BUDGET ACT POINTS OF ORDER APPLICABLE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES “The law governing budget process resembles nothing so much as sediment.” – Budget Process Law Annotated, 1993 Edition In the introduction to this annotated volume relating to the budget process, the Senate Budget Committee described the relevant layers of law and precedent as similar to “sediment” because of the way in which the legal tools and Congressional rules and precedent have built up over time to form the framework of the Congressional budget process. One key element of this set of layers is budget enforcement, which in the House and the Senate is based upon a series of points of order, specified in the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (the Budget Act) and incorporated into the procedures of the House. Most points of order contained in the Budget Act prohibit or restrict certain Congressional action in order to enforce budgetary decisions. Those prohibitions and restrictions pertain to such matters as the timing of consideration by the House of certain legislation and staying within budgetary limits and caps when considering spending and revenue legislation. The parameters that are enforced using the points of order framework are established each year when Congress adopts its budget resolution. Generally, points of order take the form of the statement that “it shall not be in order in the House of Representatives (or the Senate) to . . .” take a certain action or consider a legislative provision that does not meet the requirements of the Budget Act. Points of order are not self-enforcing, but rather are only brought into play when a member raises a “point of order” against a specific Congressional action prior to or during its consideration. At that time, the Chair will rule on whether to sustain the point of order, thus preventing the House from proceeding with the matter at hand. While many of the Budget Act’s points of order apply in both the House and the Senate, the procedures for waiving them often differ between the two chambers. In addition, several points of order in the Budget Act apply only to the Senate. Points of order in the House can be waived with the adoption of a special rule by a majority vote of the full House. There are also specific budget-related points of order in the rules of the House, such as those that apply to the consideration of appropriation measures. However, this document reviews only those points of order that are contained in the Budget Act and are applicable in the House of Representatives. Points of Order Relating to Timing Section 302(c): Suballocations before appropriation bills Prohibits consideration of any measure within the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Committee that provides new budget authority for a fiscal year until the committee makes it suballocations as required by section 302(b). Section 303(a): Adoption of Budget before consideration of Budget-related legislation Prohibits consideration of legislation providing new budget authority, an increase or decrease in revenues or an increase or decrease in the public debt limit for a fiscal year until a concurrent resolution on the budget for that fiscal year has been agreed to. (Does not apply after May 15 to appropriations bills). Section 309: Approval of regular Appropriation bills Prohibits consideration of an adjournment resolution for more than three days during July until the House has approved all regular Appropriation bills for the upcoming fiscal year. Section 310(f): Completion of Reconciliation process Prohibits consideration of an adjournment resolution for more than three days during July unless the House has completed action on any required reconciliation legislation, if the budget resolution requires reconciliation. Point of Order Relating to Budget Resolutions Section 305(a)(4): Amendment to Budget Resolution relating to economic goals Prohibits consideration of amendments to a budget resolution relating to certain economic goals (pursuant to the Full Employment Act of 1946) if the budget resolution does not set forth such goals. Points of Order Relating to Spending and Revenue Levels Section 302(f)(1): Spending must remain within allocated levels Prohibits consideration of legislation providing new budget authority for any fiscal year that would cause the applicable allocation of new budget authority made pursuant to section 302(a) or (b) to be exceeded. Section 311(a)(1): Budget-related legislation within appropriate levels Prohibits consideration of legislation that would cause new budget authority or outlays to exceed or revenue to fall below the levels set forth in the budget resolution. Point of Order Relating to Reconciliation Section 310(d): Limitation on amendments to Reconciliation Prohibits consideration of amendments to reconciliation that would increase the deficit or reduce the surplus either by increasing outlays or reducing revenues. Points of Order Relating to Mandatory Spending Section 401(a): Controls on budget-related legislation not subject to Appropriation Prohibits consideration of legislation providing new contract authority, borrowing authority or credit authority not limited to amounts provided in Appropriation acts. Section 401(b): Legislation providing new Entitlement Authority Prohibits consideration of legislation providing new entitlement authority to become effective during the current fiscal year. Points of Order Relating to Social Security Section 310(g): Social Security and Reconciliation Prohibits consideration of reconciliation legislation that contains recommendations with respect to Social Security. Section 13302(a) Budget Enforcement Act: Protection of Social Security Trust Funds Prohibits consideration of legislation that would provide for a net increase in Social Security benefits or decrease in Social Security taxes in excess of .02 percent of the present value of future taxable payroll for a 75-year period or in excess of $250,000,000 for the first five-year period after it becomes effective. Point of Order Relating to the Jurisdiction of the Budget Committee Section 306: Budget Legislation must be handled by Budget Committee Prohibits consideration of matters within the jurisdiction of the Budget Committee if the matter has not been reported by that committee or if that committee has not been discharged from consideration of the matter. Points of Order Relating to Unfunded Mandates Points of order raised under the Budget Act regarding unfunded mandates are applied differently. Each of the following points of order, when raised, trigger a question of consideration, debatable for twenty minutes equally divided and controlled, rather than a complete prohibition of further consideration of the pending measure. After the twenty minutes of debate, the House then votes on whether to proceed with consideration of the measure. Section 425(a)(1): CBO statement on Unfunded Mandates Triggers a question of consideration of a measure unless the committee has published a statement on the direct costs of a mandate. Section 425(a)(2): Intergovernmental unfunded mandates Triggers a question of consideration of a measure that would increase the direct costs of Federal intergovernmental mandates by an amount greater than the thresholds set forth in section 424 of the Budget Act. Section 426: No special rule waiving unfunded mandates point of order Triggers a question of consideration of a rule or order that would waive the point of order against unfunded mandates contained in section 425.