Cyclopedia
Section 302(f) Point of Order
Congressional Budget Act of 1974
Summary
A section 302(f) points of order, (Congressional Budget Act of 1974) may be raised against the consideration of a legislative measure in the House or Senate if it breaches an allocation provided to a committee by the annual concurrent resolution on the budget. These allocations are set forth under section 302 (CBA), with subsection (a) providing them to full committees, and subsection (b) of the section being suballocated by the Appropriations Committees to its subcommittees. Both subsection (a) and (b), allocations and suballocations respectively, are independently enforceable. Hence a measure breaching either subsection will cause a 302(f) point of order to be sustained.
The language of the point of order specifically activates the point of order after action on a budget resolution has been completed, which means the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget by both the House and the Senate. This is important for deeming resolutions, in particular, since they do not by themselves constitute completion of the budget action on a budget resolution. The text of the deemer must specifically do include language indicating it should be considered tantamount to final action on a concurrent resolution on the budget. This also becomes important for the operation of section 302(a)(5) providing authority for the Budget Chairman to transmit interim allocations to the Appropriations Committee if a budget resolution is not adopted by April 15. Since the section 302(f) point of order is predicated on final action, these interim allocations are not enforceable.
Section 302 is classified to the U.S. Code at 2 U.S.C. 633.
Application in House and Senate
The distinctions between House and Senate are as follow:
Section 302(a) and (b) in the House. After action on a budget resolution is completed, the point of order prohibits consideration of legislation providing new budget authority (it does not apply to outlays) for any fiscal year causing the applicable allocation of new budget authority made pursuant to section 302(a) or (b) for the first fiscal year or for the total of all fiscal years to be exceeded. While no explicit distinction is made between the Appropriations Committee and other Committees, only the former is provided with a budget resolution year allocation, so no “period of years” exists to enforce for that Committee.
Section 302(a) in the Senate. After a budget resolution is agreed to, the point of order prohibits the consideration of legislation (from committees other than the Appropriations Committee) causing applicable allocation of new budget authority or outlays made pursuant to section 302(a) for the first fiscal year or for the total of all fiscal years to be exceeded. In the Senate the measures it applies to are: bills, joint resolutions, amendments, motions, or conference reports.
Section 302(b) in the Senate. After a budget resolution has been agreed to, the point of order prohibits the consideration of legislation from the Appropriations Committee that would cause the applicable suballocation of new budget authority or outlays made pursuant to section 302(b) to be exceeded.
Section 302(g) in the House. Under subsection (g) (known as the “Pay-As-You-Go” or “Rosty” exception) provides that Sections 302(f)(1), section 303(a) (CBA) (after April 15), and section 311(a) (CBA), as it applies to revenues, does not apply in the House to legislation (bill, joint resolution, amendment, or conference report) if for each fiscal year covered by the most recently agreed to budget resolution such legislation would not increase the deficit if added to other changes in revenues or direct spending provided in the budget resolution pursuant to pay-as-you-go procedures included under Section 301(b)(8).
Budget Authority and Outlays in the House and Senate. The point of order lies against a bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion or conference report causing a breach in budget authority or outlays in the Senate, though only against budget authority in the House. This discrepancy between the House and Senate was written into the point of order when section 302(f) was added by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (BBEDCA). When BBEDCA was revised in 1987 to address constitutional objections by the Supreme Court to unrelated issues, the Senate-reported version of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Reaffirmation Act of 1987 included extending the point of order to outlays in order to bring the chambers into symmetry. The provision was dropped, though, after the House objected to it.
Deschler’s Precedents: Chapter 41 (Budget Process)
§ 15. Section 311
Section 315
passage.
Deschler’s Precedents of the U.S. House of Representatives, Volume 18, Chapter 41, §15, p. 245-246.
[Notes]
Statutory Text
Text from Title III of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974:
(f) Legislation Subject to a Point of Order.—
(1) In the house of representatives.—After the Congress has completed action on a concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year, it shall not be in order in the House of Representatives to consider any bill, joint resolution, or amendment providing new budget authority for any fiscal year, or any conference report on any such bill or joint resolution, if—
(A) the enactment of such bill or resolution as reported;
(B) the adoption and enactment of such amendment; or
(C) the enactment of such bill or resolution in the form recommended in such conference report,
would cause the applicable allocation of new budget authority made under subsection (a) or (b) for the first fiscal year or the total of fiscal years to be exceeded.[1]
(2) In the senate.—After a concurrent resolution on the budget is agreed to, it shall not be in order in the Senate to consider any bill, joint resolution, amendment, motion, or conference report that would cause—
(A) in the case of any committee except the Committee on Appropriations, the applicable allocation of new budget authority or outlays under subsection (a) for the first fiscal year or the total of fiscal years to be exceeded; or
(B) in the case of the Committee on Appropriations, the applicable suballocation of new budget authority or outlays under subsection (b) to be exceeded.
References
CRS – Points of Order in the Congressional Budget Process (97-865) October 20, 2015
CRS – Allocations and Subdivisions in the Congressional Budget Process (RS20144) November 29, 2010
Deschler’s Precedents – Chapter 41: § 11. Section 302
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