§115e. Sec. 305. Provisions relating to the consideration of concurrent resolutions on the budget. (As Enacted)

Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Section 305, as Enacted

lineedgeflare

Provisions relating to the consideration of concurrent resolutions on the budget

Sec. 305. (a) Procedure in House of Representatives After Report of Committee; Debate.—

(1) When the Committee on the Budget of the House has reported any concurrent resolution on the budget, it is in order at any time after the tenth day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) following the day on which the report upon such resolution has been available to Members of the House (even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to) to move to proceed to the consideration of the concurrent resolution. The motion is highly privileged and is not debatable. An amendment to the motion is not in order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to.

(2) General debate on any concurrent resolution on the budget in the House of Representatives shall be limited to not more than 10 hours, which shall be divided equally between the majority and minority parties. A motion further to limit debate is not debatable. A motion to recommit the concurrent resolution is not in order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the concurrent resolution is agreed to or disagreed to.

(3) Consideration of any concurrent resolution on the budget by the House of Representatives shall be in the Committee of the Whole, and the resolution shall be read for amendment under the five-minute rule in accordance with the applicable provisions of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives. After the Committee rises and reports the resolution back to the House, the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and any amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion; except that it shall be in order at any time prior to final passage (notwithstanding any other rule or provision of law) to adopt an amendment (or a series of amendments) changing any figure or figures in the resolution as so reported to the extent necessary to achieve mathematical consistency.

(4) Debate in the House of Representatives on the conference report on any concurrent resolution on the budget shall be limited to not more than 5 hours, which shall be divided equally between the majority and minority parties. A motion further to limit debate is not debatable. A motion to recommit the conference report is not in order, and it is not in order to move to reconsider the vote by which the conference report is agreed to or disagreed to.

(5) Motions to postpone, made with respect to the consideration of any concurrent resolution on the budget, and motions to proceed to the consideration of other business, shall be decided without debate.

(6) Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating to the application of the Rules of the House of Representatives to the procedure relating to any concurrent resolution on the budget shall be decided without debate.

(b) Procedure in Senate After Report or Committee; Debate; Amendments.—

(1) Debate in the Senate on any concurrent resolution on the budget, and all amendments thereto and debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, shall be limited to not more than 50 hours, except that, with respect to the second required concurrent resolution referred to in section 310(a), all such debate shall be limited to not more than 15 hours. The time shall be equally divided between, and controlled by, the majority leader and the minority leader or their designees.

(2) Debate in the Senate on any amendment to a concurrent resolution on the budget shall be limited to 2 hours, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the concurrent resolution, and debate on any amendment to an amendment, debatable motion, or appeal shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the concurrent resolution, except that in the event the manager of the concurrent resolution is in favor of any such amendment, motion, or appeal, the time in opposition thereto shall be controlled by the minority leader or his designee. No amendment that is not germane to the provisions of such concurrent resolution shall be received. Such leaders, or either of them, may, from the time under their control on the passage of the concurrent resolution, allot additional time to any Senator during the consideration of any amendment, debatable motion, or appeal.

(3) A motion to further limit debate is not debatable. A motion to recommit (except a motion to recommit with instructions to report back within a specified number of days, not to exceed 3, not counting any day on which the Senate is not in session) is not in order. Debate on any such motion to recommit shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the concurrent resolution.

(4) Notwithstanding any other rule, an amendment, or series of amendments, to a concurrent resolution on the budget proposed in the Senate shall always be in order if such amendment or series of amendments proposes to change any figure or figures then contained in such concurrent resolution so as to make such concurrent resolution mathematically consistent or so as to maintain such consistency.

(c) Action on Conference Reports in the Senate.—

(1) The conference report on any concurrent resolution on the budget shall be in order in the Senate at any time after the third day (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) following the day on which such a conference report is reported and is available to Members of the Senate. A motion to proceed to the consideration of the conference report may be made even though a previous motion to the same effect has been disagreed to.

(2) During the Consideration in the Senate of the conference report on any concurrent resolution on the budget, debate shall be limited to 10 hours, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the majority leader and minority leader or their designees. Debate on any debatable motion or appeal related to the conference report shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the conference report.

(3) Should the conference report be defeated, debate on any request for a new conference and the appointment of conferees shall be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the manager of the conference report and the minority leader or his designee, and should any motion be made to instruct the conferees before the conferees are named, debate on such motion shall be limited to one-half hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the conference report. Debate on any amendment to any such instructions shall be limited to 20 minutes, to be equally divided between and controlled by the mover and the manager of the conference report. In all cases when the manager of the conference report is in favor of any motion, appeal, or amendment, the time in opposition shall be under the control of the minority leader or his designee.

(4) In any case in which there are amendments in disagreement, time on each amendment shall be limited to 30 minutes, to be equally divided between, and controlled by, the manager of the conference report and the minority leader or his designee. No amendment that is not germane to the provisions of such amendments shall be received.

(d) Required Action by Conference Committee. If, at the end of 7 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the conferees of both Houses have been appointed to a committee of conference on a concurrent resolution on the budget, the conferees are unable to reach agreement with respect to all matters in disagreement between the two Houses, then the conferees shall submit to their respective Houses, on the first day thereafter on which their House is in session—

(1) a conference report recommending those matters on which they have agreed and reporting in disagreement those matters on which they have not agreed; or

(2) a conference report in disagreement, if the matter in disagreement is an amendment which strikes out the entire text of the concurrent resolution and inserts a substitute text.

(e) Concurrent Resolution Must Be Consistent in the Senate.—It shall not be in order in the Senate to vote on the question of agreeing to—

(1) a concurrent resolution on the budget unless the figures then contained in such resolution are mathematically consistent; or

(2) a conference report on a concurrent resolution on the budget unless the figures contained in such resolution, as recommended in such conference report, are mathematically consistent.

The managers on the part of the House and the Senate of the conference of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 7130) issued an explanatory statement of the legislation. This was included in a House Budget Committee print in 1975 after the bill’s enactment. It included the following description of this section:

Section 305. Procedures for Consideration of Concurrent Resolutions

The House bill established procedures for the consideration of budget resolutions in the House; the Senate amendment had parallel procedures for consideration in the Senate. Both sets of procedures have been incorporated into the conference substitute.

In the House, floor consideration may begin after a ten-day layover period. Consideration is in the Committee of the Whole, with ten hours allowed for general debate and amendments considered under the five-minute rule. After the committee of the whole has reported, it shall be in order to adopt an amendment to achieve mathematical consistency in the budget resolution. Debate on a conference report shall be limited to five hours. In the Senate, debate on a concurrent resolution and all amendments shall be limited to 50 hours (15 hours in the case of the second required resolution), with no more than two hours allowed for any amendment. Non-germane amendments are not in order and motions to achieve or maintain mathematical consistency always are in order. It is not in order in the Senate to give final consideration to a budget resolution (or a conference report on such resolution) unless it is mathematically consistent. Ten hours are provided in the Senate for consideration of conference reports, with half an hour for each amendment in disagreement.

If House and Senate conferees are unable to agree on a budget resolution after seven days, they shall report to their respective Houses on all matters in agreement or in disagreement.

[Joint Explanatory Statement on the Committee of Conference on H.R. 7130; (Committee Print), Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives, 93d Congress, 2d Session, Washington D.C. 1975.]

Classification to the U.S. Code

This section was formerly classified to 31 U.S.C. 1326.

SECTION 305 (CBA), AS CURRENTLY SET FORTH IN LAW

Section 305 (CBA) as currently set forth in the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-344).

SECTION 305 (CBA, as in BPLA)

Section 305 (CBA, as in BPLA), as set forth in the Budget Process Law Annotated (1993).

Legislative History Notes

Public Laws

Pub. L. 93–344, §305, July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 310. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 enacted this section into law.

Revision of title 31 of the u.s. code

Most of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was classified to Title 31 of the U.S. Code but has since been transferred either to title 2 (The Congress) or to a revised Title 31. See the following for more information:

FrillBreak

[BCR § 115e]

Budget Counsel

A Reference for the Laws and Rules of the Congressional Budget Process