Number:112-19
Date: August 08, 2012

On August 7, 2012, the President signed H.R. 5872, the Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, which became P.L. 112-155.  The bill passed the Senate by unanimous consent on July 25, 2012.  It had passed the House of Representatives (on a motion to suspend the rules) by a vote of 414-2.  The legislation requires the President to provide a report by September 6, 2012 (no later than 30 days after the date of enactment) detailing the sequester required by the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The bill contains the following provisions of interest to SSA.

• Requires the President, within 30 days after the enactment to submit to Congress a detailed report on the implementation of certain discretionary reductions (in security and non-security categories) and nonexempt direct spending  reductions in the sequestration ordered by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) for FY 2013 on January 2, 2013. 1  

• Requires the head of each executive agency, upon the request of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget in assisting the President in preparation of the report, to provide to the Director promptly any information at the program, project, and activity level necessary for the Director to prepare the report.

Additional Information

• The bill distinguishes between agencies that have been funded by regular appropriations for FY 2013 and those that have not.  For those that have not, the starting point for the estimates would be those in “a continuing resolution at a rate of operations as provided in the applicable appropriation Act for fiscal year 2012.”

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