HouseH.R. 10014119th Congress
Restoring Accountability in Appropriations Act
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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 10014 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 10014
To amend the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to establish a private and
congressional right of action for violations of such Act, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 3, 2026
Mr. Beyer 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 concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to establish a private and
congressional right of action for violations of such Act, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Restoring Accountability in
Appropriations Act''.
SEC. 2. PRIVATE AND CONGRESSIONAL CIVIL ACTIONS FOR IMPOUNDMENT CONTROL
ACT VIOLATIONS.
(a) Application.--Section 1001 of the Impoundment Control Act of
1974 (2 U.S.C. 681) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``or'' at the end;
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
(3) inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
``(4) affecting or precluding in any way private rights of
action concerning any impoundment established by provision of
law other than this Act; or''.
(b) Private and Congressional Actions.--Such Act is further amended
by adding after section 1017 the following:
``suits by private aggrieved parties
``Sec. 1018. (a) In General.--Any person aggrieved by a violation
of this title with respect to the withholding of budget authority that
is required to be made available under such title may institute a civil
action in a United States district court against the United States and
any Federal employee for preventive relief, including an application in
a United States district court for a permanent or temporary injunction,
restraining order, or other order.
``(b) Relief.--Such court is hereby expressly empowered to enter in
such civil action, against any department, agency, officer, or employee
of the United States, any decree, judgment, or order, which may be
necessary or appropriate to make such budget authority available for
obligation.
``action by congress
``Sec. 1019. (a) In General.--
``(1) If the Comptroller General makes a report available to both
Houses of Congress under section 1015(a) of this Act, the House of
Representatives shall initiate civil actions if the resolution
described in this section is adopted by the House.
``(2)(A) If a covered individual believes that the President has
failed to transmit a special message with respect to a reserve or a
deferral of budget authority, such individual may submit a request (in
writing) to the Comptroller General for a report to be issued under
section 1015(a) with respect to such reserve or deferral. Such request
shall include--
``(i) a description of the budget authority so reserved or
deferred and the reasons why such a report is necessary; and
``(ii) the date by which such report shall be issued by the
Comptroller General, which shall be no earlier than 90 calendar
days after the submission of the request.
``(B) If such a report is not issued by the date described in
clause (ii), the covered individual who submitted the request under
paragraph (A) may introduce a resolution as described in this section,
except that the following shall be substituted for section 1(c)(3) of
the matter described in subsection (b)(3) of this section: `(3) which
is the subject of a request made to the Comptroller General by ___ on
___, but for which no report has been made available by the Comptroller
General to both Houses of Congress under section 1015(a) of the
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.' (The blank
spaces being filled in with the applicable name of the covered
individual and the date, respectively).
``(C) In this paragraph, the term `covered individual' means the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the majority or minority
leader of the House, the chair or ranking member of the Committee on
the Budget of the House, or the chair or ranking member of the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House.
``(b) Resolution.--For the purpose of this section, the term
`resolution' means a resolution that is introduced in the House of
Representatives not later than 45 calendar days after the date on which
the Comptroller General makes such a report available and--
``(1) which does not have a preamble;
``(2) the title of which is `Providing for authority to
initiate litigation for actions inconsistent with the
Impoundment Control Act.'; and
``(3) the matter after the resolving clause is as follows:
```SEC. 1. CIVIL ACTIONS REGARDING IMPROPER DEFERRAL OF BUDGET
AUTHORITY.
```(a) Civil Actions.--The Speaker is directed to initiate or
intervene in one or more civil actions on behalf of the House of
Representatives in the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia to require that budget authority described in subsection (c)
to be made available for obligation.
```(b) OGC.--The Office of the General Counsel of the House of
Representatives, at the direction of the Speaker, shall represent the
House in any civil action initiated, or in which the House intervenes,
pursuant to this resolution, and may employ the services of outside
counsel and other experts for this purpose.
```(c) Budget Authority.--Budget authority described in this
subsection is any budget authority that--
```(1) is required to be made available for obligation;
```(2) is not made available for obligation on or before
the date on which this resolution is introduced; and
```(3) which is the subject of a report made available on
__ by the Comptroller General to both Houses of Congress under
section 1015(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control Act of 1974.'. (The blank space being filled in with
the applicable date).
``(c) Fast Track Consideration in House of Representatives.--
``(1) Referral and discharge.--Any committee of the House
of Representatives to which a resolution is referred under this
section shall report it to the House of Representatives without
amendment not later than 2 legislative days after the date of
introduction of the resolution. If a committee fails to report
the resolution within that period, the committee shall be
discharged from further consideration of the resolution and the
resolution shall be referred to the appropriate calendar.
``(2) Proceeding to consideration.--After each committee
authorized to consider the resolution reports it to the House
of Representatives or has been discharged from its
consideration under paragraph (1), it shall be in order to move
to proceed to consider the resolution in the House. All points
of order against the motion are waived. Such a motion shall not
be in order after the House has disposed of a motion to proceed
on the resolution. The previous question shall be considered as
ordered on the motion to its adoption without intervening
motion. The motion shall not be debatable. A motion to
reconsider the vote by which the motion is disposed of shall
not be in order.
``(3) Consideration.--The resolution shall be considered as
read. All points of order against the resolution and against
its consideration are waived. The previous question shall be
considered as ordered on the resolution to its passage without
intervening motion except two hours of debate equally divided
and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. A motion to
reconsider the vote on passage of the resolution shall not be
in order.
``(d) Timely Action by the Speaker.--The Speaker shall, in
coordination with the Office of the General Counsel of the House of
Representatives, initiate or intervene in one or more civil actions as
directed by a resolution not later than 20 calendar days after passage
of such resolution.
``(e) Application.--Nothing contained in this section shall be
construed as to limit the authority of the Government Accountability
Office to initiate its own process for issuing a report under section
1015(a), or to limit the authority of Members of Congress other than
covered individuals to submit requests to the Comptroller General to
initiate such process.
``(f) Rules of House of Representatives.--This section is enacted
by Congress--
``(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the House
of Representatives and as such it is deemed a part of the rules
of the House but applicable only with respect to the procedure
to be followed in that House in the case of a resolution, and
it supersedes other rules only to the extent that it is
inconsistent with such rules; and
``(2) with full recognition of the constitutional right of
the House to change the rules (so far as relating to the
procedure of the House) at any time, in the same manner, and to
the same extent as in the case of any other rule of the
House.''.
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents of the Congressional
Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 set forth in section 1(b) of
such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section
1017 the following:
``Sec. 1018. Suits by private aggrieved parties.
``Sec. 1019. Action by Congress.''.
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