GAO Glossary of Terms and Definitions (September 2005)

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings (GRH)

The popular name of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, so named for the Senate sponsors: Senators Phil Gramm, Warren Rudman, and Ernest F. Hollings. The act, a mechanism for reducing the federal deficit, set declining deficit targets for the federal government and established an automatic enforcement mechanism called sequestration. GRH has been amended several times, most significantly by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. (See also Budget Enforcement Act; Discretionary; Limitation; Mandatory; Sequestration.)

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