§174. CBA Section 904 – Exercise of Rulemaking Powers

CBA (Contents)

Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Section 904

TITLE IX – MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS; EFFECTIVE DATES
exercise of rulemaking powers

Sec. 904.[1]  (a) The provisions of this title and of titles I, III, IV, and V and the provisions of sections 701, 703, and 1017 are enacted by the Congress—

(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such they shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, respectively, or of that House to which they specifically apply, and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and

(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of such House. Any provision of title III or IV may be waived or suspended in the Senate by a majority vote of the Members voting, a quorum being present, or by the unanimous consent of the Senate.

(b) Any provision of title III or IV may be waived or suspended in the Senate by a majority vote of the Members voting, a quorum being present, or by the unanimous consent of the Senate.

(c) Waivers.—

(1) Permanent.—Sections 305(b)(2), 305(c)(4), 306, 310(d)(2), 313, 904(c), and 904(d) of this Act may be waived or suspended in the Senate only by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.

(2) Temporary.—Sections 301(i), 302(c), 302(f), 310(g), 311(a), 312(b), 312(c), and 314(e) of this Act and sections 258(a)(4)(C), 258A(b)(3)(C)(i), 258B(f)(1), 258B(h)(1), 258B(h)(3), 258C(a)(5), and 258C(b)(1) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 may be waived or suspended in the Senate only by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.

(d) Appeals.—

(1) Procedure.—Appeals in the Senate from the decisions of the Chair relating to any provision of title III or IV or section 1017 shall, except as otherwise provided therein, be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the resolution, concurrent resolution, reconciliation bill, or rescission bill, as the case may be.

(2) Permanent.—An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under sections 305(b)(2), 305(c)(4), 306, 310(d)(2), 313, 904(c), and 904(d) of this Act.

(3) Temporary.—An affirmative vote of three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn, shall be required in the Senate to sustain an appeal of the ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised under sections 301(i), 302(c), 302(f), 310(g), 311(a), 312(b), 312(c), and 314(e) of this Act and sections 258(a)(4)(C), 258A(b)(3)(C)(i), 258B(f)(1), 258B(h)(1), 258B(h)(3), 258C(a)(5), and 258C(b)(1) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.

(e) Expiration of Certain Supermajority Voting Requirements.—Subsections (c)(2) and (d)(3) shall expire on September 30, 2007.[2] 

 

 

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COUNSEL NOTES
Codification

This section is not classified to the U.S. Code.

Section as Enacted

This section was enacted as section 904 of Pub. L. 93-344 (Congressional Budget Act of 1974).

Endnotes

[1] This section is not classified to the U.S. Code, though it is set forth as a note at 2 U.S.C. 621 note.

[2] This expiration date has been extended through the adoption of Concurrent Resolutions on the budget through September 30, 2025. See Section 904(e) Amendments for more information. 

Section Information

Section 904(a) and House Rulemaking

The language of 904(a)(1) is included in any bill or concurrent resolution, in particular budget resolutions, that the House considers. This is at the insistence of the House Rules Committee despite the fact that the substance of the text is found in the U.S. Constitution.

Section 904(e) Amendments

Under section 904(e), the three-fifths supermajority voting requirements expire on September 30, 2007. This date has been extended through other provisions of law:

S. Con. Res. 21 (109th Congress): Section 205 extended the date through September 30, 2017.

S. Con. Res. 11 (114th Congress): Section 3201 extended the date through September 30, 2025.

Section 904 from the Budget Process Law Annotated

See also the Budget Process Law Annotated (1993) on this section: Sec. 904. Exercise of rulemaking powers.

Notes from the House Rules and Manual (114th Congress)

The House Rules and Manual (114th Congress) includes the following notes on this section:

Section 904 was amended by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (sec. 10119, P.L. 105–33) to clarify points of order in the Senate that may be waived by a supermajority vote. The Senate extended to 2017 the expiration in subsection (e) in the budget resolution for fiscal year 2008 (sec. 205, S. Con. Res. 21, 110th Cong.).

