote on final passage of a bill transmitted to the
Senate shall be taken on or before the close of the 10th
legislative day of the Senate after the date on which the bill
is transmitted.
``(4)(A) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the
consideration of a bill under this section shall be privileged
and not debatable. An amendment to the motion shall not be in
order, nor shall it be in order to move to reconsider the vote
by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to.
``(B) Debate in the Senate on a bill under this section,
and all amendments thereto and all debatable motions and
appeals in connection therewith, shall not exceed 10 hours. The
time shall be equally divided between, and controlled by, the
majority leader and the minority leader or their designees.
``(C) Debate in the Senate on any debatable motion or
appeal in connection with a bill under this section shall be
limited to not more than 1 hour, to be equally divided between,
and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the bill,
except that in the event the manager of the bill is in favor of
any such motion or appeal, the time in opposition thereto,
shall be controlled by the minority leader or his designee.
Such leaders, or either of them, may, from time under their
control on the passage of a bill, allot additional time to any
Senator during the consideration of any debatable motion or
appeal.
``(D) A motion in the Senate to further limit debate on a
bill under this section is not debatable. A motion to recommit
a bill under this section is not in order.
``(d) Amendments and Divisions Generally Prohibited.--(1) Except as
provided by paragraph (2), no amendment to a bill considered under this
section or to a substitute amendment referred to in paragraph (2) shall
be in order in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. It
shall not be in order to demand a division of the question in the House
of Representatives (or in a Committee of the Whole) or in the Senate.
No motion to suspend the application of this subsection shall be in
order in either House, nor shall it be in order in either House to
suspend the application of this subsection by unanimous consent.
``(2)(A) It shall be in order in the Senate to consider an
amendment in the nature of a substitute reported by the Committee on
Appropriations under subsection (c)(3)(A) that complies with
subparagraph (B).
``(B) It shall only be in order in the Senate to consider any
amendment described in subparagraph (A) if--
``(i) the amendment contains only rescissions to the same
appropriation Act as the bill that it is amending contained;
and
``(ii) the aggregate amount of budget authority rescinded
equals or exceeds the aggregate amount of budget authority
rescinded in the bill that it is amending;
unless that amendment consists solely of the text of the bill as
introduced in the House of Representatives that makes rescissions to
carry out the applicable special message of the President.
``(C) It shall not be in order in the Senate to consider a bill or
an amendment in the nature of a substitute reported by the Committee on
Appropriations under subsection (c)(3)(A) unless the Senate has voted
upon and rejected an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting
solely of the text of the bill as introduced in the House of
Representatives that makes rescissions to carry out the applicable
special message of the President.
``(e) Requirement to Make Available for Obligation.--Any amount of
budget authority proposed to be rescinded in a special message
transmitted to Congress under subsection (b) shall be made available
for obligation on the earlier of--
``(1) the day after the date upon which the House of
Representatives defeats the bill transmitted with that special
message rescinding the amount proposed to be rescinded and (if
reported by the Committee on Appropriations) the alternative
bill; or
``(2) the day after the date upon which the Senate rejects
a bill or amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting
solely of the text of the bill as introduced in the House of
Representatives that makes rescissions to carry out the
applicable special message of the President.
``(f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
``(1) the term `appropriation Act' means any general or
special appropriation Act, and any Act or joint resolution
making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing appropriations;
and
``(2) the term `legislative day' means, with respect to
either House of Congress, any calendar day during which that
House is in session.''.
(b) Exercise of Rulemaking Powers.--Section 904 of such Act (2
U.S.C. 621 note) is amended--
(1) by striking ``and 1017'' in subsection (a) and
inserting ``1013, and 1018''; and
(2) by striking ``section 1017'' in subsection (d) and
inserting ``sections 1013 and 1018''; and
(c) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Section 1011 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 682(5)) is amended--
(A) in paragraph (4), by striking ``1013'' and
inserting ``1014''; and
(B) in paragraph (5)--
(i) by striking ``1016'' and inserting
``1017''; and
(ii) by striking ``1017(b)(1)'' and
inserting ``1018(b)(1)''.
(2) Section 1015 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 685) (as
redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended--
(A) by striking ``1012 or 1013'' each place it
appears and inserting ``1012, 1013, or 1014'';
(B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``1012'' and
inserting ``1012 or 1013'';
(C) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``1013'' and
inserting ``1014''; and
(D) in subsection (e)(2)--
(i) by striking ``and'' at the end of
subparagraph (A);
(ii) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as
subparagraph (C);
(iii) by striking ``1013'' in subparagraph
(C) (as so redesignated) and inserting
``1014''; and
(iv) by inserting after subparagraph (A)
the following new subparagraph:
``(B) he has transmitted a special message under
section 1013 with respect to a proposed rescission;
and''.
(3) Section 1016 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 686) (as
redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended by striking ``1012 or
1013'' each place it appears and inserting ``1012, 1013, or
1014''.
(d) Clerical Amendments.--The table of sections for subpart B of
title X of such Act is amended--
(1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 1013
through 1017 as items relating to sections 1014 through 1018;
and
(2) by inserting after the item relating to section 1012
the following new item:
``Sec. 1013. Expedited consideration of certain proposed
rescissions.''.
SEC. 3. APPLICATION.
(a) In General.--Section 1013 of the Congressional Budget and
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as added by section 2) shall apply to
amounts of budget authority provided by appropriation Acts (as defined
in subsection (f) of such section) that are enacted during the One
Hundred Tenth Congress.
(b) Special Transition Rule.--Within 3 calendar days after the
beginning of the One Hundred Eleventh Congress, the President may
retransmit a special message, in the manner provided in section 1013(b)
of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as
added by section 2), proposing to rescind only those amounts of budget
authority that were contained in any special message to the One Hundred
Tenth Congress which that Congress failed to consider because of its
sine die adjournment before the close of the time period set forth in
such section 1013 for consideration of those proposed rescissions. A
draft bill shall accompany that special message that, if enacted, would
only rescind that budget authority. Before the close of the second
legislative day of the House of Representatives after the date of
receipt of that special message, the majority leader or minority leader
of the House of Representatives shall introduce (by request) the draft
bill accompanying that special message. If the bill is not introduced
as provided in the preceding sentence, then, on the third legislative
day of the House of Representatives after the date of receipt of that
special message, any Member of that House may introduce the bill. The
House of Representatives and the Senate shall proceed to consider that
bill in the manner provided in such section 1013.
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