[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 21, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE DEFICIT REDUCTION AND EFFECTIVE LEGISLATIVE LINE ITEM VETO ACT OF 
                                  2006

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 21, 2006

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased today to introduce the Deficit 
Reduction and Effective Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 2006. The 
United States is facing structural deficits of $300 billion to $400 
billion; a rising mountain of debt, held increasingly by foreign 
interests; and a $3 trillion tax-cut agenda of measures yet to be 
renewed or enacted. We have all of this and more, but no effective 
tools to deal with any of these problems. In fact, this year, for the 
fourth time since the Budget Act was passed, and for the third time in 
the last 5 years, Congress has failed to pass a concurrent budget 
resolution, much less a 5-year plan.
  That's why today I am introducing this bill. It contains a package of 
tools to get the budget crisis under control and help get the budget 
back in balance.
  My legislation reinstates the two-sided Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) rules. 
It allows reconciliation to be used only to reduce the deficit. My bill 
provides members with the information they need to review legislation 
before voting on it. Finally, a well-crafted expedited rescission 
authority could be a useful budget tool--and I have brought to the 
floor and voted for versions of that authority in the past when there 
were other budget enforcement tools in place, as well. That's why my 
bill includes expedited rescission authority, but addresses the broader 
budget control issues as well.
  Let me review some of the details of my bill. If we are in earnest 
about bringing down the deficit, we need rules designed to reduce the 
deficit. Congress created the reconciliation process to make it easier 
to reduce the deficit by setting up special procedures for hard-to-pass 
budget cuts, yet this Congress now uses reconciliation to pass 
legislation that enlarges the deficit. The Republican bill granting the 
president expedited rescission authority, H.R. 4890, could become an 
accessory to that outcome. A President with expedited rescission powers 
could push a big spending bill, call members of Congress when a vote 
was coming up, solicit their support, and if it was not forthcoming, 
back up his request with a thinly veiled threat--the rescission of 
something that members dearly wanted for their districts.
  My bill addresses these concerns in several ways. First, it prohibits 
reconciliation procedures from being used to increase the deficit. 
Second, it prohibits the President or anyone in the executive branch 
from wielding rescission threats as a bargaining tool on other 
legislation.
  If we are serious about rooting out wasteful spending--and I think we 
should be--we need to provide members with adequate time to look over 
legislation before voting on it. The Republican Rules Committee 
routinely waives the rules to rush bills to the floor hours or even 
minutes after bills providing for billions of dollars are finalized. My 
bill requires that members have copies of a bill to review at least 24 
hours prior to a vote, and a full three days for a bill with earmarks, 
unless two-thirds of the House votes to waive that rule. In addition, 
my bill contains earmark reform provisions from H. Res. 659, 
Representative Obey's bill, that will make publicly available relevant 
details about any earmarks contained in a bill, including who sponsored 
the provision and who benefits from it.
  I am convinced that we can reduce the deficit while protecting vital 
entitlement programs from expedited rescission authority and the sort 
of summary changes that fast-track provisions would permit. H.R. 4890 
allows the President to propose line-item rescissions even to 
entitlement programs such as Social Security, veterans' benefits, and 
Medicare. My bill would protect these programs.
  The Deficit Reduction and Effective Legislative Line Item Veto Act of 
2006 will put in place these measures we need to address our budget 
crisis. Merely granting the President expedited rescission authority 
alone, as H.R. 4890 provides, will do little to require that Congress 
set budget priorities, put the budget on the path back to balance, and 
stick to its budget promises.

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