STEWARD Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3982 To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for procedures for establishing discretionary spending limits, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JULY 25, 2019 Mr. FLORES (for himself and Mr. WOMACK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for procedures for establishing discretionary spending limits, 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 ‘‘Stop The Ever-growing 4 Wasteful And Reckless Deficits Act’’ or the ‘‘STEWARD 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3982 IH SEC. 2. PROCEDURES FOR ESTABLISHING DISCRETIONARY 1 SPENDING LIMITS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Congressional 3 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the 4 following: 5 ‘‘PROCEDURES TO ESTABLISH LIMITS ON DISCRETIONARY 6 SPENDING 7 ‘‘SEC. 316. (a) IN GENERAL.—Upon adoption by 8 Congress of a concurrent resolution on the budget for a 9 fiscal year under section 301 or 304 that sets forth a dis- 10 cretionary spending limit for that fiscal year, the chair of 11 the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representa- 12 tives shall introduce the joint resolution described in sub- 13 section (b) and it shall be in order to consider such joint 14 resolution in the House anytime after introduction without 15 intervening motion. 16 ‘‘(b) TITLE AND TEXT OF JOINT RESOLUTION.—The 17 joint resolution described in subsection (a)— 18 ‘‘(1) shall have the following title: ‘A joint reso- 19 lution amending section 251(c) of the Balanced 20 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 21 to establish the discretionary spending limit for fis- 22 cal year lll.’, for the fiscal year of the applica- 23 ble concurrent resolution on the budget for the dis- 24 cretionary spending limit; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3982 IH ‘‘(2) may establish a discretionary spending 1 limit for any of the 9 fiscal years following the fiscal 2 year described in paragraph (1); and 3 ‘‘(3) shall have in the matter after the resolving 4 clause solely the text contained in the separate sec- 5 tion described in subsection (c). 6 ‘‘(c) TEXT FOR DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMIT.— 7 A concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year 8 shall include, as a separate section, text setting forth an 9 amendment to section 251(c) of the Balanced Budget and 10 Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to establish a dis- 11 cretionary spending limit for that fiscal year or any of the 12 9 ensuing fiscal years. 13 ‘‘(d) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION IN HOUSE OF 14 REPRESENTATIVES.— 15 ‘‘(1) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 16 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—It shall be in order at 17 any time to move to proceed to consider the 18 joint resolution in the House of Representa- 19 tives. 20 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.—For a motion to pro- 21 ceed to consider the joint resolution— 22 ‘‘(i) all points of order against the 23 motion are waived; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3982 IH ‘‘(ii) such a motion shall not be in 1 order after the House of Representatives 2 has disposed of a motion to proceed on the 3 joint resolution; 4 ‘‘(iii) the previous question shall be 5 considered as ordered on the motion to its 6 adoption without intervening motion; 7 ‘‘(iv) the motion shall not be debat- 8 able; and 9 ‘‘(v) a motion to reconsider the vote 10 by which the motion is disposed of shall 11 not be in order. 12 ‘‘(2) CONSIDERATION.—When the House of 13 Representatives proceeds to consideration of the 14 joint resolution— 15 ‘‘(A) the joint resolution shall be consid- 16 ered as read; 17 ‘‘(B) all points of order against the joint 18 resolution and against its consideration are 19 waived; 20 ‘‘(C) the previous question shall be consid- 21 ered as ordered on the joint resolution to its 22 passage without intervening motion except 10 23 hours of debate equally divided and controlled 24 by the proponent and an opponent; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3982 IH ‘‘(D) an amendment to the joint resolution 1 shall not be in order; and 2 ‘‘(E) a motion to reconsider the vote on 3 passage of the joint resolution shall not be in 4 order. 5 ‘‘(3) VOTE ON PASSAGE.—In the House of Rep- 6 resentatives, the joint resolution shall be agreed to 7 upon a vote of a majority of the Members present 8 and voting, a quorum being present. 9 ‘‘(e) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION IN SENATE.— 10 ‘‘(1) PLACEMENT ON CALENDAR.—Upon receipt 11 in the Senate, the joint resolution shall be placed im- 12 mediately on the calendar. 13 ‘‘(2) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding rule 15 XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, it is 16 in order to move to proceed to the consideration 17 of the joint resolution. 18 ‘‘(B) PROCEDURE.—For a motion to pro- 19 ceed to the consideration of the joint resolu- 20 tion— 21 ‘‘(i) all points of order against the 22 motion are waived; 23 ‘‘(ii) the motion is not debatable; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3982 IH ‘‘(iii) the motion is not subject to a 1 motion to postpone; 2 ‘‘(iv) a motion to reconsider the vote 3 by which the motion is agreed to or dis- 4 agreed to shall not be in order; and 5 ‘‘(v) if the motion is agreed to, the 6 joint resolution shall remain the unfinished 7 business until disposed of. 8 ‘‘(3) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.— 9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Senate proceeds 10 to consideration of the joint resolution— 11 ‘‘(i) all points of order against the 12 joint resolution (and against consideration 13 of the joint resolution) are waived; 14 ‘‘(ii) consideration of the joint resolu- 15 tion, and all debatable motions and appeals 16 in connection therewith, shall be limited to 17 not more than 30 hours, which shall be di- 18 vided equally between the majority and mi- 19 nority leaders or their designees; 20 ‘‘(iii) a motion further to limit debate 21 is in order and not debatable; 22 ‘‘(iv) an amendment to, a motion to 23 postpone, or a motion to commit the joint 24 resolution is not in order; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3982 IH ‘‘(v) a motion to proceed to the con- 1 sideration of other business is not in order. 2 ‘‘(B) VOTE ON PASSAGE.—In the Senate— 3 ‘‘(i) the vote on passage shall occur 4 immediately following the conclusion of the 5 consideration of the joint resolution, and a 6 single quorum call at the conclusion of the 7 debate if requested in accordance with the 8 rules of the Senate; and 9 ‘‘(ii) the joint resolution shall be 10 agreed to upon a vote of a majority of the 11 Members present and voting, a quorum 12 being present. 13 ‘‘(C) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCE- 14 DURE.—Appeals from the decisions of the Chair 15 relating to the application of this subsection or 16 the rules of the Senate, as the case may be, to 17 the procedure relating to the joint resolution 18 shall be decided without debate. 19 ‘‘(f) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 20 gress that if a discretionary spending limit for a fiscal year 21 established by any joint resolution pursuant to this section 22 is greater than the baseline level for that fiscal year, as 23 estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, an amount 24 equal to the difference should be offset.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3982 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 301(b) of 1 the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 is amended— 2 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 3 end; 4 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period and 5 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 6 (3) by adding at the end the following: 7 ‘‘(8) include the matter described in section 8 316.’’. 9 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 10 set forth in section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget Act 11 of 1974 is amended by inserting after the item relating 12 to section 315 the following new item: 13 ‘‘Sec. 316. Procedures to establish limits on discretionary spending.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 13, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3982.IH H3982 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS