[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1985 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1985

To allow a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to propose and have 
  an up or down vote on a balanced deficit reduction bill pursuant to 
    this Act, such as proposed by the National Commission on Fiscal 
  Responsibility and Reform report, reducing the deficit by a goal of 
                   $4,000,000,000,000 over 10 years.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 13, 2011

  Mr. Lieberman (for himself, Mr. Corker, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Kirk, and Ms. 
  Murkowski) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To allow a bipartisan group of Members of Congress to propose and have 
  an up or down vote on a balanced deficit reduction bill pursuant to 
    this Act, such as proposed by the National Commission on Fiscal 
  Responsibility and Reform report, reducing the deficit by a goal of 
                   $4,000,000,000,000 over 10 years.

    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 ``Deficit Reduction Implementation 
Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITION.

    In this Act, the term ``qualified bill'' means a bill in the House 
of Representatives or Senate that--
            (1)(A) has not fewer than 6 sponsors who caucus with 
        Democrats and 6 sponsors who caucus with Republicans in the 
        Senate; or
            (B) has not fewer than 15 sponsors who caucus with 
        Republicans and 15 sponsors who caucus with Democrats in the 
        House;
            (2) states as it purpose to reduce the deficit by a goal of 
        $4,000,000,000,000, but at least $1,500,000,000,000, over the 
        period of fiscal years 2012 through 2021; and
            (3) specifies that the qualified bill is being introduced 
        pursuant to this Act.

SEC. 3. CONSIDERATION OF BIPARTISAN DEFICIT REDUCTION BILLS.

    (a) Introduction Deadline.--Not later than February 29, 2012, any 
Senator or Member of the House of Representatives may introduce a 
qualified bill that shall be considered as provided under subsection 
(c).
    (b) Referral of a Qualified Bill.--
            (1) Senate.--In the Senate, a qualified bill introduced as 
        provided by subsection (a) shall immediately be referred to the 
        appropriate committee or committees of jurisdiction for review 
        and reporting.
            (2) House.--In the House, a qualified bill introduced as 
        provided by subsection (a) shall immediately be referred to the 
        appropriate committee or the committees of jurisdiction for 
        review and reporting.
            (3) CBO.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 48 hours after 
                referral to committees, the bill shall be scored by CBO 
                based on--
                            (i) current scoring guidelines;
                            (ii) a continuation of policies in effect 
                        at the time the bill was introduced; and
                            (iii) the National Commission on Fiscal 
                        Responsibility and Reform plausible baseline 
                        policy assumptions (referred to in this Act as 
                        the ``plausible baseline'').
                    (B) Public availability.--For each bill, all 3 
                scores referred to in subparagraph (A) shall be printed 
                in the Congressional Record and shall be available 
                online.
    (c) Proceeding to the Qualified Bill.--
            (1) Senate.--Not later than March 9, 2012, and 
        notwithstanding rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
        it shall be in order for any Senator to move to proceed to the 
        consideration of a qualified bill (which shall have been 
        discharged from committee if not reported under subsection (b)) 
        which shall be considered as provided for a joint committee 
        bill under subsections (c) and (d) of section 402 of the Budget 
        Control Act of 2011 (2 U.S.C. 900 note) for the Senate, except 
        that the date for reporting under subsection (c)(1) of such 
        section and the date for the vote on passage under subsection 
        (c)(5) of such section shall not apply to the qualified bill.
            (2) House.--Not later than March 9, 2012, it shall be in 
        order for any Member of the House of Representatives to move to 
        proceed to the consideration of a qualified bill (which shall 
        have been discharged from committee if not reported under 
        subsection (b)) which shall be considered as provided for a 
        joint committee bill under subsections (b) and (d) of section 
        402 of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (2 U.S.C. 900 note) for 
        the House of Representatives, except that the date for 
        reporting under subsection (b)(1) of such section and the date 
        for the vote on passage under subsection (b)(4) of such section 
        shall not apply to the qualified bill.
            (3) CBO.--The House or the Senate may not proceed to a 
        qualified bill under this subsection unless the scores required 
        by subsection (b)(3) have been available in the Congressional 
        Record and online for at least 72 hours.
    (d) Other Matters.--
            (1) Consideration by the other house.--Section 402(e) of 
        the Budget Control Act of 2011 (2 U.S.C. 900 note) shall apply 
        to a qualified bill passed by the other House.
            (2) Multiple qualified bills.--If there is more than 1 
        qualifying bill, the qualifying bill will be the bill that 
        achieves the most deficit reduction. If such bill fails to be 
        enacted, succeeding bills may be qualifying bills and shall be 
        considered in the order of the amount of deficit reduction 
        achieved.
    (e) Vetoes.--If the President vetoes a qualified bill, debate on a 
veto message in the Senate or the House shall be one hour, equally 
divided between the majority and minority leader, or their designees.
    (f) Loss of Privilege.--This section shall cease to apply to a 
qualified bill if the qualified bill does not pass both Houses of 
Congress not later than March 30, 2012.

SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF OTHER PROVISIONS OF BUDGET CONTROL ACT.

    (a) Debt Limit Increase.--A qualified bill that is enacted, and 
that achieves at least $1,500,000,000,000 in deficit reduction as 
certified by CBO either as measured by current scoring guidelines, 
against a continuation of policies in effect at the time the bill was 
introduced, or the plausible baseline shall be deemed to be a joint 
committee bill for purposes of section 3101A(a)(2)(A)(iii) of title 31, 
United States Code.
    (b) Sequestration.--A qualified bill that is enacted, and that 
achieves at least $1,500,000,000,000 in deficit reduction as certified 
by CBO either as measured by current scoring guidelines, against a 
continuation of policies in effect at the time the bill was introduced, 
or the plausible baseline shall cancel the discretionary spending 
limits listed under section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 901a).

SEC. 5. RULEMAKING.

    This Act is enacted by Congress--
            (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House of 
        Representatives and the Senate, respectively, and as such they 
        shall be considered as part of the rules of each House, 
        respectively, or of that House to which they specifically 
        apply, and such rules shall supersede other rules only to the 
        extent that they are inconsistent therewith; and
            (2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of 
        either House to change such rules (so far as relating to such 
        House) at any time, in the same manner, and to the same extent 
        as in the case of any other rule of such House.
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