[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4479 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4479

 To enforce discretionary spending limits to rein in spending, reduce 
     the deficit, and regain control of the Federal budget process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 20, 2010

  Mr. Forbes introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on the Budget

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To enforce discretionary spending limits to rein in spending, reduce 
     the deficit, and regain control of the Federal budget process.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tighten Washington's Belt Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act:
            (1) Account.--The term ``account'' means--
                    (A) for discretionary budget authority, an item for 
                which appropriations are made in any appropriation Act; 
                and
                    (B) for items not provided for in appropriation 
                Acts, direct spending and outlays therefrom identified 
                in the program and finance schedules contained in the 
                appendix to the Budget of the United States for the 
                current year.
            (2) Breach.--The term ``breach'' means, for any fiscal 
        year, the amount by which discretionary budget authority 
        enacted for that year exceeds the spending limit for budget 
        authority for that year.
            (3) Budget authority; new budget authority; and outlays.--
        The terms ``budget authority'', ``new budget authority'', and 
        ``outlays'' have the meanings given to such terms in section 3 
        of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 
        (2 U.S.C. 622).
            (4) Budget year.--The term ``budget year'' means, with 
        respect to a session of Congress, the fiscal year of the 
        Government that starts on October 1 of the calendar year in 
        which that session begins.
            (5) CBO.--The term ``CBO'' means the Director of the 
        Congressional Budget Office.
            (6) Current.--The term ``current'' means--
                    (A) with respect to the Office of Management and 
                Budget estimates included with a budget submission 
                under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 
                the estimates consistent with the economic and 
                technical assumptions underlying that budget;
                    (B) with respect to estimates made after that 
                budget submission that are not included with it, the 
                estimates consistent with the economic and technical 
                assumptions underlying the most recently submitted 
                President's budget; and
                    (C) with respect to the Congressional Budget 
                Office, estimates consistent with the economic and 
                technical assumptions as required by section 202(e)(1) 
                of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
            (7) Current year.--The term ``current year'' means, with 
        respect to a budget year, the fiscal year that immediately 
        precedes that budget year.
            (8) Discretionary budget authority.--The term 
        ``discretionary budget authority'' means budgetary authority 
        (except to fund mandatory programs) provided in appropriation 
        Acts.
            (9) Discretionary spending limit.--The term ``discretionary 
        spending limit'' shall mean the amounts specified in section 6.
            (10) OMB.--The term ``OMB'' means the Director of the 
        Office of Management and Budget.
            (11) Sequestration.--The term ``sequestration'' with 
        respect to discretionary budget authority, means the 
        cancellation or reduction of budget authority (except budget 
        authority to fund mandatory programs) provided in appropriation 
        Acts.

SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION AND EFFECT OF SEQUESTRATION.

    (a) Presidential Order.--
            (1) In general.--Fifteen days after the end of session, OMB 
        shall issue a discretionary sequestration report. If in its 
        Sequestration Report, OMB estimates that any sequestration is 
        required, the President shall issue an order fully implementing 
        without change all sequestrations required by the OMB 
        calculations set forth in that report. This order shall be 
        effective on issuance.
            (2) CBO.--Ten days after the end of session, CBO shall 
        issue a discretionary sequestration report.
            (3) Special rule.--If the date specified for the submission 
        of a Presidential order under paragraph (1) falls on a Sunday 
        or legal holiday, such order shall be issued on the following 
        day.
    (b) Effects of Sequestration.--The effects of sequestration shall 
be as follows:
            (1) Budgetary resources sequestered from any account shall 
        be permanently cancelled, except as provided in paragraph (5).
            (2) Except as otherwise provided, the same percentage 
        sequestration shall apply to all programs, projects, and 
        activities within a budget account (with programs, projects, 
        and activities as delineated in the appropriation Act or 
        accompanying report for the relevant fiscal year covering that 
        account).
            (3) Administrative regulations or similar actions 
        implementing a sequestration shall be made within 120 days of 
        the sequestration order. To the extent that formula allocations 
        differ at different levels of budgetary resources within an 
        account, program, project, or activity, the sequestration shall 
        be interpreted as producing a lower total appropriation, with 
        the remaining amount of the appropriation being obligated in a 
        manner consistent with program allocation formulas in 
        substantive law.
            (4) Except as otherwise provided, obligations or budgetary 
        resources in sequestered accounts shall be reduced only in the 
        fiscal year in which a sequester occurs.
            (5) Budgetary resources sequestered in special fund 
        accounts and offsetting collections sequestered in 
        appropriation accounts shall not be available for obligation 
        during the fiscal year in which the sequestration occurs, but 
        shall be available in subsequent years to the extent otherwise 
        provided in law.
    (c) Submission and Availability of Reports.--Each report required 
by this section shall be submitted, in the case of CBO, to the House of 
Representatives, the Senate, and OMB and, in the case of OMB, to the 
House of Representatives, the Senate, and the President on the day it 
is issued. On the following day a notice of the report shall be printed 
in the Federal Register.

SEC. 4. GAO COMPLIANCE REPORT.

    Upon request of the Committee on the Budget of the House of 
Representatives or the Senate, the Comptroller General shall submit to 
the Congress and the President a report on--
            (1) the extent to which each order issued by the President 
        under this Act complies with all of the requirements contained 
        in this Act, either certifying that the order fully and 
        accurately complies with such requirements or indicating the 
        respects in which it does not; and
            (2) the extent to which each report issued by OMB or CBO 
        under this section complies with all of the requirements 
        contained in this Act, either certifying that the report fully 
        and accurately complies with such requirements or indicating 
        the respects in which it does not.

SEC. 5. DISCRETIONARY SEQUESTRATION REPORTS.

    (a) Discretionary Sequestration Reports.--
            (1) Reporting requirements.--On the dates specified in 
        section 3(a), OMB and CBO shall each issue a Discretionary 
        Sequestration Report, updated to reflect laws enacted through 
        those dates.
            (2) Discretionary spending.--The Discretionary 
        Sequestration Reports for each of fiscal year 2011 through 2015 
        shall set forth estimates for each of the following:
                    (A) The applicable discretionary spending limits.
                    (B) The new budget authority and the breach, if 
                any.
                    (C) The sequestration percentages necessary to 
                eliminate the breach.
                    (D) For the budget year, for each account to be 
                sequestered, the level of enacted, sequesterable budget 
                authority and resulting estimated outlays to be 
                sequestered.
            (3) Explanation of differences.--The OMB report shall 
        explain any differences between OMB and CBO estimates for any 
        breach and any required discretionary sequestration 
        percentages. The OMB report shall also explain differences in 
        the amount of sequesterable resources for any budget account to 
        be reduced if such difference is greater than $5,000,000.
    (b) Economic and Technical Assumptions.--In all reports required by 
this section, OMB shall use the same economic and technical assumptions 
as used in the most recent budget submitted by the President under 
section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code.
    (c) Adjustments.--When OMB submits a report under this section for 
a fiscal year, OMB shall calculate, and the subsequent reports and 
budgets submitted by the President under section 1105(a) of title 31, 
United States Code shall include, adjustments to discretionary spending 
limits (and those limits as adjusted) for the fiscal year and each 
succeeding year.

SEC. 6. LIMITS.

