Spending Safeguard Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on the Budget.
Spending Safeguard Act
This bill requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to establish spending limits for direct spending programs that: (1) are enacted or reauthorized after enactment of this bill, and (2) do not have a specific level of authorized spending expressed as a dollar amount.
The spending limits must be equal to: (1) 120% of the cost of the program for defense, health, Medicare, income security, Social Security, and veterans benefits and services programs; and (2) 110% of the cost for any other program.
The OMB must maintain a publicly available scorecard that displays the spending level for any program that is subject to the limits. The OMB and the President must submit specified reports to Congress comparing current spending to the limits.
The bill prohibits obligations for programs that have reached the applicable spending limit. Agencies implementing programs listed on the OMB's scorecard must ensure that any contract, offer of benefits, or other material provided to program participants specifies that the program is subject to a spending limit that may impact future availability of funds to pay benefits.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on September 8, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 8, 2017: Referred to the House Committee on the Budget.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Virginia Foxx (R-NC) introduced it on September 8, 2017, and 1 member has since signed on as a cosponsor.
They are 1 Republican.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 8, 2017, 3336 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3336 days ago, on September 8, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers