H.R. 3787 — Emergency Spending Accountability Act

This section establishes a sequestration process to offset emergency spending (i.e., budget authority designated as an emergency and exempted from federal spending limits, including discretionary caps and PAYGO scorecards). For emergency spending in a fiscal year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director must issue sequestration orders on October 1 of the subsequent fiscal year and each of the next four fiscal years, each achieving outlay savings equal to one-fifth of the total emergency spending by reducing budgetary resources at a uniform rate across non-exempt programs and activities (with sequestration limited to discretionary accounts if the emergency spending was discretionary, or direct spending accounts if direct). The section applies sequestration notwithstanding other laws, except for specified exemptions including Social Security and Railroad Retirement benefits, National Defense accounts (budget function 050), Department of Veterans Affairs programs, and Medicare; it also reduces the sequestration amount by any offsetting cuts in the original emergency measure. Additionally, the section requires congressional committees to include detailed justifications in reports for emergency spending in favorably reported bills or joint resolutions—citing BBEDCA definitions of "emergency" and "unanticipated"—and mandates publication of such justifications in the Congressional Record for other House-considered measures containing emergency spending. OMB must notify Congress of each sequestration order, listing affected accounts.