    (a) Discretionary Spending Limits.--As used in this Act, the term 
``discretionary spending limit'' means--
            (1) with respect to fiscal year 2011, $1,120,488,000 in new 
        budget authority;
            (2) with respect to fiscal year 2012, $1,008,439,000 in new 
        budget authority;
            (3) with respect to fiscal year 2013, $907,596,000 in new 
        budget authority;
            (4) with respect to fiscal year 2014, $816,836,000 in new 
        budget authority;
            (5) with respect to fiscal year 2015, $735,152,000 in new 
        budget authority; and
            (6) with respect to fiscal years following 2015, the 
        President shall recommend and the Congress shall consider 
        legislation setting limits for those fiscal years.
    (b) Enforcement.--
            (1) Sequestration.--On the date specified in section 3(a), 
        there shall be a sequestration to eliminate a budget-year 
        breach.
            (2) Eliminating a breach.--Each account shall be reduced by 
        a dollar amount calculated by multiplying the enacted level of 
        budget authority for that year in that account at that time by 
        the uniform percentage necessary to eliminate a breach of the 
        discretionary spending limit.
            (3) Part-year appropriations.--If, on the date the report 
        is issued under paragraph (1), there is in effect an Act making 
        continuing appropriations for part of a fiscal year for any 
        budget account, then the dollar sequestration calculated for 
        that account under paragraph (2) shall be subtracted from--
                    (A) the annualized amount otherwise available by 
                law in that account under that or a subsequent part-
                year appropriation; and
                    (B) when a full-year appropriation for that account 
                is enacted, from the amount otherwise provided by the 
                full-year appropriation.
            (4) Look-back.--If, after June 30, an appropriation for the 
        fiscal year in progress is enacted that causes a breach for 
        that year (after taking into account any previous 
        sequestration), the discretionary spending limit for the next 
        fiscal year shall be reduced by the amount of that breach.
            (5) Within-session sequestration reports and order.--If an 
        appropriation for a fiscal year in progress is enacted (after 
        Congress adjourns to end the session for that budget year and 
        before July 1 of that fiscal year) that causes a breach, 10 
        days later CBO shall issue a report containing the information 
        required in section 5(c). Fifteen days after enactment, OMB 
        shall issue a report containing the information required in 
        section 5(c). On the same day as the OMB report, the President 
        shall issue an order fully implementing without change all 
        sequestrations required by the OMB calculations set forth in 
        that report. This order shall be effective on issuance.
    (c) Estimates.--
            (1) CBO estimates.--As soon as practicable after Congress 
        completes action on any legislation providing discretionary 
        appropriations, CBO shall provide an estimate to OMB of that 
        legislation.
            (2) OMB estimates.--Not later than 7 calendar days 
        (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays) after the 
        date of enactment of any discretionary appropriations, OMB 
        shall transmit a report to the House of Representatives and to 
        the Senate containing--
                    (A) the CBO estimate of that legislation;
                    (B) an OMB estimate of that legislation using 
                current economic and technical assumptions; and
                    (C) an explanation of any difference between the 2 
                estimates.
            (3) Differences.--If during the preparation of the report 
        under paragraph (2), OMB determines that there is a difference 
        between the OMB and CBO estimates, OMB shall consult with the 
        Committees on the Budget of the House of Representatives and 
        the Senate regarding that difference and that consultation, to 
        the extent practicable, shall include written communication to 
        such committees that affords such committees the opportunity to 
        comment before the issuance of that report.
            (4) Assumptions and guidelines.--OMB and CBO shall prepare 
        estimates under this paragraph in conformance with scorekeeping 
        guidelines determined after consultation among the House and 
        Senate Committees on the Budget, CBO, and OMB.
            (5) Deferrals and rescissions.--Deferrals and rescissions 
        proposed under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 for the 
        budget year shall not be taken into account in determining such 
        budget base.

SEC. 7. EXEMPTIONS FROM SEQUESTRATION.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection (b), all 
discretionary budget authority shall be subject to the sequestration 
procedures under this Act.
    (b) Exemptions.--
            (1) The following shall be exempt from reduction under any 
        order issued under this Act:
                    (A) Benefits and compensation provided to active 
                duty military and to veterans defined as discretionary 
                spending.
                    (B) Provisions of discretionary spending 
                legislation the President designates as an emergency 
                requirement and the Congress so designates in statute.
                    (C) Any salaries or other expenditures that may not 
                be reduced on account of constitutional requirements.
            (2) In budget.--The exemptions provided in paragraph (1) 
        shall be the only exemptions to sequestration procedures under 
        this Act, unless otherwise provided by law.
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