Bipartisan Budget and Appropriations Reform Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 63 To implement the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JANUARY 9, 2019 Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself and Mr. BLUNT) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget A BILL To implement the recommendations of the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform. 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Bipartisan Budget and Appropriations Reform Act of 5 2019’’. 6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 7 this Act is as follows: 8 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—BIENNIAL BUDGET RESOLUTIONS Sec. 101. Purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 63 IS Sec. 102. Definitions. Sec. 103. Revision of timetable. Sec. 104. Biennial concurrent resolutions on the budget. Sec. 105. Committee allocations. Sec. 106. Revision of biennial budget. Sec. 107. Additional amendments to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to effectuate biennial budgeting. Sec. 108. Reconciliation process. Sec. 109. Bipartisan budget resolution. TITLE II—OTHER MATTERS Sec. 201. Views and estimates of committees. Sec. 202. Annual supplemental budget submission by the President. Sec. 203. Hearing on the fiscal state of the Nation. Sec. 204. Reform of Senate Budget Committee. TITLE I—BIENNIAL BUDGET 1 RESOLUTIONS 2 SEC. 101. PURPOSES. 3 Paragraph (2) of section 2 of the Congressional 4 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amend- 5 ed to read as follows: 6 ‘‘(2) to facilitate the determination biennially of 7 the appropriate level of Federal revenues and ex- 8 penditures by the Congress;’’. 9 SEC. 102. DEFINITIONS. 10 Section 3 of the Congressional Budget and Impound- 11 ment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 622) is amended— 12 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘for a fiscal 13 year’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘for a bi- 14 ennium’’; and 15 (2) by adding at the end the following new 16 paragraphs: 17 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 63 IS ‘‘(12) The term ‘direct spending’ has the mean- 1 ing given to such term in section 250(c)(8) of the 2 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 3 Act of 1985. 4 ‘‘(13) The term ‘biennium’ means any period of 5 2 consecutive fiscal years beginning with an even- 6 numbered fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(14) The term ‘budget year’ has the meaning 8 given that term in section 250(c)(12) of the Bal- 9 anced Budget and Emergency Control Act of 10 1985.’’. 11 SEC. 103. REVISION OF TIMETABLE. 12 Section 300 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 13 (2 U.S.C. 631) is amended to read as follows: 14 ‘‘TIMETABLE 15 ‘‘SEC. 300. The timetable with respect to the congres- 16 sional budget process for any Congress is as follows: 17 ‘‘First Session On or before: Action to be completed: February 15 ............................... Congressional Budget Office submits report to Budget Committees. March 1 .................................... Committees submit views and estimates to Budget Committees. April 1 ....................................... Senate Budget Committee reports biennial budget. May 1 ......................................... Congress completes action on the biennial budget. May 15 ....................................... Appropriation bills may be considered in the House of Representatives. June 10 ...................................... House Appropriations Committee reports last annual appropriation bill. October 1 ................................... First fiscal year of the biennium begins. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 63 IS ‘‘Second Session On or before: Action to be completed: February 15 ............................... Congressional Budget Office submits report to Budget Committees. June 10 ...................................... House Appropriations Committee reports last annual appropriation bill. October 1 ................................... Second fiscal year of the biennium begins.’’. SEC. 104. BIENNIAL CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS ON THE 1 BUDGET. 2 (a) CONTENTS OF RESOLUTION.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a) of the Con- 4 gressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 632(a)) is 5 amended— 6 (A) by striking the matter preceding para- 7 graph (1) beginning with ‘‘On or before April 8 15’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘On or before 9 May 1 of each odd-numbered calendar year, the 10 Congress shall complete action on a concurrent 11 resolution on the budget for the biennium be- 12 ginning on October 1 of that calendar year. The 13 concurrent resolution shall set forth appropriate 14 levels for each fiscal year in the biennium and 15 for at least each fiscal year in the next 2 16 bienniums for the following—’’; 17 (B) in paragraph (6)— 18 (i) by striking ‘‘for the fiscal year’’ 19 and inserting ‘‘for each fiscal year in the 20 biennium’’; and 21 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 63 IS (C) in paragraph (7)— 1 (i) by striking ‘‘for the fiscal year’’ 2 and inserting ‘‘for each fiscal year in the 3 biennium’’; and 4 (ii) by striking the period at the end 5 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; 6 (D) by adding after paragraph (7) the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(8) subtotals of new budget authority and out- 9 lays for nondefense discretionary spending; defense 10 discretionary spending; direct spending; and net in- 11 terest.’’; and 12 (E) by adding at the end of the matter fol- 13 lowing paragraph (8) (as added by subpara- 14 graph (D)) the following: ‘‘The concurrent reso- 15 lution on the budget for a biennium shall in- 16 clude procedures for adjusting spending and 17 revenue levels, committee allocations, and other 18 amounts in the resolution during the second 19 session of a Congress to reflect an updated 20 baseline that will be used for scoring pur- 21 poses.’’. 22 (b) ADDITIONAL MATTERS IN CONCURRENT RESO- 23 LUTION.—Section 301(b) of the Congressional Budget Act 24 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 632(b)) is amended— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 63 IS (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘for such fis- 1 cal year’’ and inserting ‘‘for either fiscal year in 2 such biennium’’; 3 (2) in paragraph (8), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 4 end; 5 (3) in paragraph (9), by striking the period at 6 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (4) by adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(10) include total combined outlays and reve- 9 nues for tax expenditures.’’. 10 (c) HEARINGS AND REPORT.—Section 301(e)(1) of 11 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 632(e)) 12 is amended by striking ‘‘fiscal year’’ and inserting ‘‘bien- 13 nium’’. 14 (d) GOALS FOR REDUCING UNEMPLOYMENT.—Sec- 15 tion 301(f) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 16 U.S.C. 632(f)) is amended by striking ‘‘fiscal year’’ each 17 place it appears and inserting ‘‘biennium’’. 18 (e) ECONOMIC ASSUMPTIONS.—Section 301(g) of the 19 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 632(g)) is 20 amended by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’ and inserting ‘‘for 21 a biennium’’. 22 (f) SECTION HEADING.—The section heading of sec- 23 tion 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 63 IS U.S.C. 632) is amended by striking ‘‘ANNUAL ADOPTION 1 OF’’ and inserting ‘‘ADOPTION OF BIENNIAL’’. 2 SEC. 105. COMMITTEE ALLOCATIONS. 3 Section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 4 (2 U.S.C. 633) is amended— 5 (1) in subsection (a)(1)— 6 (A) by striking ‘‘for that period of fiscal 7 years’’ and inserting ‘‘for all fiscal years cov- 8 ered by the resolution’’; and 9 (B) by striking ‘‘only for the fiscal year of 10 that resolution’’ and inserting ‘‘only for each 11 fiscal year of the biennium’’; 12 (2) in subsection (c)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and in- 14 serting ‘‘subsection (a)(1)’’; 15 (B) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’ and in- 16 serting ‘‘for a budget year’’; and 17 (C) by striking ‘‘for that fiscal year’’ and 18 inserting ‘‘for that budget year’’; 19 (3) in subsection (f)(1)— 20 (A) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’; and 21 (B) by striking ‘‘the first fiscal year’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘either fiscal year of the biennium of 23 that resolution’’; and 24 (4) in subsection (f)(2)(A), by— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 63 IS (A) striking ‘‘first fiscal year’’ and insert- 1 ing ‘‘either fiscal year of the biennium of that 2 resolution’’; and 3 (B) striking ‘‘the total of fiscal years’’ and 4 inserting ‘‘the total of all fiscal years covered by 5 the resolution’’. 6 SEC. 106. REVISION OF BIENNIAL BUDGET. 7 Section 304 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 8 (2 U.S.C. 635) is amended to read as follows: 9 ‘‘PERMISSIBLE REVISIONS OF CONCURRENT 10 RESOLUTIONS ON THE BUDGET 11 ‘‘SEC. 304. At any time after the concurrent resolu- 12 tion on the budget has been agreed to pursuant to section 13 301 and before the end of the biennium, the two Houses 14 may adopt a concurrent resolution that revises or reaf- 15 firms the most recently agreed to concurrent resolution 16 on the budget. Any concurrent resolution that revises or 17 reaffirms the most recently agreed to concurrent resolu- 18 tion on the budget shall be considered under the proce- 19 dures set forth in section 305.’’. 20 SEC. 107. ADDITIONAL AMENDMENTS TO THE CONGRES- 21 SIONAL BUDGET ACT OF 1974 TO EFFEC- 22 TUATE BIENNIAL BUDGETING. 23 (a) ENFORCEMENT OF SECTION 303.—Section 303 24 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 634) 25 is amended— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 63 IS (1) in subsection (a)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’ and in- 2 serting ‘‘for a biennium’’; and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘the first fiscal year cov- 4 ered by that resolution’’ and inserting ‘‘either 5 fiscal year of that biennium’’; 6 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘the fis- 7 cal year’’ and inserting ‘‘the biennium’’; and 8 (3) in subsection (c)— 9 (A) in paragraph (1)— 10 (i) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’ and 11 inserting ‘‘for a biennium’’; and 12 (ii) by striking ‘‘for that year’’ in each 13 instance and inserting ‘‘for each year of 14 that biennium’’; and 15 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘after 16 the year the allocation referred to in that para- 17 graph is made’’ and inserting ‘‘after the years 18 the allocations referred to in that paragraph are 19 made’’. 20 (b) SECTION 305.—Subsections (a)(3) and (b)(3) of 21 section 305 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 22 U.S.C. 636) are amended by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’. 23 (c) SECTION 311 POINT OF ORDER.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 63 IS (1) IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.— 1 Section 311(a)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act 2 of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 642(a)) is amended— 3 (A) by striking ‘‘for a fiscal year’’; 4 (B) by striking ‘‘the first fiscal year’’ each 5 place it appears and inserting ‘‘either of the 6 first two fiscal years covered by such resolu- 7 tion’’; and 8 (C) by striking ‘‘that first fiscal year’’ and 9 inserting ‘‘either of the first two fiscal years’’. 10 (2) IN THE SENATE.—Section 311(a)(2) of the 11 Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 12 642(a)(2)) is amended— 13 (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘for 14 the first fiscal year’’ and inserting ‘‘for either 15 of the first two fiscal years’’; and 16 (B) in subparagraph (B)— 17 (i) by striking ‘‘that first fiscal year’’ 18 the first place it appears and inserting ‘‘ei- 19 ther of the first two fiscal years’’; and 20 (ii) by striking ‘‘that first fiscal year 21 and the ensuing fiscal years’’ and inserting 22 ‘‘all fiscal years’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 63 IS (3) SOCIAL SECURITY LEVELS.—Section 1 311(a)(3) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 2 (2 U.S.C. 642(a)(2)) is amended by— 3 (A) striking ‘‘for the first fiscal year’’ and 4 inserting ‘‘for either of the first two fiscal 5 years’’; and 6 (B) striking ‘‘that fiscal year and the ensu- 7 ing fiscal years’’ and inserting ‘‘all fiscal 8 years’’. 9 SEC. 108. RECONCILIATION PROCESS. 10 Section 310(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 11 1974 (2 U.S.C. 641(a)) is amended— 12 (1) in the matter before paragraph (1), by 13 striking ‘‘A concurrent’’ and all that follows through 14 ‘‘shall’’ and inserting ‘‘A concurrent resolution on 15 the budget for a biennium shall, for each fiscal year 16 of the biennium’’; 17 (2) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ‘‘for such 18 fiscal year’’ and inserting ‘‘for each fiscal year of the 19 biennium’’; 20 (3) in paragraph (1)(C), by striking ‘‘such fis- 21 cal year’’ and inserting ‘‘each fiscal year of the bien- 22 nium’’; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S63.IS S63 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 63 IS (4) in paragraph (1)(D), by striking ‘‘such fis- 1 cal year’’ and inserting ‘‘each fiscal year of the bien- 2 nium’’. 3 SEC. 109. BIPARTISAN BUDGET RESOLUTION. 4 (a) DEFINITION.—Section 3 of the Congressional 5 Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 6 622), as amended by section 102, is further amended by 7 adding at the end the following: 8 ‘‘(15) The term ‘bipartisan budget resolution’ 9 means a concurrent resolution on the budget for a 10 biennium— 11 ‘‘(A) ordered reported to the Senate by the 12 Committee on the Budget of the Senate by an 13 affirmative vote of not less than half of the 14 Senators that are members of the majority 15 party in the Senate and not less than half of 16 the Senators that are members [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]