BPLA (Contents)
Budget Process Law Annotated (1993)
Section 604
[PAGES 325-327]
[PAGE 325]
SEC. 604.900 RECONCILIATION DIRECTIVES REGARDING PAY-AS-YOU-GO REQUIRE MENTS.
(a) Instructions to Effectuate Pay-As-You-Go in the House of Representatives.—If legislation providing for a net reduction in revenues in any fiscal year (that, within the same measure, is not fully offset in that fiscal year by reductions in direct spending) is enacted, the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives may report, within 15 legislative days during a Congress, a pay-as-you-go reconcilia- [p. 326] tion directive901 in the form of a concurrent resolution—
(1) specifying the total amount by which revenues sufficient to eliminate the net deficit Increase resulting from that legislation in each fiscal year are to be changed; and
(2) directing that the committees having jurisdiction determine and recommend changes in the revenue law, bills, and resolutions to accomplish a change of such total amount.
(b) Consideration of Pay-As-You-Go Reconciliation Legislation in the House of Representatives.—In the House of Representatives, subsections (b) through (d) of section 310 shall apply in the same manner as if the reconciliation directive described in subsection (a) were a concurrent resolution on the budget.902
[page 327]
900. Section 604 is codified al 2 U.S.C. § 665c (Supp. IV 1992). Section 13111of the Budget Enforcement Act added what is now section 604. See infra p. 707. For excerpts from the statement of managers accompanying the conference report on the Budget Enforcement Act, see infra note 936 (at the end of title VI).
Public Law 97-258 repealed the section 604 originally enacted in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. See “An Act to Revise, Codify, and Enact Without Substantive Change Certain General and Permanent Laws, Related lo Money and Finance, as Title 31, United States Code, ‘Money and finance’”, Pub. L. 97-258, § 5(b), 96 Stat. 877, 1082 (1982). The original sections 601-605 and 607 were codified in sections 1105, 1106, and 1108-1110 of title 31. As originally enacted in 1974, section 604 read as follows:
allowances for supplemental budget authority and uncontrollable outlays
Sec. 604. Section 201(a) of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 11), is further amended—
(1) by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (11);
(2) by striking out the period at the end of paragraph (12) and inserting in lieu thereof “; and”, and
(3) by adding at the end thereof the following new paragraph:
“(13) an allowance for additional estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations for the ensuing fiscal year, and an allowance for unanticipated uncontrollable expenditures for the ensuing fiscal year.”
901. Section 310 sets forth the reconciliation process in the context of Congress’s annual cycle of concurrent resolutions on the budget. See supra pp. 158-177. For other budget process legislation dealing with reconciliation, see the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, section 300, supra p. 47 (budget timetable, including that for reconciliation); section 301(b)(2) and (3), supra pp. 58-60 (empowering budget resolutions to include reconciliation instructions, as well as a provision providing for delayed enrollment of legislation pending completion of reconciliation); section 305, supra pp. 120-142 (procedures for budget resolutions and reconciliation bills); section 313, supra pp. 198-228 (the Byrd Rule prohibiting extraneous matter in reconciliation); section 904(c) and (d), infra pp. 361-368 (supermajority requirements for points of order and appeals, including those for reconciliation); Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 section 258C, infra pp. 658-662 (providing a special Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 reconciliation process to achieve savings in lieu of an impending sequester); section 5 of Executive Order 12857, infra pp. 826-827 (reconciliation recommendations in special direct spending message); and section 16005 of H.R. 2264, 103d Cong., 1st Sess., 139 Cong. Rec. H3029, H3199 201 (daily ed. May 27, 1993) (as passed by the House of Representatives), as applied to the House by H. Res. 235, 103d Cong., 1st Sess., 139 Cong. Rec. H6122 (daily ed. Aug. 3, 1993)), infra pp. 844-848 (reconciliation procedures in response to special direct spending message).
[Counsel Note: See below “Addendum”, for text of section 16005 of H.R. 2264 (103rd Congress).]
902. During the debate on the conference report on legislation of which the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 formed a part, the Chairman and Ranking Republican Member of the Senate Budget Committee discussed the relevance of this section to the Senate:
revenue shortfall
Mr. Domenici. Mr. President, section 13111of this bill adds a new title VI to the Congressional Budget Act. Section 604 of this new title provides a new fast-track reconciliation procedure in the House of Representatives to allow for the consideration of reconciliation bills to meet revenue shortfalls. The conference report does not apply this procedure to the Senate.
I wonder if the distinguished chairman of the Budget Committee could respond to a question on the application of section 310 of the Budget Act to a bill passed by the House under this procedure?
If the House passed a measure under this procedure that was deemed to be a reconciliation bill, would all the provisions of the Budget Act regarding reconciliation legislation, including subsection 310(g) of the Budget Act and the Byrd rule, apply in the Senate?
Mr. Sasser. I would be happy to respond to the distinguished ranking member of the Budget Committee.
Let-me start by saying that the conferees on the budget process for the Senate, as the Senator of New Mexico well knows, did not view this special procedure to be of much merit. After all, procedures already exist under section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act whereby Congress may revise budget resolutions and create new reconciliation instructions calling for new deficit reduction. That is one of many reasons why we did not seek to have a similar provision applied to the Senate. But the conferees on the part of the House insisted on having this rule in the House, so that is why the provision is there.
So what would happen if the House of Representatives passed a concurrent resolution under this section? At the outset we have to acknowledge that it is unclear whether the Presiding Officer would treat it like a budget resolution in the Senate. As it deals with matter that would normally be addressed in budget resolutions, I would expect that the Presiding Officer would refer it to the Budget Committee.
If the Budget Committee reported out the concurrent resolution under this section, it is unclear whether the Presiding Officer would view it as being constrained by the 50-hour or 15-hour time limits for budget resolutions.
If both Houses passed the resolution, however, and a bill in the nature of a reconciliation bill resulted, the next question would be whether the Senate would give it all the protections that normally go to a reconciliation bill.
Counsel Notes
Current Law
This section was repealed along with the entirety of title VI by section 10118 of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105-33).
Previous:Sec. 603 (BPLA) |
Next:Sec. 605 (BPLA) |
Addendum: Section 16005 of H.R. 2264 (103rd Congress), as engrossed in the House of Representatives:
SEC. 16005. REQUIRED RESPONSE BY CONGRESS.
(a) Requirement for Special Direct Spending Resolution.--Whenever
the President submits a special direct spending message under section
16004, the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives
shall report, not later than April 15, the concurrent resolution on the
budget and include in it a separate title that meets the requirements
of subsections (b) and (c).
(b) Contents of Separate Title.--The separate title of the
concurrent resolution on the budget shall contain reconciliation
directives to the appropriate committees of the House of
Representatives and Senate to determine and recommend changes in laws
within their jurisdictions to reduce outlays or increase revenues by
specified amounts (which in total equal or exceed the reductions
recommended by the President, up to the amount of the overage). If this
separate title recommends that no legislative changes be made to recoup
or eliminate an overage, then a statement to that effect shall be set
forth in that title.
(c) Requirement for Separate Vote To Increase Targets.--If the
separate title of a concurrent resolution on the budget proposes to
recoup or eliminate less than the entire overage for the prior,
current, and budget years, then the Committee on the Budget of the
House of Representatives shall report a resolution directing the
Committee on Government Operations to report legislation increasing the
direct spending targets for each applicable year by the full amount of
the overage not recouped or eliminated. It shall not be in order in the
House of Representatives to consider that concurrent resolution on the
budget until the House of Representatives has agreed to the resolution
directing the increase in direct spending targets.
(d) Conference Reports Must Fully Address Overage.--It shall not be
in order in the House of Representatives to consider a conference
report on a concurrent resolution on the budget unless that conference
report fully addresses the entirety of any overage contained in the
applicable report of the President under section 16004 through
reconciliation directives requiring spending reductions, revenue
increases, or changes in the direct spending targets.
(e) Procedure if House Budget Committee Fails To Report Required
Resolution.--
(1) Automatic discharge of house budget committee.--If a
special direct spending resolution is required and the
Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives fails
to report a resolution meeting the requirements of subsections
(b) and (c) by April 15, then the committee shall be
automatically discharged from further consideration of the
concurrent resolution reflecting the President's
recommendations introduced pursuant to section 16004(c)(2) and
the concurrent resolution shall be placed on the appropriate
calendar.
(2) Consideration by house.--Ten days after the Committee
on the Budget of the House of Representatives has been
discharged under paragraph (1), any Member may move that the
House proceed to consider the resolution. Such motion shall be
highly privileged and not debatable.
(f) Application of Congressional Budget Act.--To the extent that
they are relevant and not inconsistent with this title, the provisions
of title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 shall apply in the
House of Representatives and the Senate to special direct spending
resolutions, resolutions increasing targets under subsection (c), and
reconciliation legislation reported pursuant to directives contained in
those resolutions.
Budget Counsel 