Deficit Reduction Act of 2005
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-171, 120 Stat. 4 (Feb. 8, 2006), is a United States budget bill.
Background
Senate bill S. 1932 passed the Senate, with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President Dick Cheney, and House bill H.R. 4241 passed the House. The Senate bill was signed by President George W. Bush on February 8, 2006.[1]
The act saves nearly $40 billion over five years from mandatory spending programs through slowing the growth in spending for Medicare and Medicaid, changing student loan formulas, and other measures.
The reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was also contained in the bill.
Dispute over status of the law
A dispute arose over whether both houses of Congress had approved the same bill. Those contending that the bill is not a law argue that there were different versions of the same bill, neither of which was approved by both the House and the Senate. They argue that the document signed by the President would not have the force of law, on the ground that the enacting process bypassed the Bicameral Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Congressional leaders and administration officials point to an 1892 Supreme Court case, Field v. Clark (), which said the dispute — over differing versions of a bill that were certified by both chambers — was not a matter for the courts to decide.[2]
The difference between the two versions is the provision regarding the length of time that Medicare would be required to pay for durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs and oxygen equipment like CPAP machines. The Senate version of the bill restricted payments to 13 months while the House version provided for 36 months, a $2 billion difference.[2]
The discrepancy resulted from a clerical error in the transmittal of the text between the Houses. After the bill was filed in the House of Representatives and voted on it was sent over to the Senate. In that chamber it was considered again but several provisions were stricken due to a point of order under section 313 of the Congressional Budget Act. This necessitated its return to the House to again be voted on. In preparing the text for return to the House, certain numbers related to payments in the Medicare program for certain durable medical equipment were changed by mistake. The House voted on a resolution concurring in this Senate amendment (with the legitimately stricken provisions), but the text presented contained the erroneous number changes. The approval resolution was passed in the House and the text of the bill with errors in it was returned to the Senate for the preparation to be presented to the President. There, the mistaken numbers were corrected prior to the transmittal to the President. The bill as originally intended was signed into law, but some dispute remains as to whether both Houses of Congress passed the same legislation. Though it was certainly the intent to do so, the clerical mistake has given rise to several legal challenges to the law, generally from those who disagree with the policies included therein.
Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi on February 14, 2006 saying three experts he consulted (Professor Gerhardt, Professor Dorf, Professor Raskin) said the law was clearly unconstitutional.[3]
Several entities brought lawsuits challenging the law.[4] Public Citizen, a legislative
watchdog group, filed suit in District Court, which is currently on appeal. Attorney James Zeigler filed a similar suit that is
still pending in district court in
Alabama. A case brought by an education finance company, OneSimpleLoan, is currently in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.[4] Representative John
Conyers, ranking member of the House Judiciary
Committee, and ten other members of the House of Representatives sued President Bush (see Conyers v. Bush), the Cabinet Secretaries, and others in an action in district court in Detroit; the case was dismissed on
November 6, 2006, citing the representatives' lack of
See also
References
- ^ As has been the case with certain other U.S. budget laws, the official title of this Act bears a year date that is different from the year in which it was signed into law. Compare the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which was signed into law in April of 1986.
- ^ a b Weisman, Jonathan. "Spending Measure Not a Law, Suit Says", Washington Post, 2006-03-22, p. A04. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ Seven page PDF letter from Henry Waxman to Nancy Pelosi written on February 14, 2006
- ^ a b Young, Jeffrey. "Budget-typo plaintiffs see long road ahead", The Hill, 2006-07-27. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
- ^ Associated Press. "Judge Dismisses Budget Bill Lawsuit", ABC News, 2006-11-06. Retrieved on 2006-11-28.
External links
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