As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on September 25, 2024
H.R. 9563, Protecting Americans from Russian Litigation Act of 2024As ordered reported by the House Committee on the Judiciary on September 25, 2024 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
By Fiscal Year, Millions of Dollars | 2025 | 2025-2029 | 2025-2034 | ||||||||
Direct Spending (Outlays) | * | * | * | ||||||||
Revenues | * | * | * | ||||||||
Increase or Decrease (-) in the Deficit | * | * | * | ||||||||
Spending Subject to Appropriation (Outlays) | * | * | not estimated | ||||||||
Increases net direct spending in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2035? | No | Statutory pay-as-you-go procedures apply? | Yes | ||||||||
Mandate Effects | |||||||||||
Increases on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2035? | No | Contains intergovernmental mandate? | No | ||||||||
Contains private-sector mandate? | Yes, Cannot Determine Costs | ||||||||||
* = between -$500,000 and $500,000. | |||||||||||
On This Page
H.R. 9563 would bar entities, such as foreign businesses or their U.S. counterparts, from bringing civil actions against entities in the United States in cases where that entity’s compliance with U.S. sanctions impeded the performance of a contract. The prohibition would apply to all contracts where sanctions went into effect after the date on which the contract was executed.
CBO estimates that enacting H.R. 9563 would reduce the number of civil cases filed and litigated in federal courts and thus increase the deficit by a negligible amount. The federal judiciary charges fees, which are recorded in the budget as revenues, to file suit in district court and the courts can spend those fees without further appropriation. Because CBO expects that the number of case filings prohibited by the bill would be small, we estimate that enacting H.R. 9563 would reduce revenues and the resulting direct spending by insignificant amounts over the 2025-2034 period.
CBO further estimates that implementing the bill would have an insignificant effect on spending subject to appropriation. Federal agencies would incur insignificant costs to update guidance reflecting the changes in H.R. 9563, and the bill would reduce court costs by an insignificant amount because fewer cases would be heard. Any related changes in spending would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.
H.R. 9563 would impose a private-sector mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) by eliminating the ability of U.S.-based entities to seek civil damages in federal court. The cost of the mandate would be the forgone value of awards and settlements that would have been awarded for such claims in the absence of the bill. CBO has no information on the aggregate value of such awards. Therefore, CBO cannot estimate whether the cost of the mandate would exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA for private-sector mandates ($200 million in 2024, adjusted annually for inflation).
The bill contains no intergovernmental mandates as defined in UMRA.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Jon Sperl (for federal costs) and Erich Dvorak (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel
Director, Congressional Budget Office