[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 537 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 537

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for budgeting 
for emergencies through the establishment of a budget reserve account, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 1999

   Mr. Castle (for himself, Mr. Upton, Mr. Ehlers, Mr. Houghton, Mr. 
    Gilchrest, Mr. Stenholm, Mr. Kolbe, Mr. Shays, Mr. Graham, Mr. 
Boehlert, Mrs. Myrick, Mrs. Roukema, Mr. Sensenbrenner, Mr. Foley, Mr. 
 Gilman, Mr. LoBiondo, Mr. Gillmor, Mr. Hall of Texas, Mr. Nethercutt, 
 Mr. Luther, Mr. Bereuter, Mr. Minge, Mr. English of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
Hilliard, Mr. Petri, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Hastings 
of Washington, Mr. Coburn, and Mr. Greenwood) 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 amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for budgeting 
for emergencies through the establishment of a budget reserve account, 
                        and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDGET RESERVE ACCOUNT.

    (a) Establishment.--A budget reserve account (hereinafter in this 
section referred to as the ``account'') shall be established for the 
purpose of setting aside adequate funding for natural disasters and 
national security emergencies.
    (b) Prior Appropriation Required.--The account shall consist of 
such sums as may be provided in advance in appropriation Acts for a 
particular fiscal year.
    (c) Restriction on Use of Funds.--(1) Notwithstanding any other 
provision of law, the amounts in the account shall not be available for 
other than emergency funding requirements for particular natural 
disasters or national security emergencies so designated by Acts of 
Congress.
    (2) Funds in the account that are not obligated during the fiscal 
year for which they are appropriated may only be used for deficit 
reduction purposes.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS CHANGES.

    (a) Contents of Concurrent Resolutions on the Budget.--Section 
301(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended by 
redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as paragraphs (7) and (8), 
respectively, and by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(6) total new budget authority and total budget outlays 
        for emergency funding requirements for natural disasters and 
        national security emergencies to be included in a budget 
        reserve account;''.
    (b) Section 302 Allocations.--Section 302 of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(h) Committee Spending Allocations and Suballocations for Budget 
Reserve Account.--
            ``(1) Allocations.--The joint explanatory statement 
        accompanying a conference report on a budget resolution shall 
        include allocations, consistent with the resolution recommended 
        in the conference report, of the appropriate levels (for each 
        fiscal year covered by that resolution) of total new budget 
        authority and outlays to the Committee on Appropriations of 
        each House for emergency funding requirements for natural 
        disasters and national security emergencies to be included in a 
        budget reserve account.
            ``(2) Suballocations.--As soon as practicable after a 
        budget resolution is agreed to, the Committee on Appropriations 
        of each House (after consulting with the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the other House) shall suballocate each 
        amount allocated to it for the budget year under paragraph (1) 
        among its subcommittees. Each Committee on Appropriations shall 
        promptly report to its House suballocations made or revised 
        under this paragraph.''.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF ADJUSTMENT FOR EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS.

    Section 251(b)(2)(A) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 
Control Act of 1985 is repealed.

SEC. 4. REPORTING.

    Not later than November 30, 2000, and at annual intervals 
thereafter, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 
submit a report to each House of Congress listing the amounts of money 
expended from the budget reserve account established under section 1 
for the fiscal year ending during that calendar year for each natural 
disaster and national security emergency.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act and the amendments made by it shall apply to fiscal year 
2000 and subsequent fiscal years.
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