Nickel Plan Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2879 To prevent a fiscal crisis by enacting legislation to balance the Federal budget through reductions of discretionary and mandatory spending, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2021 Mr. GOOD of Virginia introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prevent a fiscal crisis by enacting legislation to balance the Federal budget through reductions of discretionary and mandatory spending, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Nickel Plan Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF SPEND- 5 ING CAPS. 6 (a) OUTLAY CAPS.—The Balanced Budget and 7 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2879 IH seq.) is amended by inserting after section 253 the fol- 1 lowing: 2 ‘‘SEC. 253A. ESTABLISHING OUTLAY CAPS. 3 ‘‘(a) OUTLAY CAPS.—In this section, the term ‘outlay 4 cap’ means: 5 ‘‘(1) FISCAL YEAR 2022.—For fiscal year 2022, 6 total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 7 not more than $4,298,244,000,000, less 5 percent. 8 ‘‘(2) FISCAL YEAR 2023.—For fiscal year 2023, 9 total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 10 not more than the amount computed under para- 11 graph (1), less 5 percent. 12 ‘‘(3) FISCAL YEAR 2024.—For fiscal year 2024, 13 total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 14 not more than the amount computed under para- 15 graph (2), less 5 percent. 16 ‘‘(4) FISCAL YEAR 2025.—For fiscal year 2025, 17 total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 18 not more than the amount computed under para- 19 graph (3), less 5 percent. 20 ‘‘(5) FISCAL YEAR 2026.—For fiscal year 2026, 21 total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 22 not more than the amount computed under para- 23 graph (4), less 5 percent. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2879 IH ‘‘(6) FISCAL YEAR 2027 AND SUBSEQUENT FIS- 1 CAL YEARS.— 2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal year 2027 3 and each fiscal year thereafter, total outlays 4 shall be not more than 18 percent of the gross 5 domestic product for that fiscal year, as esti- 6 mated by the Office of Management and Budg- 7 et prior to March of the previous fiscal year. 8 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION.—Notwithstanding sub- 9 paragraph (A), for any fiscal year beginning 10 with fiscal year 2028, total projected outlays 11 may not be less than total projected outlays for 12 the preceding fiscal year. 13 ‘‘(b) SEQUESTRATION.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 15 ‘‘(A) EXCESS SPENDING.—Not later than 16 45 calendar days after the beginning of a fiscal 17 year, the Office of Management and Budget 18 shall prepare and the President shall order a 19 sequestration to eliminate any excess outlay 20 amount. 21 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.— 22 ‘‘(i) FISCAL YEARS 2022 THROUGH 23 2026.—For each of fiscal years 2022 24 through 2026 and for purposes of this sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2879 IH section, the term ‘excess outlay amount’ 1 means the amount by which total projected 2 Federal outlays (less net interest pay- 3 ments) for a fiscal year exceeds the outlay 4 cap for that fiscal year. 5 ‘‘(ii) FISCAL YEAR 2027 AND SUBSE- 6 QUENT FISCAL YEARS.—For fiscal year 7 2027 and each fiscal year thereafter and 8 for purposes of this subsection, the term 9 ‘excess outlay amount’ means the amount 10 by which total projected Federal outlays 11 for a fiscal year exceeds the outlay cap for 12 that fiscal year. 13 ‘‘(2) SEQUESTRATION.— 14 ‘‘(A) CBO PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 15 15 of each year, the Congressional Budget Of- 16 fice shall issue a sequestration preview report 17 as described in section 254(c)(4). 18 ‘‘(B) OMB PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 19 20 of each year, the Office of Management and 20 Budget shall issue a sequestration preview re- 21 port as described in section 254(c)(4). 22 ‘‘(C) FINAL REPORT.—On October 31 of 23 each year, the Office of Management and Budg- 24 et shall issue a final sequestration report as de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2879 IH scribed in section 254(f)(3), which shall be ac- 1 companied by a Presidential order detailing 2 spending reductions equal to the excess outlay 3 amount. 4 ‘‘(D) PROCESS.—The reductions shall gen- 5 erally follow the process set forth in sections 6 253 and 254, except as provided in this section. 7 ‘‘(3) CONGRESSIONAL ACTION.—If the August 8 20 report by the Office of Management and Budget 9 projects a sequestration, the Committee on the 10 Budget of the Senate and the Committee on the 11 Budget of the House of Representatives may report 12 a resolution directing committees of their House to 13 change the existing law to achieve the spending re- 14 ductions outlined in the August 20 report necessary 15 to meet the outlay limits. 16 ‘‘(c) NO EXEMPT PROGRAMS.—Section 255 and sec- 17 tion 256 shall not apply to this section or any sequestra- 18 tion order issued under this section. 19 ‘‘(d) LOOK BACK.—If, after November 14, a bill re- 20 sulting in outlays for the fiscal year in progress is enacted 21 that causes excess outlays, the excess outlay amount for 22 the next fiscal year shall be increased by the amount or 23 amounts of that breach.’’. 24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS TO BBEDCA.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2879 IH (1) SEQUESTRATION PREVIEW REPORTS.—Sec- 1 tion 254(c)(4) of the Balanced Budget and Emer- 2 gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 3 904(c)(4)) is amended to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(4) OUTLAY CAP SEQUESTRATION REPORTS.— 5 The preview reports shall set forth for the budget 6 year estimates for the following: 7 ‘‘(A)(i) For each of budget years 2022 8 through 2026, total projected outlays (less net 9 interest payments), less one percent. 10 ‘‘(ii) For budget year 2027 and each sub- 11 sequent budget year, the estimated gross do- 12 mestic product for that budget year. 13 ‘‘(B) The amount of reductions required 14 under section 253A. 15 ‘‘(C) The sequestration percentage nec- 16 essary to achieve the required reduction under 17 section 253A.’’. 18 (2) FINAL SEQUESTRATION REPORTS.—Section 19 254(f)(3) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 20 Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 904(f)(3)) is 21 amended to read as follows: 22 ‘‘(3) OUTLAY CAPS SEQUESTRATION RE- 23 PORTS.—The final reports shall contain all the infor- 24 mation required in the outlay cap sequestration pre- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2879 IH view reports. In addition, these reports shall contain, 1 for the budget year, for each account to be seques- 2 tered, estimates of the baseline level of sequestrable 3 budgetary resources and resulting outlays and the 4 amount of budgetary sources to be sequestered and 5 result in outlay reductions. The reports shall also 6 contain estimates of the effects on outlays on the se- 7 questration of each outyear for direct spending pro- 8 grams.’’. 9 (c) ENFORCEMENT.—Title III of the Congressional 10 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended 11 by adding after section 315 the following: 12 ‘‘SEC. 316. ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES. 13 ‘‘(a) OUTLAY CAPS.—It shall not be in order in the 14 House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 15 bill, joint resolution, amendment, amendment between the 16 Houses, or conference report that includes any provision 17 that would cause the most recently reported, current out- 18 lay cap set forth in section 253A of the Balanced Budget 19 and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to be 20 breached or increased. 21 ‘‘(b) WAIVER OR SUSPENSION.— 22 ‘‘(1) IN THE SENATE.—The provisions of this 23 section may be waived or suspended in the Senate 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2879 IH only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 1 Members, duly chosen and sworn. 2 ‘‘(2) IN THE HOUSE.—The provisions of this 3 section may be waived or suspended in the House of 4 Representatives only by a rule or order proposing 5 only to waive such provisions by an affirmative vote 6 of two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and 7 sworn. 8 ‘‘(c) POINT OF ORDER PROTECTION.—In the House, 9 it shall not be in order to consider a rule or order that 10 waives the application of paragraph (2) of subsection (b). 11 ‘‘(d) MOTION TO SUSPEND.—It shall not be in order 12 for the Speaker to entertain a motion to suspend the appli- 13 cation of this section under clause 1 of rule XV.’’. 14 SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 15 The table of contents set forth in— 16 (1) section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 17 and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended 18 by inserting after the item relating to section 315 19 the following new item: 20 ‘‘Sec. 316. Enforcement procedures.’’; and 21 (2) section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and 22 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2879 IH by inserting after the item relating to section 253 1 the following new item: 2 ‘‘Sec. 253A. Establishing outlay caps.’’. SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 3 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 4 apply to fiscal year 2022 and each fiscal year thereafter, 5 including any reports and calculations required for imple- 6 mentation in fiscal year 2022. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2879.IH H2879 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS