2 U.S.C. § 903 : US Code - Section 903: Enforcing deficit targets

Search 2 U.S.C. § 903 : US Code - Section 903: Enforcing deficit targets

(a) Sequestration
Within 15 calendar days after Congress adjourns to end a session
(other than of the One Hundred First Congress) and on the same day
as a sequestration (if any) under section 901 of this title and
section 902 of this title, but after any sequestration required by
section 901 of this title (enforcing discretionary spending limits)
or section 902 of this title (enforcing pay-as-you-go), there shall
be a sequestration to eliminate the excess deficit (if any remains)
if it exceeds the margin.
(b) Excess deficit; margin
The excess deficit is, if greater than zero, the estimated
deficit for the budget year, minus - 
(1) the maximum deficit amount for that year;
(2) the amounts for that year designated as emergency direct
spending or receipts legislation under section 902(e) of this
title; and
(3) for any fiscal year in which there is not a full adjustment
for technical and economic reestimates, the deposit insurance
reestimate for that year, if any, calculated under subsection (h)
of this section.
The "margin" for fiscal year 1992 or 1993 is zero and for fiscal
year 1994 or 1995 is $15,000,000,000.
(c) Dividing sequestration
To eliminate the excess deficit in a budget year, half of the
required outlay reductions shall be obtained from non-exempt
defense accounts (accounts designated as function 050 in the
President's fiscal year 1991 budget submission) and half from non-
exempt, non-defense accounts (all other non-exempt accounts).
(d) Defense
Each non-exempt defense account shall be reduced by a dollar
amount calculated by multiplying the level of sequestrable
budgetary resources in that account at that time by the uniform
percentage necessary to carry out subsection (c) of this section,
except that, if any military personnel are exempt, adjustments
shall be made under the procedure set forth in section 901(a)(3) of
this title.
(e) Non-defense
Actions to reduce non-defense accounts shall be taken in the
following order:
(1) First
All reductions in automatic spending increases under section
906(a) of this title shall be made.
(2) Second
If additional reductions in non-defense accounts are required
to be made, the maximum reduction permissible under sections
906(b) of this title (guaranteed student loans) and 906(c) of
this title (foster care and adoption assistance) shall be made.
(3) Third
(A) If additional reductions in non-defense accounts are
required to be made, each remaining non-exempt, non-defense
account shall be reduced by the uniform percentage necessary to
make the reductions in non-defense outlays required by subsection
(c) of this section, except that - 
(i) the medicare program specified in section 906(d) of this
title shall not be reduced by more than 2 percent in total
including any reduction of less than 2 percent made under
section 902 of this title or, if it has been reduced by 2
percent or more under section 902 of this title, it may not be
further reduced under this section; and
(ii) the health programs set forth in section 906(e) of this
title shall not be reduced by more than 2 percent in total
(including any reduction made under section 901 of this title),
and the uniform percent applicable to all other programs under
this subsection shall be increased (if necessary) to a level
sufficient to achieve the required reduction in non-defense
outlays.
(B) For purposes of determining reductions under subparagraph
(A), outlay reduction (as a result of sequestration of Commodity
Credit Corporation commodity price support contracts in the
fiscal year of a sequestration) that would occur in the following
fiscal year shall be credited as outlay reductions in the fiscal
year of the sequestration.
(f) Baseline assumptions; part-year appropriations
(1) Budget assumptions
For purposes of subsections (b), (c), (d), and (e) of this
section, accounts shall be assumed to be at the level in the
baseline minus any reductions required to be made under sections
901 and 902 of this title.
(2) Part-year appropriations
If, on the date specified in subsection (a) of this section,
there is in effect an Act making or continuing appropriations for
part of a fiscal year for any non-exempt budget account, then the
dollar sequestration calculated for that account under subsection
(d) or (e) of this section, as applicable, shall be subtracted
from - 
(A) the annualized amount otherwise available by law in that
account under that or a subsequent part-year appropriation; and
(B) when a full-year appropriation for that account is
enacted, from the amount otherwise provided by the full-year
appropriation; except that the amount to be sequestered from
that account shall be reduced (but not below zero) by the
savings achieved by that appropriation when the enacted amount
is less than the baseline for that account.
(g) Adjustments to maximum deficit amounts
(1) Adjustments
(A) When the President submits the budget for fiscal year
1992, the maximum deficit amounts for fiscal years 1992, 1993,
1994, and 1995 shall be adjusted to reflect up-to-date
reestimates of economic and technical assumptions and any
changes in concepts or definitions. When the President submits
the budget for fiscal year 1993, the maximum deficit amounts
for fiscal years 1993, 1994, and 1995 shall be further adjusted
to reflect up-to-date reestimates of economic and technical
assumptions and any changes in concepts or definitions.
(B) When submitting the budget for fiscal year 1994, the
President may choose to adjust the maximum deficit amounts for
fiscal years 1994 and 1995 to reflect up-to-date reestimates of
economic and technical assumptions. If the President chooses to
adjust the maximum deficit amount when submitting the fiscal
year 1994 budget, the President may choose to invoke the same
adjustment procedure when submitting the budget for fiscal year
1995. In each case, the President must choose between making no
adjustment or the full adjustment described in paragraph (2).
If the President chooses to make that full adjustment, then
those procedures for adjusting discretionary spending limits
described in sections 901(b)(1)(C) (!1) and 901(b)(2)(E) (!1)
of this title, otherwise applicable through fiscal year 1993 or
1994 (as the case may be), shall be deemed to apply for fiscal
year 1994 (and 1995 if applicable).
(C) When the budget for fiscal year 1994 or 1995 is submitted
and the sequestration reports for those years under section 904
of this title are made (as applicable), if the President does
not choose to make the adjustments set forth in subparagraph
(B), the maximum deficit amount for that fiscal year shall be
adjusted by the amount of the adjustment to discretionary
spending limits first applicable for that year (if any) under
section 901(b) of this title.
(D) For each fiscal year the adjustments required to be made
with the submission of the President's budget for that year
shall also be made when OMB submits the sequestration update
report and the final sequestration report for that year, but
OMB shall continue to use the economic and technical
assumptions in the President's budget for that year.
Each adjustment shall be made by increasing or decreasing the
maximum deficit amounts set forth in section 665 (!1) of this
title.
(2) Calculations of adjustments
The required increase or decrease shall be calculated as
follows:
(A) The baseline deficit or surplus shall be calculated using
up-to-date economic and technical assumptions, using up-to-date
concepts and definitions, and, in lieu of the baseline levels
of discretionary appropriations, using the discretionary
spending limits set forth in section 665 (!1) of this title as
adjusted under section 901 of this title.
(B) The net deficit increase or decrease caused by all direct
spending and receipts legislation enacted after November 5,
1990 (after adjusting for any sequestration of direct spending
accounts) shall be calculated for each fiscal year by adding - 
(i) the estimates of direct spending and receipts
legislation transmitted under section 902(d) of this title
applicable to each such fiscal year; and
(ii) the estimated amount of savings in direct spending
programs applicable to each such fiscal year resulting from
the prior year's sequestration under this section or section
902 of this title of direct spending, if any, as contained in
OMB's final sequestration report for that year.
(C) The amount calculated under subparagraph (B) shall be
subtracted from the amount calculated under subparagraph (A).
(D) The maximum deficit amount set forth in section 665 (!1)
of this title shall be subtracted from the amount calculated
under subparagraph (C).
(E) The amount calculated under subparagraph (D) shall be the
amount of the adjustment required by paragraph (1).
(h) Treatment of deposit insurance
(1) Initial estimates
The initial estimates of the net costs of federal deposit
insurance for fiscal year 1994 and fiscal year 1995 (assuming
full funding of, and continuation of, the deposit insurance
guarantee commitment in effect on the date of the submission of
the budget for fiscal year 1993) shall be set forth in that
budget.
(2) Reestimates
For fiscal year 1994 and fiscal year 1995, the amount of the
reestimate of deposit insurance costs shall be calculated by
subtracting the amount set forth under paragraph (1) for that
year from the current estimate of deposit insurance costs (but
assuming full funding of, and continuation of, the deposit
insurance guarantee commitment in effect on the date of
submission of the budget for fiscal year 1993).