[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S345-S346]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 139. Mr. PAUL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 5, setting forth the
congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year
2021 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal
years 2022 through 2030; which was ordered to lie on the table; as
follows:
At the appropriate place in title IV, add the following:
SEC. 40__. EMERGENCY LEGISLATION.
(a) Authority To Designate.--In the Senate, with respect to
a provision of direct spending or receipts legislation or
appropriations for discretionary accounts that Congress
designates as an emergency requirement, by an affirmative
vote of five-eighths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn,
in such measure, the amounts of new budget authority,
outlays, and receipts in all fiscal years resulting from that
provision shall be treated as an emergency requirement for
the purpose of this section.
(b) Exemption of Emergency Provisions.--Any new budget
authority, outlays, and receipts resulting from any provision
designated as an emergency requirement, pursuant to this
section, in any bill, joint resolution, amendment, amendment
between the Houses, or conference report shall not count for
purposes of sections 302 and 311 of the Congressional Budget
Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633 and 642), section 4106 of H. Con.
Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the
budget for fiscal year 2018, section 3101 of S. Con. Res. 11
(114th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for
fiscal year 2016, and sections 401 and 404 of S. Con. Res. 13
(111th Congress), the concurrent resolution on the budget for
fiscal year 2010. Designated emergency provisions shall not
count for the purpose of revising allocations, aggregates, or
other levels pursuant to procedures established under section
301(b)(7) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C.
632(b)(7)) for deficit-neutral reserve funds and revising
discretionary spending limits set pursuant to section 301 of
S. Con. Res. 13 (111th Congress), the concurrent resolution
on the budget for fiscal year 2010.
(c) Designations.--If a provision of legislation is
designated as an emergency requirement under this section,
the committee report and any statement of managers
accompanying that legislation shall include an explanation of
the manner in which the provision meets the criteria in
subsection (f).
(d) Definitions.--In this section, the terms ``direct
spending'', ``receipts'', and ``appropriations for
discretionary accounts'' mean any provision of a bill, joint
resolution, amendment, motion, amendment between the Houses,
or conference report that affects direct spending, receipts,
or appropriations as those terms have been defined and
interpreted for purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et seq.).
(e) Point of Order.--
(1) In general.--When the Senate is considering a bill,
resolution, amendment, motion, amendment between the Houses,
or conference report, if a point of order is made by a
Senator against an emergency designation in that measure,
that provision making such a designation shall be stricken
from the measure and may not be offered as an amendment from
the floor.
(2) Supermajority waiver and appeals.--
(A) Waiver.--Paragraph (1) may be waived or suspended in
the Senate only by an affirmative vote of five-eighths of the
Members, duly chosen and sworn.
(B) Appeals.--Appeals in the Senate from the decisions of
the Chair relating to any provision of this subsection shall
be limited to 1 hour, to be equally divided between, and
controlled by, the appellant and the manager of the bill or
joint resolution, as the case may be. An affirmative vote of
five-eighths of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and
sworn, shall be required to sustain an appeal of the ruling
of the Chair on a point of order raised under this
subsection.
(3) Definition of an emergency designation.--For purposes
of paragraph (1), a provision shall be considered an
emergency designation if it designates any item as an
emergency requirement pursuant to this subsection.
(4) Form of the point of order.--A point of order under
paragraph (1) may be raised by a Senator as provided in
section 313(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2
U.S.C. 644(e)).
(5) Conference reports.--When the Senate is considering a
conference report on, or an amendment between the Houses in
relation to, a bill, upon a point of order being made by any
Senator pursuant to this section, and such point of order
being sustained, such material contained in such conference
report shall be stricken, and the Senate shall proceed to
consider the question of whether the Senate shall recede from
its amendment and concur with a further amendment, or concur
in the House amendment with a further amendment, as the case
may be, which further amendment shall consist of only that
portion of the conference report or House amendment, as the
case may be, not so stricken. Any such motion in the Senate
shall be debatable. In any case in which such point of order
is sustained against a conference report (or Senate amendment
derived from such conference report by operation of this
subsection), no further amendment shall be in order.
(f) Criteria.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, any
provision is an emergency requirement if the situation
addressed by such provision is--
[[Page S346]]
(A) necessary, essential, or vital (not merely useful or
beneficial);
(B) sudden, quickly coming into being, and not building up
over time;
(C) an urgent, pressing, and compelling need requiring
immediate action;
(D) subject to paragraph (2), unforeseen, unpredictable,
and unanticipated; and
(E) not permanent, temporary in nature.
(2) Unforeseen.--An emergency that is part of an aggregate
level of anticipated emergencies, particularly when normally
estimated in advance, is not unforeseen.
(g) Inapplicability.--In the Senate, section 4112 of H.
Con. Res. 71 (115th Congress), the concurrent resolution on
the budget for fiscal year 2018, shall no longer apply.
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