[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2649 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2649

To repeal the Line Item Veto Act and to amend the Congressional Budget 
and Impoundment Control Act to provide for the expedited consideration 
          of certain proposed rescissions of budget authority.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 9, 1997

  Mr. Skaggs introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To repeal the Line Item Veto Act and to amend the Congressional Budget 
and Impoundment Control Act to provide for the expedited consideration 
          of certain proposed rescissions of budget authority.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE AND REPEAL.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Expedited 
Rescissions Act of 1997''.
    (b) Repeal.--The Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (2 U.S.C. 691 et seq.) 
is repealed.

SEC. 2. EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN PROPOSED RESCISSIONS.

    (a) In General.--Part B of title X of the Congressional Budget and 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 681 et seq.) is amended by 
redesignating sections 1013 through 1017 as sections 1014 through 1018, 
respectively, and inserting after section 1012 the following new 
section:

       ``expedited consideration of certain proposed rescissions

    ``Sec. 1013. (a) Proposed Rescission of Budget Authority.--In 
addition to the method of rescinding budget authority specified in 
section 1012, the President may propose, at the time and in the manner 
provided in subsection (b), the rescission of any budget authority 
provided in an appropriation Act. Funds made available for obligation 
under this procedure may not be proposed for rescission again under 
this section or section 1012.
    ``(b) Transmittal of Special Message.--
            ``(1) Not later than 3 calendar days after the date of 
        enactment of an appropriation Act, the President may transmit 
        to Congress a special message proposing to rescind amounts of 
        budget authority provided in that Act and include with that 
        special message a draft bill that, if enacted, would only 
        rescind that budget authority. That bill shall clearly identify 
        the amount of budget authority that is proposed to be rescinded 
        for each program, project, or activity to which that budget 
        authority relates.
            ``(2) In the case of an appropriation Act that includes 
        accounts within the jurisdiction of more than one subcommittee 
        of the Committee on Appropriations, the President in proposing 
        to rescind budget authority under this section shall send a 
        separate special message and accompanying draft bill for 
        accounts within the jurisdiction of each such subcommittee.
            ``(3) Each special message shall specify, with respect to 
        the budget authority proposed to be rescinded, the matters 
        referred to in paragraphs (1) through (5) of section 1012(a).
    ``(c) Procedures for Expedited Consideration.--
            ``(1)(A) Before the close of the second legislative day of 
        the House of Representatives after the date of receipt of a 
        special message transmitted to Congress under subsection (b), 
        the majority leader or minority leader of the House of 
        Representatives shall introduce (by request) the draft bill 
        accompanying that special message. If the bill is not 
        introduced as provided in the preceding sentence, then, on the 
        third legislative day of the House of Representatives after the 
        date of receipt of that special message, any Member of that 
        House may introduce the bill.
            ``(B) The bill shall be referred to the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives. The committee 
        shall report the bill without substantive revision, and with or 
        without recommendation. The bill shall be reported not later 
        than the seventh legislative day of that House after the date 
        of receipt of that special message. If the Committee on 
        Appropriations fails to report the bill within that period, 
        that committee shall be automatically discharged from 
        consideration of the bill, and the bill shall be placed on the 
        appropriate calendar.
            ``(C) A vote on final passage of the bill referred to in 
        subparagraph (B) shall be taken in the House of Representatives 
        on or before the close of the 10th legislative day of that 
        House after the date of the introduction of the bill in that 
        House. If the bill is passed, the Clerk of the House of 
        Representatives shall cause the bill to be engrossed, 
        certified, and transmitted to the Senate within one calendar 
        day of the day on which the bill is passed.
            ``(2)(A) A motion in the House of Representatives to 
        proceed to the consideration of a bill under this section shall 
        be highly privileged and not debatable. An amendment to the 
        motion shall not be in order, nor shall it be in order to move 
        to reconsider the vote by which the motion is agreed to or 
        disagreed to.
            ``(B) Debate in the House of Representatives on a bill 
        under this section shall not exceed 4 hours, which shall be 
        divided equally between those favoring and those opposing the 
        bill. A motion further to limit debate shall not be debatable. 
        It shall not be in order to move to recommit a bill under this 
        section or to move to reconsider the vote by which the bill is 
        agreed to or disagreed to.
            ``(C) Appeals from decisions of the Chair relating to the 
        application of the Rules of the House of Representatives to the 
        procedure relating to a bill under this section shall be 
        decided without debate.
            ``(3)(A) A bill transmitted to the Senate pursuant to 
        paragraph (1)(C) shall be referred to its Committee on 
        Appropriations. The committee shall report the bill without 
        substantive revision and with or without recommendation. The 
        bill shall be reported not later than the seventh legislative 
        day of the Senate after it receives the bill. A committee 
        failing to report the bill within such period shall be 
        automatically discharged from consideration of the bill, and 
        the bill shall be placed upon the appropriate calendar.
            ``(B) A vote on final passage of a bill transmitted to the 
        Senate shall be taken on or before the close of the 10th 
        legislative day of the Senate after the date on which the bill 
        is transmitted.
            ``(4)(A) A motion in the Senate to proceed to the 
        consideration of a bill under this section shall be privileged 
        and not debatable. An amendment to the motion shall not be in 
        order, nor shall it be in order to move to reconsider the vote 
        by which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to.
            ``(B) Debate in the Senate on a bill under this section, 
        and all debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith, 
        shall not exceed 10 hours. The time shall be equally divided 
        between, and controlled by, the majority leader and the 
        minority leader or their designees.
            ``(C) Debate in the Senate on any debatable motion or 
        appeal in connection with a bill under this section shall be 
        limited to not more than 1 hour, to be equally divided between, 
        and controlled by, the mover and the manager of the bill, 
        except that in the event the manager of the bill is in favor of 
        any such motion or appeal, the time in opposition thereto, 
        shall be controlled by the minority leader or his designee. 
        Such leaders, or either of them, may, from time under their 
        control on the passage of a bill, allot additional time to any 
        Senator during the consideration of any debatable motion or 
        appeal.
            ``(D) A motion in the Senate to further limit debate on a 
        bill under this section is not debatable. A motion to recommit 
        a bill under this section is not in order.
    ``(d) Amendments and Divisions Prohibited.--No amendment to a bill 
considered under this section shall be in order in either the House of 
Representatives or the Senate. It shall not be in order to demand a 
division of the question in the House of Representatives (or in a 
Committee of the Whole) or in the Senate. No motion to suspend the 
application of this subsection shall be in order in either House, nor 
shall it be in order in either House to suspend the application of this 
subsection by unanimous consent.
    ``(e) Requirement To Make Available for Obligation.--Any amount of 
budget authority proposed to be rescinded in a special message 
transmitted to Congress under subsection (b) shall be made available 
for obligation on the earlier of--
            ``(1) the day after the date upon which the House of 
        Representatives defeats the bill transmitted with that special 
        message rescinding the amount proposed to be rescinded; or
            ``(2) the day after the date upon which the Senate rejects 
        a bill that makes rescissions to carry out the applicable 
        special message of the President.
    ``(f) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) the term `appropriation Act' means any general or 
        special appropriation Act, and any Act or joint resolution 
        making supplemental, deficiency, or continuing appropriations; 
        and
            ``(2) the term `legislative day' means, with respect to 
        either House of Congress, any calendar day during which that 
        House is in session.''.
    (b) Exercise of Rulemaking Powers.--Section 904 of such Act (2 
U.S.C. 621 note) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and 1017'' in subsection (a) and 
        inserting ``1013, and 1018''; and
            (2) by striking ``section 1017'' in subsection (d) and 
        inserting ``sections 1013 and 1018''; and
    (c) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 1011 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 682(5)) is amended--
                    (A) in paragraph (4), by striking ``1013'' and 
                inserting ``1014''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (5)--
                            (i) by striking ``1016'' and inserting 
                        ``1017''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``1017(b)(1)'' and 
                        inserting ``1018(b)(1)''.
            (2) Section 1015 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 685) (as 
        redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``1012 or 1013'' each place it 
                appears and inserting ``1012, 1013, or 1014'';
                    (B) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``1012'' and 
                inserting ``1012 or 1013'';
                    (C) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ``1013'' and 
                inserting ``1014''; and
                    (D) in subsection (e)(2)--
                            (i) by striking ``and'' at the end of 
                        subparagraph (A);
                            (ii) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                        subparagraph (C);
                            (iii) by striking ``1013'' in subparagraph 
                        (C) (as so redesignated) and inserting 
                        ``1014''; and
                            (iv) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 
                        the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(B) he has transmitted a special message under 
                section 1013 with respect to a proposed rescission; 
                and''.
            (3) Section 1016 of such Act (2 U.S.C. 686) (as 
        redesignated by section 2(a)) is amended by striking ``1012 or 
        1013'' each place it appears and inserting ``1012, 1013, or 
        1014''.
    (d) Clerical Amendments.--The table of sections for subpart B of 
title X of such Act is amended--
            (1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 1013 
        through 1017 as items relating to sections 1014 through 1018; 
        and
            (2) by inserting after the item relating to section 1012 
        the following new item:

``Sec. 1013. Expedited consideration of certain proposed 
                            rescissions.''.

SEC. 3. APPLICATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 1013 of the Congressional Budget and 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as added by section 2) shall apply to 
amounts of budget authority provided by appropriation Acts (as defined 
in subsection (f) of such section) that are enacted during the One 
Hundred Fifth Congress and thereafter.
    (b) Special Transition Rule.--Within 3 calendar days after the 
beginning of a Congress, the President may retransmit a special 
message, in the manner provided in section 1013(b) of the Congressional 
Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (as added by section 2), 
proposing to rescind only those amounts of budget authority that were 
contained in any special message to the immediately preceding Congress 
which that Congress failed to consider because of its sine die 
adjournment before the close of the time period set forth in such 
section 1013 for consideration of those proposed rescissions. A draft 
bill shall accompany that special message that, if enacted, would only 
rescind that budget authority. Before the close of the second 
legislative day of the House of Representatives after the date of 
receipt of that special message, the majority leader or minority leader 
of the House of Representaitves shall introduce (by request) the draft 
bill accompanying that special message. If the bill is not introduced 
as provided in the preceding sentence, then, on the third legislative 
day of the House of Representatives after the date of receipt of that 
special message, any Member of that House may introduce the bill. The 
House of Representatives and the Senate shall proceed to consider that 
bill in the manner provided in such section 1013.
                                 <all>