[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 282 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 282

                      To rescind unused earmarks.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 3, 2011

Mr. Coburn (for himself and Mr. Begich) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
                      To rescind unused earmarks.

    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 ``Orphan Earmarks Act''.

SEC. 2. UNUSED EARMARKS.

    (a) Definition.--In this section, the term ``earmark'' means the 
following:
            (1) A congressionally directed spending item, as defined in 
        Rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate.
            (2) A congressional earmark, as defined for purposes of 
        Rule XXI of the Rules of the House of Representatives.
    (b) Rescission.--Any earmark of funds provided for any Federal 
agency with more than 90 percent of the appropriated amount remaining 
available for obligation at the end of the 9th fiscal year following 
the fiscal year in which the earmark was made available is rescinded 
effective at the end of that 9th fiscal year, except that the agency 
head may delay any such rescission if the agency head determines that 
an additional obligation of the earmark is likely to occur during the 
following 12-month period.
    (c) Identification and Report.--
            (1) Agency identification.--Each Federal agency shall 
        identify and report every project that is an earmark with an 
        unobligated balance at the end of each fiscal year to the 
        Director of OMB.
            (2) Annual report.--The Director of OMB shall submit to 
        Congress and publically post on the Web site of OMB an annual 
        report that includes--
                    (A) a listing and accounting for earmarks with 
                unobligated balances summarized by agency including the 
                amount of the original earmark, amount of the 
                unobligated balance, and the year when the funding 
                expires, if applicable;
                    (B) the number of rescissions resulting from this 
                section and the annual savings resulting from this 
                section for the previous fiscal year; and
                    (C) a listing and accounting for earmarks provided 
                for Federal agencies scheduled to be rescinded at the 
                end of the current fiscal year.
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