Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 589 To provide for a period of continuing appropriations in the event of a lapse in appropriations under the normal appropriations process, and establish procedures and consequences in the event of a failure to com- plete regular appropriations. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 27, 2019 Mr. LANKFORD (for himself and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations A BILL To provide for a period of continuing appropriations in the event of a lapse in appropriations under the normal appropriations process, and establish procedures and con- sequences in the event of a failure to complete regular appropriations. 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 ‘‘Prevent Government 4 Shutdowns Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 589 IS SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 31, United 2 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 3 lowing: 4 ‘‘§ 1311. Automatic continuing appropriations 5 ‘‘(a)(1)(A) On and after October 1 of each fiscal year, 6 if an appropriation Act for such fiscal year with respect 7 to the account for a program, project, or activity has not 8 been enacted and continuing appropriations are not in ef- 9 fect with respect to the program, project, or activity, there 10 are appropriated such sums as may be necessary to con- 11 tinue, at the rate for operations specified in subparagraph 12 (B), the program, project, or activity if funds were pro- 13 vided for the program, project, or activity during the pre- 14 ceding fiscal year. 15 ‘‘(B)(i) Except as provided in clause (ii), the rate for 16 operations specified in this subparagraph with respect to 17 a program, project, or activity is the rate for operations 18 for the preceding fiscal year for the program, project, or 19 activity— 20 ‘‘(I) provided in the corresponding appropria- 21 tion Act for such preceding fiscal year; 22 ‘‘(II) if the corresponding appropriation bill for 23 such preceding fiscal year was not enacted, provided 24 in the law providing continuing appropriations for 25 such preceding fiscal year; or 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 589 IS ‘‘(III) if the corresponding appropriation bill 1 and a law providing continuing appropriations for 2 such preceding fiscal year were not enacted, pro- 3 vided under this section for such preceding fiscal 4 year. 5 ‘‘(ii) For entitlements and other mandatory payments 6 whose budget authority was provided for the previous fis- 7 cal year in appropriations Acts, under a law other than 8 this section providing continuing appropriations for such 9 previous year, or under this section, and for activities 10 under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, appropriations 11 and funds made available during a fiscal year under this 12 section shall be at the rate necessary to maintain program 13 levels under current law, under the authority and condi- 14 tions provided in the applicable appropriations Act. 15 ‘‘(2) Appropriations and funds made available, and 16 authority granted, for any fiscal year pursuant to this sec- 17 tion for a program, project, or activity shall be available 18 for the period beginning with the first day of any lapse 19 in appropriations during such fiscal year and ending with 20 the date on which the applicable regular appropriation bill 21 for such fiscal year is enacted (whether or not such law 22 provides appropriations for such program, project, or ac- 23 tivity) or a law making continuing appropriations for the 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 589 IS program, project, or activity is enacted, as the case may 1 be. 2 ‘‘(b) An appropriation or funds made available, or au- 3 thority granted, for a program, project, or activity for any 4 fiscal year pursuant to this section shall be subject to the 5 terms and conditions imposed with respect to the appro- 6 priation made or funds made available for the preceding 7 fiscal year, or authority granted for such program, project, 8 or activity under current law. 9 ‘‘(c) Expenditures made for a program, project, or 10 activity for any fiscal year pursuant to this section shall 11 be charged to the applicable appropriation, fund, or au- 12 thorization whenever a regular appropriation Act, or a law 13 making continuing appropriations until the end of such 14 fiscal year, for such program, project, or activity is en- 15 acted. 16 ‘‘(d) This section shall not apply to a program, 17 project, or activity during a fiscal year if any other provi- 18 sion of law (other than an authorization of appropria- 19 tions)— 20 ‘‘(1) makes an appropriation, makes funds 21 available, or grants authority for such program, 22 project, or activity to continue for such period; or 23 ‘‘(2) specifically provides that no appropriation 24 shall be made, no funds shall be made available, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 589 IS no authority shall be granted for such program, 1 project, or activity to continue for such period.’’. 2 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 3 for chapter 13 of title 31, United States Code, is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘1311. Automatic continuing appropriations.’’. SEC. 3. TIMELY ENACTMENT OF REGULAR APPROPRIATION 6 ACTS. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 8 (1) the term ‘‘covered officer or employee’’ 9 means— 10 (A) an officer or employee of the Office of 11 Management and Budget; 12 (B) an individual serving in a position on 13 level I of the Executive Schedule under section 14 5312 of title 5, United States Code; 15 (C) a Member of Congress, as defined in 16 section 2106 of title 5, United States Code; or 17 (D) an employee of the personal office of 18 a Member of Congress, a committee of either 19 House of Congress, or a joint committee of 20 Congress; 21 (2) the term ‘‘covered period’’ means any period 22 on and after October 1 of a fiscal year, if all regular 23 appropriation Acts for such fiscal year have not been 24 enacted; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 589 IS (3) the term ‘‘emergency legislation’’ means leg- 1 islation— 2 (A) providing assistance for an area with 3 respect to which the President has declared a 4 major disaster under section 401 of the Robert 5 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As- 6 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5170); 7 (B) directly addressing a national emer- 8 gency declared by the President under title II 9 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 10 1621 et seq.); or 11 (C) that, if not enacted, would be inimical 12 to the national security of the United States; 13 (4) the term ‘‘Member of Congress’’ has the 14 meaning given that term in section 2106 of title 5, 15 United States Code; and 16 (5) the term ‘‘National Capital Region’’ has the 17 meaning given that term in section 8702 of title 40, 18 United States Code. 19 (b) LIMITS ON TRAVEL EXPENDITURES.— 20 (1) LIMITS ON OFFICIAL TRAVEL.— 21 (A) LIMITATION.—Except as provided in 22 subparagraph (B), during a covered period no 23 amounts may be obligated or expended for offi- 24 cial travel by a covered officer or employee. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 589 IS (B) EXCEPTIONS.— 1 (i) RETURN TO DC.—If a covered offi- 2 cer or employee is away from the seat of 3 Government on the date on which a cov- 4 ered period begins, funds may be obligated 5 and expended for official travel by the cov- 6 ered officer or employee to return to the 7 seat of Government. 8 (ii) TRAVEL IN NATIONAL CAPITAL 9 REGION.—During a covered period, 10 amounts may be obligated and expended 11 for official travel by a covered officer or 12 employee from one location in the National 13 Capital Region to another location in the 14 National Capital Region. 15 (2) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CAMPAIGN 16 FUNDS.—Section 313 of the Federal Election Cam- 17 paign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30114) is amended— 18 (A) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘for 19 ordinary’’ and inserting ‘‘except as provided in 20 subsection (d), for ordinary’’; and 21 (B) by adding at the end the following: 22 ‘‘(d) RESTRICTION ON USE OF CAMPAIGN FUNDS 23 FOR OFFICIAL TRAVEL DURING LAPSE IN APPROPRIA- 24 TIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 589 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graph (2), during a covered period (as defined in 2 section 3 of the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act 3 of 2019), a contribution or donation described in 4 subsection (a) may not be obligated or expended for 5 travel in connection with duties of the individual as 6 a holder of Federal office. 7 ‘‘(2) RETURN TO DC.—If the individual is away 8 from the seat of Government on the date on which 9 a covered period (as so defined) begins, a contribu- 10 tion or donation described in subsection (a) may be 11 obligated and expended for travel by the individual 12 to return to the seat of Government.’’. 13 (c) PROCEDURES IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF 14 REPRESENTATIVES.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—During a covered period, in 16 the Senate and the House of Representatives— 17 (A) it shall not be in order to move to pro- 18 ceed to any matter except for— 19 (i) a measure making appropriations 20 for the fiscal year during which the covered 21 period begins; 22 (ii) emergency legislation; or 23 (iii) a motion relating to determining 24 or obtaining the presence of a quorum; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 589 IS (B) it shall not be in order to move to re- 1 cess or adjourn for a period of more than 23 2 hours; and 3 (C) at noon each day, the Presiding Officer 4 shall direct the clerk to determine whether a 5 quorum is present. 6 (2) WAIVER.—Paragraph (1) may only be 7 waived or suspended upon an affirmative vote of 8 two-thirds of the Members of the applicable House 9 of Congress, duly chosen and sworn. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Mar 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S589.IS S589 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS