Bill > HR10780

This bill, titled the Congressional Budget Reform Act, overhauls the federal budgeting and appropriations process by reorganizing how spending bills are structured, increasing deficit enforcement, and establishing new procedures to prevent government shutdowns. Specifically, it requires the House of Representatives to bundle individual annual appropriations bills into four consolidated measures before floor consideration, mandates that these bills include a "spending reduction account" to easily facilitate deficit-reducing amendments, and prevents the executive branch from withholding or delaying the spending of appropriated funds near the end of their availability. Furthermore, the legislation establishes automatic continuing appropriations to temporarily fund the government at existing levels during a funding lapse, while imposing strict travel, scheduling, and adjournment restrictions on members of Congress and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials until annual funding is enacted. It also requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to report annually on whether debt and deficit targets are being met, creates a special "reconciliation" process in the Senate to force deficit reduction when targets are missed, mandates that any changes to the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act (PAYGO) scorecard—a ledger used to track the deficit impact of legislation—be considered as standalone bills with recorded votes, and requires an annual joint meeting of Congress where the Comptroller General presents an analysis of the federal government's financial condition based on audited financial statements from the Treasury Department.