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## 

## The Money Monitor

#### **The only document that tracks the costs of bills [as they pass the House]{.underline}**

### 

### **Week of December 17-21, 2007**

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**[Reminder]{.underline}**: In order to avoid double-counting, the Money
Monitor does not count conference reports or bills whose provisions have
already passed the House this year.

Five-year cost of authorizations passed by the House *this
[week]{.underline}*:

**\$359,100,000.00**

S. 2271 Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act \$5.0 million

S. 1396 A bill to authorize a major medical facility project to

> modernize inpatient wards at the Department of Veterans
>
> Affairs Medical Center in Atlanta, Georgia \$20.5 million

H.R. 4040 Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act \$333.6 million

TOTAL FIVE-YEAR COST OF THIS WEEK'S AUTHORIZATIONS \$359.1 million

Five-year cost of authorizations passed by the House *this
[year]{.underline}*:

**\$996,387,070,000.00\***

\* This figure does [not]{.underline} include the authorizations
contained in:

-   **H.R. 1538** (Wounded Warrior Assistance Act), which passed the
    House the week of March 26^th^;

-   **H.R. 1852** (Expanding American Homeownership Act), which passed
    the House the week of September 17^th^;

-   **H.R. 2553** (Public Diplomacy Resource Centers Act) or **H.R.
    2185** (To amend the Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 to
    provide debt relief to developing countries that take action to
    protect forests and coral reefs and associated coastal marine
    ecosystems, to reauthorize such Act through fiscal year 2010), both
    of which passed the House the week of October 8^th^;

-   **H.R. 3866** (Small Business Programs Act), **S. 2265** (A bill to
    extend the existing provisions regarding the eligibility for
    essential air service subsidies through fiscal year 2008), or **H.R.
    3355** (Homeowners' Defense Act), all of which passed the House the
    week of November 5^th^;

-   **H.R. 2614** (To amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater
    Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior
    to participate in certain water projects in California) or **H.R.
    4154** (HBCU Capital Financing Improvement Act), both of which
    passed the House the week of November 12^th^; or

-   **H.R. 1759** (Managing Arson Through Criminal History (MATCH) Act),
    **H.R. 2517** (Protecting Our Children Comes First Act), or **H.R.
    4253** (To improve and expand small business assistance programs for
    veterans of the armed forces and military reservists), all of which
    passed the House the week of December 3^rd^.

When final cost estimates become available, the RSC will update *The
Money Monitor* accordingly.

Five-year change in mandatory spending passed by the House *this
[week]{.underline}*:

**-\$100,000,000.00**

> S. 2499 Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act -\$100.0 million

TOTAL FIVE-YEAR CHANGE IN MANDATORY SPENDING -\$100.0 million

Five-year change in mandatory spending passed by the House *this
[year]{.underline}*:

**\$37,285,250,000.00**

One-year cost of appropriations passed by the House *this
[week]{.underline}*:

######## 

######## Fiscal Year 2006: \$0.00

######## Fiscal Year 2007: \$0.00

######## Fiscal Year 2008: \$0.00

######## Fiscal Year 2009: \$0.00

One-year cost of appropriations passed by the House *this
[year]{.underline}*:

######## Fiscal Year 2006: \$0.00

######## Fiscal Year 2007: \$587,786,000,000.00

######## Fiscal Year 2008: \$1,026,323,000,000.00

######## Fiscal Year 2009: \$21,300,000,000.00

Five-year change in revenue passed by the House *this
[week]{.underline}*:

**\$0.00**

Five-year change in revenue passed by the House *this
[year]{.underline}*:

**\$54,771,000,000.00**

**[GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS IN THE MONEY MONITOR]{.underline}**

[Authorization]{.underline}: An authorization (otherwise known as
"discretionary spending") explicitly [allows]{.underline}, but does not
actually provide, funding for a certain program, and/or directs a
federal agency to take a certain action. Authorizations express the
House's *[intent]{.underline}* to spend, however, actual funding is
provided through the annual appropriations process. Think of an
authorization like your credit card's credit limit. If it's \$10,000,
that doesn't mean you've spent \$10,000, but it does mean that you're
*allowed* to spend \$10,000. Further action by you is needed for the
money to actually be spent.

[Mandatory Spending]{.underline}: Mandatory spending (otherwise known as
"direct spending") directly provides for funding. No subsequent action
is required for the money to be spent. Think of mandatory spending like
signing up for an automatic-bill-payment program. The very act of
signing up provides for the payments from your credit card or bank
account without further action from you.

[Appropriation]{.underline}: An appropriation is an amount of money that
Congress orders to be set aside for a certain purpose, function, or
entity. The "appropriations process" commonly refers to passing the
composite bills that provide discretionary funds to various federal
agencies (see "Authorization" above). Think of an appropriation like an
individual purchase on your credit card.

[Revenue]{.underline}: Revenue refers to the amount of money that the
federal government receives in taxes, fees, sales of property, and other
sources of *incoming* funds. Think of revenue like the income from your
job, the sale of your car, etc. [Note]{.underline}: not all revenues are
taxes.

**[NOTES ON PROCEDURES & ASSUMPTIONS IN THE MONEY MONITOR]{.underline}**

[Neither the costs of conference reports nor the costs of bills that
have already been recorded under substantively similar House-passed
legislation this year are recorded here]{.underline}. "The Money
Monitor," which operates as an annual document, only accounts for the
costs of bills as they [first]{.underline} pass the House (unless the
prior bills related to such reports and bills have not come to the floor
during this calendar year or unless they contain significant cost
changes BEFORE going to the Senate).

**[In short, "The Money Monitor" primarily tracks the House's *original*
monetary intent each calendar year]{.underline}.**

##### 

Authorizations with no [net]{.underline} cost, bills that would result
in no significant [net]{.underline} change in mandatory spending or
federal revenue, and private-sector costs from federal mandates are not
reported here.

The figures for revenue changes are from **"static"** estimates by the
Joint Committee on Taxation or the Congressional Budget Office. That is,
they do not take into account the stimulative effects that certain tax
cuts and certain other revenue reductions have on the national economy.

All numbers in "The Money Monitor" are positive unless otherwise
indicated.

Most estimates are provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),
though some are provided by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), the
referring House committee, or RSC staff calculations.

##### 

##### Staff contact: Paul Teller, [paul.teller@mail.house.gov]{.underline}, 202-226-9718