Table of Contents
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985
Section 258C
Title II—Deficit Reduction Procedures
PART C—EMERGENCY POWERS TO ELIMINATE DEFICITS IN EXCESS OF MAXIMUM DEFICIT AMOUNT
SEC. 258C. SPECIAL RECONCILIATION PROCESS.
(a) Reporting of Resolutions and Reconciliation Bills in the Senate.[1]—
(1) Committee alternatives to presidential order.— After the submission of an OMB sequestration update report[2] under section 254[3] that envisions a sequestration under section 252 or 253,[4] each standing committee of the Senate may, not later than October 10, submit to the Committee on the Budget of the Senate information of the type described in section 301(d) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 with respect to alternatives to the order envisioned by such report insofar as such order affects laws within the jurisdiction of the committee.
(2) Initial budget committee action.—After the submission of such a report, the Committee on the Budget of the Senate may, not later than October 15, report to the Senate a resolution. The resolution may affirm the impact of the order envisioned by such report, in whole or in part. To the extent that any part is not affirmed, the resolution shall state which parts are not affirmed and shall contain instructions to committees of the Senate of the type referred to in section 310(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, sufficient to achieve at least the total level of deficit reduction contained in those sections which are not affirmed.
(3) Response of committees.—Committees instructed pursuant to paragraph (2), or affected thereby, shall submit their responses to the Budget Committee no later than 10 days after the resolution referred to in paragraph (2) is agreed to, except that if only one such Committee is so instructed such Committee shall, by the same date, report to the Senate a reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution containing its recommendations in response to such instructions. A committee shall be considered to have complied with all instructions to it pursuant to a resolution adopted under paragraph (2) if it has made recommendations with respect to matters within its jurisdiction which would result in a reduction in the deficit at least equal to the total reduction directed by such instructions.
(4) Budget committee action.—Upon receipt of the recommendations received in response to a resolution referred to in paragraph (2), the Budget Committee shall report to the Senate a reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution, or both, carrying out all such recommendations without any substantive revisions. In the event that a committee instructed in a resolution referred to in paragraph (2) fails to submit any recommendation (or, when only one committee is instructed, fails to report a reconciliation bill or resolution) in response to such instructions, the Budget Committee shall include in the reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution reported pursuant to this subparagraph legislative language within the jurisdiction of the noncomplying committee to achieve the amount of deficit reduction directed in such instructions.
(5) Point of order.—It shall not be in order in the Senate to consider any reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution reported under paragraph (4) with respect to a fiscal year, any amendment thereto, or any conference report thereon 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 amount of the deficit for such fiscal year to exceed the maximum deficit amount for such fiscal year, unless the low-growth report submitted under section 254 projects negative real economic growth for such fiscal year, or for each of any two consecutive quarters during such fiscal year.
(6) Treatment of certain amendments.—In the Senate, an amendment which adds to a resolution reported under paragraph (2) an instruction of the type referred to in such paragraph shall be in order during the consideration of such resolution if such amendment would be in order but for the fact that it would be held to be non-germane on the basis that the instruction constitutes new matter.
(7) Definitions.—For purposes of paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), the term “day” shall mean any calendar day on which the Senate is in session.
(b) Procedures.—
(1) In general.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), in the Senate the provisions of sections 305 and 310 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for the consideration of concurrent resolutions on the budget and conference reports thereon shall also apply to the consideration of resolutions, and reconciliation bills and reconciliation resolutions reported under this paragraph and conference reports thereon.
(2) Limits on debate.—Debate in the Senate on any resolution reported pursuant to subsection (a)(2), and all amendments thereto and debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to 10 hours.
(3) Limitation on amendments.—Section 310(d)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act shall apply to reconciliation bills and reconciliation resolutions reported under this subsection.
(4) Bills and resolutions from the house.— Any bill or resolution received in the Senate from the House, which is a companion to a reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution of the Senate for the purposes of this subsection, shall be considered in the Senate pursuant to the provisions of this subsection.
(5) Definition.—For purposes of this subsection, the term “resolution” means a simple, joint, or concurrent resolution.[5]
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COUNSEL NOTES
Codification
This section is classified to the U.S. Code at 2 U.S.C. 907d.
Applicability
This section is triggered by the submission of a Sequestration Update Report that projects the need for a sequestration “that envisions a sequestration under section 252 or 253” of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (BBEDCA). Sequestration currently is not ordered pursuant to those sections but rather under section 5 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2011 or section 251A (BBEDCA).
ENDNOTES
[1] Congress has used reconciliation procedure under section 310 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this reconciliation process as it is set forth in this section has not been used.
[2] The Sequestration Preview Report is submitted by OMB on August 20 of each year.
[3] Sequestration are ordered under section 251A of BBEDCA, as amended by the Budget Control Act of 2011, but are unrelated to sections 252 and 253.
[4] While Sequestration Update Reports are submitted under section 254 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, such reports do not envision a sequestration under the terms of section 252 (Enforcing Pay-As-You-Go) or 253 (Enforcing Deficit Amounts) of that Act since the terms of those sections no longer require automatic reductions in spending.
[5] “Simple resolutions” apply in one House of Congress. “Concurrent resolutions” apply to both Houses. “Joint resolutions” are enacted into law.
Byrd Rule
Section 313(a) (BBEDCA), known as the Byrd Rule applies to reconciliation measures considered pursuant to section 258C (BBEDCA). The latter section provides for the consideration of reconciliation legislation some time after the submission of the annual Sequestration Update Report and October 15, in order to achieve deficit reductions that would render an expected sequester unneeded (whether from the original statutory pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirement or the Maximum Deficit Amounts, both of which are expired). PAYGO requirements under BBEDCA were replaced by the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2011 (Pub. L.111-139), but section 258C does not apply to sequestration under that Act.
Amendments
This section was enacted by section 13101(g) (BEA has not been amended since its enactment. Section As Enacted: Section 258C, 99. Stat. 1091 (Statutes At Large)
Legislative History Notes
Public Laws
Pub. L. 101–508, title XIII, §13101(g), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1388–600 (Budget Enforcement Act of 1990) added §258C to Pub. L. 99–177, title II (Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985).
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Budget Counsel 