How Congress Considers Rescission Bills
How Congress Considers Rescission Bills
According to reports, President Trump plans to send a rescission package to Congress when lawmakers return to Capitol Hill after their two-week Easter recess. Trump wants Congress to cancel funding for various agencies it has already appropriated, totaling approximately $9 billion. Among the agencies affected by the spending cuts are the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
The President Proposes, Congress Disposes
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-344; the Budget Act) sets the rules regulating the rescission process in Congress. Title X requires the president to submit proposed funding cancellations - or impoundments - to the House and Senate for approval. It creates a special expedited process in both chambers to ensure lawmakers can promptly act on the proposed cuts. This is because the Budget Act requires the president to release funds proposed for cancellation if Congress fails to approve the cuts by passing a rescission bill. Section 1011(3) of the Budget Act defines a rescission bill as "a bill or joint resolution which only rescinds in whole or in part, budget authority proposed to be rescinded in a special message transmitted by the President" to Congress.
The president initiates the rescission process by notifying the House and Senate of proposed funding cancellations. Specifically, the president sends each chamber a "special message" detailing the proposed spending cuts and their justification. The president must transmit the special messages to the House and Senate on the same day. If Congress is not in session, the Budget Act directs the president to transmit the special message to the House clerk and the Secretary of the Senate.
How Congress Disposes
Section 1014(a) of the Budget Act stipulates that the president’s special message “be referred to the appropriate committee” in the House and Senate for consideration after Congress receives it. Congress then has “45 calendar days of continuous session” to pass a rescission bill approving some - or all - of its proposed spending cuts. Section 1017 establishes the expedited procedures needed to ensure that lawmakers have the opportunity to complete consideration of a rescission bill in that time.
Committee Referral
As with the president's special rescission message, any bill or joint resolution lawmakers introduce to approve its proposed cuts is referred to the appropriate committee in the House and Senate. In the Senate, rescission bills are referred concurrently to the Appropriations and Budget committees and any authorizing committee with jurisdiction over the programs impacted by the cuts. The Budget and relevant authorizing committees have 20 days to report their views on the rescission bill's proposed cuts to the Appropriations Committee.
Discharging Committees
Overall, the Budget Act allows “25 calendar days of continuous session of the Congress” for committee consideration of a rescission bill. (In the Senate, the Appropriations Committee would have five calendar days to act on a rescission bill after the Budget Committee and any relevant authorizing committees report their views on its proposed cuts if they used all 20 days allotted to them by Senate practice.) If a committee fails to report the bill in that time, Section 1017(b)(1) empowers any lawmaker who supports the underlying rescission package to make a motion to discharge the committee from its further consideration. Section 1017(b)(2) also requires one-fifth of a quorum of House members (typically 44) to support the discharge motion before the full House considers it.
Floor debate on a discharge motion is limited to one hour in the House and Senate. In the House, that time is equally divided between the underlying rescission bill’s proponents and opponents. In the Senate, the time is equally divided between - and controlled by - the majority and minority leaders or their designees. The Budget Act prohibits lawmakers from amending the discharge motion or moving to reconsider it.
Floor Consideration in the House
Members of the House may move to proceed to a rescission bill at any time after a committee has reported it or been discharged from its further consideration. The motion to proceed is not debatable. It cannot be amended. And a motion to reconsider the vote by which the House approves or rejects the motion is not in order.
The Budget Act limits floor debate on a rescission bill in the House to "not more than two hours." That time is divided equally between the bill's proponents and opponents. And the House can shorten the debate further by approving a non-debatable motion. As with the motion to proceed to a rescission bill, motions to reconsider the final vote are not in order.
To prevent other business from delaying House consideration of a rescission bill, the Budget Act stipulates that motions to postpone its debate and motions to proceed to the consideration of other business are not debatable. Appeals of the chair's ruling relating to the House rules are also decided without debate.
Floor Consideration in the Senate
The Budget Act limits Senate floor debate on rescission bills and “all amendments thereto…and debatable motions and appeals in connection therewith” to “not more than 10 hours.” The 10-hour limit is a ceiling, not a floor. Senate precedents stipulate that the presiding officer must call a vote on the pending business - in this case, a rescission bill - if no senators are speaking or seeking recognition to speak. A motion to limit debate further is not debatable.
Floor amendments to recession bills are in order. But they must be germane to the provisions in the underlying bill. Debate time on first-degree amendments is limited to two hours, equally divided between the sponsor and the rescission bill’s floor manager. Debate on second-degree amendments, debatable motions, appeals of the presiding officer’s rulings, and motions to recommit is limited to one hour. A motion to recommit a rescission bill is in order only if it includes instructions requiring the relevant committee to report the measure back to the Senate within three days.
Resolving House-Senate Differences
The Budget Act also expedites the process by which the House and Senate resolve their differences if they approve different rescission bills. When that happens, lawmakers may use a joint House-Senate conference to craft a compromise agreement between the two chambers’ versions. Alternatively, they may use a process of amendment exchange in which the House and Senate adjudicate their differences separately.
In the Senate, a motion to proceed to begin debate on a rescission conference report is in order three days after it is reported and available to all senators. Debate time on conference reports is limited to two hours, equally divided - and controlled by - the majority and minority leaders or their designees. Debate on all debatable motions and appeals of the presiding officer's rulings is limited to 30 minutes (divided in the same manner).
When the House and Senate adjudicate their differences separately using an amendment exchange process, debate on amendments in disagreement is limited to 30 minutes. And further amendments must be germane.
The Takeaway
The Budget Act establishes a special process to expedite the consideration of rescission bills in the House and Senate. Under that process, Congress has 45 calendar days of continuous session to pass a rescission bill approving the president's proposed spending cuts. Lawmakers are empowered to force action on rescission bills in committee and on the House and Senate floors to ensure Congress has the opportunity to weigh in on the president’s proposed cuts. If Congress fails to pass a rescission bill, the president must release any funding covered in the rescission package.
However, the House and Senate do not have to use the Budget Act's expedited process to approve the president's proposed spending cuts. Lawmakers can consider those cuts using the House and Senate's regular rules and practices. Alternatively, they may create new procedures to consider a rescission bill by passing a special rule in the House or propounding a unanimous consent agreement in the Senate.