I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 260
To prevent a fiscal crisis by enacting legislation to balance the Federal
budget through reductions of discretionary and mandatory spending,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY10, 2023
Mr. G
OODof Virginia (for himself, Mr. PERRY, and Mr. MOOREof Alabama)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the
Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To prevent a fiscal crisis by enacting legislation to balance
the Federal budget through reductions of discretionary
and mandatory spending, 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 ‘‘Nickel Plan Act’’. 4
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT AND ENFORCEMENT OF SPEND-1
ING CAPS. 2
(a) O
UTLAYCAPS.—The Balanced Budget and 3
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 900 et 4
seq.) is amended by inserting after section 253 the fol-5
lowing: 6
‘‘SEC. 253A. ESTABLISHING OUTLAY CAPS. 7
‘‘(a) O
UTLAYCAPS.—In this section, the term ‘outlay 8
cap’ means: 9
‘‘(1) F
ISCAL YEAR 2024.—For fiscal year 2024, 10
total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 11
not more than $5,952,871,000,000, less 5 percent. 12
‘‘(2) F
ISCAL YEAR 2025.—For fiscal year 2025, 13
total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 14
not more than the amount computed under para-15
graph (1), less 5 percent. 16
‘‘(3) F
ISCAL YEAR 2026.—For fiscal year 2026, 17
total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 18
not more than the amount computed under para-19
graph (2), less 5 percent. 20
‘‘(4) F
ISCAL YEAR 2027.—For fiscal year 2027, 21
total outlays (less net interest payments) shall be 22
not more than the amount computed under para-23
graph (3), less 5 percent. 24
‘‘(5) F
ISCAL YEAR 2028 AND SUBSEQUENT FIS -25
CAL YEARS.— 26
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‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For fiscal year 2028 1
and each fiscal year thereafter, total outlays 2
(including net interest payments) shall be not 3
more than 17.5 percent of the gross domestic 4
product for that fiscal year, as estimated by the 5
Office of Management and Budget prior to 6
March of the previous fiscal year. 7
‘‘(B) L
IMITATION.—Notwithstanding sub-8
paragraph (A), for any fiscal year beginning 9
with fiscal year 2029, total projected outlays 10
may not be less than total projected outlays for 11
the preceding fiscal year. 12
‘‘(b) S
EQUESTRATION.— 13
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.— 14
‘‘(A) E
XCESS SPENDING.—Not later than 15
45 calendar days after the beginning of a fiscal 16
year, the Office of Management and Budget 17
shall prepare and the President shall order a 18
sequestration to eliminate any excess outlay 19
amount. 20
‘‘(B) D
EFINITIONS.— 21
‘‘(i) F
ISCAL YEARS 2024 THROUGH 22
2027.—For each of fiscal years 2024 23
through 2027 and for purposes of this sub-24
section, the term ‘excess outlay amount’ 25
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means the amount by which total projected 1
Federal outlays (less net interest pay-2
ments) for a fiscal year exceeds the outlay 3
cap for that fiscal year. 4
‘‘(ii) F
ISCAL YEAR 2028 AND SUBSE -5
QUENT FISCAL YEARS .—For fiscal year 6
2028 and each fiscal year thereafter and 7
for purposes of this subsection, the term 8
‘excess outlay amount’ means the amount 9
by which total projected Federal outlays 10
for a fiscal year exceeds the outlay cap for 11
that fiscal year. 12
‘‘(2) S
EQUESTRATION.— 13
‘‘(A) CBO
PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 14
15 of each year, the Congressional Budget Of-15
fice shall issue a sequestration preview report 16
as described in section 254(c)(4). 17
‘‘(B) OMB
PREVIEW REPORT.—On August 18
20 of each year, the Office of Management and 19
Budget shall issue a sequestration preview re-20
port as described in section 254(c)(4). 21
‘‘(C) F
INAL REPORT.—On October 31 of 22
each year, the Office of Management and Budg-23
et shall issue a final sequestration report as de-24
scribed in section 254(f)(3), which shall be ac-25
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companied by a Presidential order detailing 1
spending reductions equal to the excess outlay 2
amount. 3
‘‘(D) P
ROCESS.—The reductions shall gen-4
erally follow the process set forth in sections 5
253 and 254, except as provided in this section. 6
‘‘(3) C
ONGRESSIONAL ACTION .—If the August 7
20 report by the Office of Management and Budget 8
projects a sequestration, the Committee on the 9
Budget of the Senate and the Committee on the 10
Budget of the House of Representatives may report 11
a resolution directing committees of their House to 12
change the existing law to achieve the spending re-13
ductions outlined in the August 20 report necessary 14
to meet the outlay limits. 15
‘‘(c) N
OEXEMPTPROGRAMS.—Section 255 and sec-16
tion 256 shall not apply to this section or any sequestra-17
tion order issued under this section. 18
‘‘(d) L
OOKBACK.—If, after October 31, a bill result-19
ing in outlays for the fiscal year in progress is enacted 20
that causes excess outlays, the excess outlay amount for 21
the next fiscal year shall be increased by the amount or 22
amounts of that breach.’’. 23
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS TO BBEDCA.— 24
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(1) SEQUESTRATION PREVIEW REPORTS .—Sec-1
tion 254(c)(4) of the Balanced Budget and Emer-2
gency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 3
904(c)(4)) is amended to read as follows: 4
‘‘(4) O
UTLAY CAP SEQUESTRATION REPORTS .— 5
The preview reports shall set forth for the budget 6
year estimates for the following: 7
‘‘(A)(i) For each of budget years 2023 8
through 2027, total projected outlays (less net 9
interest payments), less five percent. 10
‘‘(ii) For budget year 2028 and each sub-11
sequent budget year, the estimated gross do-12
mestic product for that budget year. 13
‘‘(B) The amount of reductions required 14
under section 253A. 15
‘‘(C) The sequestration percentage nec-16
essary to achieve the required reduction under 17
section 253A.’’. 18
(2) F
INAL SEQUESTRATION REPORTS .—Section 19
254(f)(3) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 20
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 904(f)(3)) is 21
amended to read as follows: 22
‘‘(3) O
UTLAY CAPS SEQUESTRATION RE -23
PORTS.—The final reports shall contain all the infor-24
mation required in the outlay cap sequestration pre-25
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view reports. In addition, these reports shall contain, 1
for the budget year, for each account to be seques-2
tered, estimates of the baseline level of sequestrable 3
budgetary resources and resulting outlays and the 4
amount of budgetary sources to be sequestered and 5
result in outlay reductions. The reports shall also 6
contain estimates of the effects on outlays on the se-7
questration of each outyear for direct spending pro-8
grams.’’. 9
(c) E
NFORCEMENT.—Title III of the Congressional 10
Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 631 et seq.) is amended 11
by adding after section 315 the following: 12
‘‘SEC. 316. ENFORCEMENT PROCEDURES. 13
‘‘(a) O
UTLAYCAPS.—It shall not be in order in the 14
House of Representatives or the Senate to consider any 15
bill, joint resolution, amendment, amendment between the 16
Houses, or conference report that includes any provision 17
that would cause the most recently reported, current out-18
lay cap set forth in section 253A of the Balanced Budget 19
and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to be 20
breached or increased. 21
‘‘(b) W
AIVER ORSUSPENSION.— 22
‘‘(1) I
N THE SENATE.—The provisions of this 23
section may be waived or suspended in the Senate 24
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only by the affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 1
Members, duly chosen and sworn. 2
‘‘(2) I
N THE HOUSE.—The provisions of this 3
section may be waived or suspended in the House of 4
Representatives only by a rule or order proposing 5
only to waive such provisions by an affirmative vote 6
of two-thirds of the Members, duly chosen and 7
sworn. 8
‘‘(c) P
OINT OFORDERPROTECTION.—In the House, 9
it shall not be in order to consider a rule or order that 10
waives the application of paragraph (2) of subsection (b). 11
‘‘(d) M
OTIONTOSUSPEND.—It shall not be in order 12
for the Speaker to entertain a motion to suspend the appli-13
cation of this section under clause 1 of rule XV.’’. 14
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 15
The table of contents set forth in— 16
(1) section 1(b) of the Congressional Budget 17
and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended 18
by inserting after the item relating to section 315 19
the following new item: 20
‘‘Sec. 316. Enforcement procedures.’’;
and 21
(2) section 250(a) of the Balanced Budget and 22
Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended 23
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by inserting after the item relating to section 253 1
the following new item: 2
‘‘Sec. 253A. Establishing outlay caps.’’.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
3
This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall 4
apply to fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter, 5
including any reports and calculations required for imple-6
mentation in fiscal year 2023. 7
Æ
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