HR3908-119

What This Bill Does

The National Emergencies Reform Act gives Congress much tighter control over presidential emergency powers. A President could still declare a national emergency by proclamation, but could not use emergency authorities until the proclamation or related executive order names the specific statutory provisions being invoked. A new emergency and each invoked authority would expire after 20 Senate session days and 20 House legislative days unless Congress enacts a joint resolution of approval. Renewals would require a presidential executive order plus enacted congressional approval before the one-year anniversary. If Congress does not approve an emergency or a specific authority, the same President may not declare a substantially similar emergency or use the unapproved authority for that emergency during the rest of the term. Emergency powers must relate to the nature of the emergency. The bill creates expedited procedures for approval and termination resolutions, preserves preexisting National Emergencies Act rules for certain IEEPA, United Nations Participation Act, immigration-entry, and foreign-sanctions emergencies unless other emergency authorities are also used, and bars permanent emergencies by automatically ending new emergencies after five years and old emergencies after two or five years depending on age. It also requires the President's budget to report proposed, planned, and actual obligations and expenditures tied to each active or recent national emergency by Treasury account, program, project, activity, authority, purpose, progress, and transfers or reprogrammings. Presidential emergency action documents, including approximately 56 Office of Legal Counsel-described documents and later documents designed for disrupted government processes, must be sent to congressional committees within 30 days after approval, adoption, or revision and existing documents within 15 days. A budget-control section removes the old overseas contingency operations or global war on terrorism designation language, leaving only emergency requirements designated by Congress in statute.

Who Benefits and How

Congressional committees benefit because national emergencies, renewals, emergency authorities, spending, and presidential emergency action documents become subject to recurring disclosure and approval. Civil liberties organizations benefit from shorter unchecked emergency windows and a five-year cap on permanent emergencies. Appropriations committees benefit from budget reports showing emergency obligations, transfers, reprogrammings, affected programs, and statutory authorities. Federal agencies using sanctions authorities benefit from an IEEPA carveout that preserves current procedures for certain foreign-sanctions emergencies.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The President of the United States loses unilateral duration and repeat-declaration flexibility for emergencies that Congress does not approve. White House emergency counsel must specify statutory authorities, transmit documents, manage approvals, and avoid substantially similar disapproved declarations. OMB budget staff must prepare emergency spending reports by Treasury account, program, project, activity, authority, purpose, and transfer. Federal agencies using emergency powers must operate under shorter approval windows and narrower authority descriptions. Office of Legal Counsel staff must support disclosure of presidential emergency action documents to multiple congressional committees.

Key Provisions

• Requires emergency proclamations or executive orders to identify the specific statutory authorities being invoked.
• Limits new emergencies and emergency authorities to 20 Senate session days and 20 House legislative days without enacted approval.
• Requires annual congressional approval for emergency renewals and bars repeat substantially similar declarations after disapproval.
• Provides expedited congressional procedures for approval and termination resolutions.
• Caps emergencies at five years and creates transition rules for existing emergencies.
• Preserves old National Emergencies Act procedures for certain IEEPA and sanctions-related emergencies.
• Requires detailed emergency spending reports in the President's budget.
• Requires disclosure of presidential emergency action documents to congressional committees.
• Restricts discretionary spending adjustments to emergency requirements designated by Congress in statute.