House Rules Changes Affecting the Congressional Budget Process Made at the Beginning of the 112th Congress

Bill Heniff Jr.
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process

On January 5, 2011, the House agreed to H.Res. 5, adopting the Standing Rules for the 112th Congress, including several changes affecting the congressional budget process.

H.Res. 5 made six changes to the House Standing Rules affecting the congressional budget process: 

• amended clause 10 of Rule XXI (now referred to as the CutGo rule) to prohibit the consideration of legislation that would cause a net increase in mandatory spending, replacing the former House PAYGO rule, which required that legislation affecting either mandatory spending or revenue not increase the deficit; 
• repealed Rule XXVIII, the so-called “Gephardt rule,” which had provided for the automatic engrossment of a House joint resolution changing the statutory limit on the public debt when Congress had completed action on the congressional budget resolution; 
• added a new clause 4 to Rule XXIX to provide that the House Budget Committee chair may provide “authoritative guidance,” on behalf of the full Committee, about the impact of legislation on the levels of spending and revenues; 
• amended clause 3 of Rule XXI to prohibit the consideration of general appropriations measures that provided spending authority derived from the Highway Trust Fund for purposes not authorized for the highway or mass transit categories, replacing the former rule that effectively guaranteed transportation funding at the level set forth in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy of Users; 
• amended clause 7 of Rule XXI to prohibit the consideration of a budget resolution containing budget reconciliation directives that would have the net effect of increasing mandatory spending, replacing the former rule that prohibited budget reconciliation directives that would increase the deficit; and 
• repealed clause 11 of Rule XVIII, which allowed amendments striking unfunded intergovernmental mandates on the House floor, unless a special rule adopted by the House specifically prohibited such action. 

In addition, H.Res. 5 includes several separate orders affecting the congressional budget process that will apply during the 112th Congress. Four separate orders renew orders adopted at the beginning of several previous Congresses; these orders address the application of certain points of order under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and strengthen the enforcement of allocations under Section 302(b) of the Budget Act. Five separate orders establish certain procedural provisions for the purposes of budget enforcement in the absence of Congress completing action on the FY2011 budget resolution in 2010. One separate order creates a limit on long-term mandatory spending legislation. Two separate orders allow the chair of the House Committee on the Budget to exempt the budgetary effects of certain legislation in providing estimates of such legislation for purposes of budget enforcement under the Budget Act and House Rules, as well as for purposes of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. Finally, one separate order effectively prevents the consideration of amendments to a general appropriations bill that propose to restore spending that had been cut by a previously adopted amendment.


Date of Report: July 20, 2011
Number of Pages: 29
Order Number: R41926
Price: $29.95

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