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1 1 (December 13, 2007)

handle is hein.crs/crsajim0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS22507 Updated December 13, 2007 Constitutionality of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005: Litigation Thomas J. Nicola Legislative Attorney American Law Division Summary The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 has been challenged as unconstitutional in several lawsuits. The plaintiffs have alleged that the House and Senate did not comply with the constitutional provisions relating to enacting bills because the bill that was sent to the President did not pass the chambers in identical form. All the district courts that have decided these cases have dismissed them on the basis of the enrolled bill rule enunciated by the Supreme Court in 1892. This rule provides that courts should not look behind the text of an enrolled bill signed by the presiding officers of the House and the Senate and presented to the President; the signatures of these congressional officers on the enrolled bill attest that it has passed both chambers. Appeals have been filed in some of the decided cases. In two of these appealed cases, district court dismissals have been affirmed. The United States Supreme Court has denied a petition to review a circuit court's dismissal. This report will be updated to reflect further developments. Several lawsuits have been filed requesting courts to declare that the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, P.L. 109-171, is not law because the House and Senate did not agree to identical text and, consequently, did not comply with the provisions for lawmaking prescribed in the Constitution. Article I, Section 1, clause 1, which expresses the principle of bicameralism, provides that all legislative powers shall be vested in a Congress consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives. Article I, Section 7, clauses 2 and 3, the Presentment Clauses, state that every bill which has passed the House and Senate, and every order, resolution, or vote to which the concurrence of both chambers is necessary, must be presented to the President before it becomes law. The act is one of three budget reconciliation measures that were contemplated by the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2006, H.Con.Res. 95, 109th Cong., 1t sess. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the act is expected to reduce mandatory spending by about $39 billion on a net basis over FY2006-FY2010.1 Congressional Budget Office, Cost Estimate of S. 1932, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, at (continued...)

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