I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 143
To establish a budgetary level reduction schedule, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mrs. C
AMMACK(for herself and Mr. SCHMIDT) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Re-
form, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, and 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 com-
mittee concerned
A BILL
To establish a budgetary level reduction schedule, 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 ‘‘Unauthorized Spend-4
ing Accountability Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDGETARY LEVEL REDUC-6
TION SCHEDULE. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—There is hereby established a re-8
occurring three-year budgetary level reduction cycle with 9
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respect to any unauthorized program, to begin in fiscal 1
year 2026, consistent with the requirements of this Act. 2
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this Act: 3
(1) B
UDGETARY LEVEL.—The term ‘‘budgetary 4
level’’ means the allocation made under section 5
302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 6
U.S.C. 633(a)) to the Committee on Appropriations 7
of the House of Representatives or the Senate in a 8
concurrent resolution on the budget for a fiscal year, 9
and includes any such allocation made pursuant to 10
a deeming resolution. 11
(2) E
XPIRING FISCAL YEAR.—The term ‘‘expir-12
ing fiscal year’’ means, with respect to an unauthor-13
ized program, the fiscal year during which author-14
izations of appropriations will expire for such pro-15
gram. 16
(3) U
NAUTHORIZED PROGRAM .—The term ‘‘un-17
authorized program’’ means any program or activity 18
listed in the annual report published by the Congres-19
sional Budget Office, entitled ‘‘Expired and Expiring 20
Authorizations of Appropriations’’, or any successor 21
report, with respect to which authorizations of ap-22
propriations will expire during the fiscal year in 23
which such report is published. 24
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(c) APPLICATION TOPROGRAMSTHATEXPIREDBE-1
FOREFISCALYEAR2026.—For purposes of applying this 2
Act to any unauthorized program funded during fiscal 3
year 2026 and for which authorizations of appropriations 4
expired before such fiscal year, such program shall be 5
deemed to be a program or activity listed in the report 6
referred to in subsection (b)(3) with respect to which au-7
thorizations of appropriations will expire during fiscal year 8
2026. 9
SEC. 3. REDUCTION IN BUDGETARY LEVEL FOR UNAU-10
THORIZED PROGRAMS. 11
(a) B
UDGETARYLEVEL FORFISCALYEARFOL-12
LOWINGEXPIRATION OFAUTHORIZATION.—With respect 13
to any unauthorized program, on the date that a budg-14
etary level is established for the fiscal year immediately 15
following the expiring fiscal year, such level shall imme-16
diately be reduced by an amount equal to 10 percent of 17
the funds appropriated for such program in the expiring 18
fiscal year. 19
(b) B
UDGETARYLEVEL FORSECOND AND THIRD 20
F
ISCALYEARSFOLLOWINGEXPIRATION OFAUTHORIZA-21
TION.—With respect to any unauthorized program that re-22
sults in a budgetary level reduction under subsection (a) 23
that remains an unauthorized program in the second or 24
third fiscal year following the expiring fiscal year, on the 25
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date that a budgetary level is established for either such 1
second or third fiscal year, the budgetary level for either 2
such fiscal year shall be reduced by an amount equal to 3
15 percent of the funds appropriated for such program 4
in the expiring fiscal year. 5
(c) T
RANSMITTAL OF NEWBUDGETARYLEVEL.— 6
Upon the reduction of a budgetary level (if any) under 7
subsection (a) or (b), the chair of the Committee on the 8
Budget of the House of Representatives and the Senate 9
shall submit the revised budgetary level to the chair of 10
the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-11
resentatives and the Senate, respectively. 12
SEC. 4. TERMINATION OF UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMS 13
AFTER THIRD UNAUTHORIZED YEAR. 14
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Any unauthorized program that 15
causes a budgetary level reduction under section 3(b) ap-16
plicable to the third fiscal year following the expiring fiscal 17
year shall, effective immediately on October 1 of the fiscal 18
year immediately following such third fiscal year, be termi-19
nated, except that any unobligated amounts available for 20
such program after the date of termination shall remain 21
available for recording, adjusting, and liquidating valid ob-22
ligations of such program issued before such termination 23
date. 24
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(b) OBLIGATION OFFUNDSPROHIBITEDWITHOUT 1
R
EAUTHORIZATION.—No funds may be obligated for any 2
program terminated pursuant to subsection (a) in any fis-3
cal year without an express reauthorization of the program 4
by Congress containing an authorization of appropriations 5
period not to exceed three years. 6
SEC. 5. EXEMPTION FROM BUDGETARY LEVEL REDUCTION. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Consistent with subsection (b)— 8
(1) any unauthorized program that causes a 9
budgetary level reduction applicable to a fiscal year 10
under section 3 that is expressly reauthorized during 11
the fiscal year in which such level is established shall 12
not be subject to the requirements of this Act; and 13
(2) upon the date of such reauthorization, any 14
such reduction shall be restored. 15
(b) L
IMITATION.—Subsection (a) shall only apply if 16
the reauthorization contains a sunset provision applicable 17
to such program providing for an authorization of appro-18
priations period of not more than three years. 19
Æ
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