1.This Act may be cited as the
Tighten Washington’s Belt Act of
2010
.
2.As used in this Act:
(1)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)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 outlaysThe 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)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)The
term CBO means the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office.
(6)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)The term current year means, with respect to a
budget year, the fiscal year that immediately precedes that budget year.
(8)Discretionary
budget authorityThe term discretionary budget
authority means budgetary authority (except to fund mandatory programs)
provided in appropriation Acts.
(9)Discretionary
spending limitThe term discretionary spending limit
shall mean the amounts specified in section 6.
(10)The
term OMB means the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget.
(11)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.
3.Administration
and effect of sequestration
(a)
(1)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)Ten days after the end of session, CBO
shall issue a discretionary sequestration report.
(3)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)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 reportsEach 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.
4.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.
5.Discretionary
Sequestration Reports
(a)Discretionary
Sequestration Reports
(1)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)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
differencesThe 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 assumptionsIn 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)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.
6.
(a)Discretionary
spending limitsAs 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)
(1)On
the date specified in section 3(a), there shall be a sequestration to eliminate
a budget-year breach.
(2)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)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)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 orderIf 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)
(1)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)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)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
guidelinesOMB 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
rescissionsDeferrals 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.
7.Exemptions from
sequestration
(a)Except as provided in subsection (b), all discretionary
budget authority shall be subject to the sequestration procedures under this
Act.
(b)
(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)The exemptions
provided in paragraph (1) shall be the only exemptions to sequestration
procedures under this Act, unless otherwise provided by law.