Pursuant to this section, and under its authority contained in clause 5 of rule XIII (former clause 4(b) of rule XI) to report on rules and the order of business, the Committee on Rules may report as privileged a resolution recommending the temporary waiver of the provisions of section 401 of the Congressional Budget Act during the consideration of designated legislation in the House (Speaker Albert, Mar. 20, 1975, p. 7676). A point of order against consideration of a resolution reported from the Committee on Rules providing for consideration of a concurrent resolution on the budget does not lie based upon alleged violation of a statute that merely reaffirms the congressional commitment towards achieving balanced Federal budgets (P.L. 96–389), because the statute does not constitute a rule of the House and because section 904 of the Budget Act acknowledges the constitutional authority of either House to change its rules at any time (June 10, 1982, pp. 13352, 13353). A unanimous-consent agreement that only permits a (nonprivileged) bill to be considered in the House before three-day availability of the report thereon, but that does not specifically waive points of order against consideration, does not preclude a point of order against consideration of the bill when called up based upon an alleged violation of the Budget Act (Feb. 4, 1982, p. 845).

U.S. Congress, House Manual and Rules of the House of Representatives of the United States, Sec. 904 of the Congressional Budget Act, § 1127, (114th Congress) H. Doc. 113-181, 113th Cong., 2nd sess., p. 1116.

Note from 2 U.S.C. 621

Title 2, The Congress, of the U.S. Code, in section 621, sets forth this section as a U.S. Code Note rather as a classified section. It sets forth the legislative text, with references to its enacting law (the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-344)) and those laws which have amended it, as follows: 

Exercise of Congressional Rulemaking Power

Pub. L. 93–344, title IX, §904, July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 331, as amended by

Budget Process Law Annotated (1993) Notations

The Budget Process Law Annotated  (1993) includes the following for section 903 (CBA) on page 356:  

Sec. 903. (a) Section 134(c) of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 (2 U.S.C. 190b(b))942 is amended. by inserting “or the Committee on the Budget” after “Appropriations”.

(b) Section 136(c) of such Act (2 U.S.C. 190d(c)943 is amended by striking out “Committee on Appropriations of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations,” and inserting in lieu thereof “Committees on Appropriations and the Budget of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations, the Budget,”.

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942. S. Res. 114, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. § 2(a), 125 Cong. Rec. S16,588, S16,602 (daily ed. Nov. 14, 1979), repealed 2 U.S.C. § 190b. 

943. S. Res. 274, 96th Cong., 1st Sess. § 2(a), 125 Cong. Rec. S16,588, S16,602 (Nov. 14, 1979), repealed 2 U.S.C.§ 190d insofar as it related to the Senate. The exception for the Budget Committee that section 903(b) created to the requirement of all committees to submit biennial reports of their activities survives in rule XXVI(8) of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY NOTES
PUBLIC LAWS

Pub. L. 93–344, title III, §901, 88 Stat. 330,  July 12, 1974. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 enacted this section into law.

Pub. L. 99–177, title II, §271(a), Dec. 12, 1985, 99 Stat. 1094 (Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985);

Pub. L. 101–508, title XIII, §§13112(a)(11), 13208(a), Nov. 5, 1990, 104 Stat. 1388–608, 1388-619 (Budget Enforcement Act of 1990).

Pub. L. 104–130, §4(c), Apr. 9, 1996, 110 Stat. 1212 (Line Item Veto Act of 1996).

Pub. L. 105–33, title X, §10119, Aug. 5, 1997, 111 Stat. 695 (Budget Enforcement Act of 1997).

Pub. L. 112–25, title I, §105(c), Aug. 2, 2011, 125 Stat. 247 (Budget Control Act of 2011).

Pub. L. 113–67, div. A, title I, §122(16), (17), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 1176. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 made technical corrections to this section. 

Amendment made by the line item veto act of 1996

Section 4 of the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (LIVA) amended section 904(a) by adding sections 1025 and 1027 so that it read  “the provisions of sections 701, 703, 1017, 1025, and 1027.” These two last sections were reversed by operation of section 5 of LIVA which stated that the amendments made by the Act “shall have no force or effect on or after January 1, 2005.”  Therefore, those two references are not reflected here. 

 

 

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[BCR § 174]