2015: Schweikert Voted Against Instructing House Conferees To Support A Paid Sick Leave Program. In April 2015, Schweikert voted against a motion that would have, according to Congressional Quarterly, "instruct[ed] House conferees to recede from disagreement with the Senate with respect to a section in the fiscal 2016 Senate budget resolution relating to paid sick time, and recede from a provision in the House amendment that would assume changing Medicare to provide premium support payments." The underlying legislation was the FY 2016 budget resolution. The House rejected the motion by a vote of 187 to 239. [House Vote 153, 4/14/15; Congressional Quarterly, 4/14/15; Congressional Actions, S. Con. Res. 11]
The Senate's Legislation Included Establishing Paid Sick Leave In Its Budget Resolution. According to Congressional Quarterly, the Senate's budget resolution "create[d] a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow for legislation that would allow workers to earn paid sick leave." The Senate agreed to the proposed amendment to its version of the FY 2016 budget resolution by a vote of 61 to 39, and subsequently passed the amended resolution. [Congressional Quarterly, 3/26/15]
"Deficit-Neutral Reserve Funds" Do Not Actually Provide Funds And Generally Only Serve As A Way To Make A Political Statement. According to his book America's Priorities, Charles S. Konigsberg explains that, "'Reserve Funds' are an optional component of a Budget Resolution that allow a Budget Resolution's total spending and committee allocations to be adjusted upward to accommodate additional spending for a specifically defined purpose. Because most reserve funds require that the new legislation be 'deficit neutral' (i.e., paid for by new spending cuts or tax increases), the use of the term reserve fund is actually a misnomer, since a Budget Resolution 'reserve fund' does not provide any funds. In fact, the only scenarios in which a 'reserve fund' has any purpose at all (other than to make a political statement) is where a mechanism is needed to allow the Budget commission to Adjust committee allocations to accommodate a new program that is to be paid for by tax increases or spending cuts in other committee's jurisdiction. If a new program is paid for by spending cuts within a committee's own jurisdiction, there is no net increase in the committee's spending or in total Federal spending, so no adjustments to the Budget Resolution are required, and 'reserve fund' authority is unnecessary." [America's Priorities: How The U.S. Government Raises and Spends $3,000,000,000,000 (Trillion) Per Year, p. 408, 2008]
Amendment Broadly Covered Legislation "To Improve Workplace Benefits And Reduce Health Care Costs," Which, It Said, "May Include" Earned Paid Sick Time Legislation. According to the text of the amendment printed in the Congressional Record, "The Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of the Senate may revise the allocations of a committee or committees, aggregates, and other appropriate levels in this resolution for one or more bills, joint resolutions, amendments, amendments between the Houses, motions, or conference reports relating to efforts to improve workplace benefits and reduce health care costs, which may include measures to allow Americans to earn paid sick time to address their own health needs and the health needs of their families, and to promote equal employment opportunities, by the amounts provided in such legislation for those purposes, provided that such legislation would not increase the deficit over either the period of the total of fiscal years 2016 through 2020 or the period of the total of fiscal years 2016 through 2025." [Congressional Record, 3/25/15]