On September 13, the House passed, 223-96, the National Security and Job Protection Act (H.R. 6365). The measure would replace the spending cuts set forth in H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act, which the House approved on May 10 (see The Source, 5/11/12).
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Allan West (R-FL), would require the president to send to Congress by October 15 a plan for alternate spending cuts to replace the across-the-board cuts to discretionary defense and non-defense spending outlined in H.R. 5652. Increases in revenue would not be permitted. Once the plan for the alternate cuts was enacted, the separate caps on defense and non-defense discretionary spending would be eliminated and the overall cap on FY2013 discretionary spending would decrease from $1.047 trillion to $1.028 trillion.
