Congress forces itself to vote on every program every three years—or watch it die.
H.R. 143 — Unauthorized Spending Accountability Act · Filed by Kat Cammack (R-FL) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 3, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill creates an automatic budget-cutting mechanism for federal programs that lack current congressional authorization. Starting in 2026, any program whose authorization has expired faces a 10% budget cut in the first year after expiration, then 15% cuts in years two and three. If a program remains unauthorized after three years, it is terminated entirely unless Congress votes to reauthorize it with a new three-year sunset. The bill is designed to force Congress to regularly review and explicitly reapprove programs rather than letting them continue indefinitely on autopilot.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to impose automatic budget reductions and eventual termination on programs lacking current authorization, forcing Congress to actively reauthorize rather than allow indefinite continuation. This is a procedural/structural reform, not a direct spending or tax measure.
What the text implies
- Programs with broad bipartisan support (e.g., Medicare, Social Security, veterans' benefits) may face termination if reauthorization stalls due to partisan gridlock, even if the public strongly supports them.
- The bill creates a three-year reauthorization cycle, but does not require Congress to actually hold hearings or deliberate — reauthorization can be perfunctory, potentially reducing meaningful oversight rather than increasing it.
- Agencies may face operational uncertainty and inability to plan multi-year initiatives if reauthorization is delayed or uncertain, potentially degrading service delivery.
- The 'unobligated amounts' carve-out allows agencies to continue spending on obligations incurred before termination, but new work cannot begin without reauthorization, creating a cliff-edge disruption.
- Small or specialized programs with limited political constituency may be terminated even if effective, because they lack the political weight to secure timely reauthorization.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a genuine accountability mechanism that could eliminate wasteful or obsolete programs and force Congress to deliberate on spending priorities — a public benefit. However, it also risks abrupt termination of programs citizens depend on (Medicare, Social Security, veterans' benefits, environmental protection) if Congress fails to reauthorize them on schedule, potentially harming vulnerable populations and creating budget chaos.
Named in the bill
Congressional Budget Office, Committee on Appropriations (House and Senate), Committee on Budget (House and Senate), Congressional Budget Act of 1974
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 2 Republicans.
- Jan 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Rules and House Committee on the Budget · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committees on the…”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Dec 2, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 25 - 19”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Kat Cammack, the sponsor, reported $799,000 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Council for Citizens Against Government Waste — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jan 9, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (4,606 characters) on Aug 21, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Dec 2025. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jan 9, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress forces itself to vote on every program every three years—or watch it die.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr143 Report an error
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