Baseline Reform Act of 2015

Summary: Baseline Reform Act of 2015  This bill amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to change the assumptions used in calculating the baseline for discretionary spending, which is the spending that is provided and controlled by appropriations bills.  The baseline is a projection of federal spending and receipts during the fiscal year under current law. It is used by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to estimate the cost of legislation and produce other budget projections.  The bill requires the baseline to cover a ten-year period and changes the assumptions the CBO and the OMB must use to project discretionary spending. It eliminates adjustments required under current law for inflation, expiring housing contracts, social insurance administrative expenses, and changes in federal pay and other benefits. By removing these adjustments, the bill requires the baseline to assume that discretionary spending will continue without an increase or a decrease to account for these factors.  The bill also requires the CBO to annually submit to the congressional budget committees by July 1 the Long-Term Budget Outlook for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 and at least the next 40 fiscal years. 

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Baseline Reform Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. THE BASELINE.

    Section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control 
Act of 1985 is amended to read as follows:

``SEC. 257. THE BASELINE.

    ``(a) In General.--(1) For any fiscal year, the baseline refers to 
a projection of current-year levels of new budget authority, outlays, 
or receipts and the surplus or deficit for the current year, the budget 
year, and the ensuing nine outyears based on laws enacted through the 
applicable date.
    ``(2) The baselines referred to in paragraph (1) shall be prepared 
annually.
    ``(b) Direct Spending and Receipts.--For the budget year and each 
outyear, estimates for direct spending in the baseline shall be 
calculated as follows:
            ``(1) In general.--Laws providing or creating direct 
        spending and receipts are assumed to operate in the manner 
        specified in those laws for each such year and funding for 
        entitlement authority is assumed to be adequate to make all 
        payments required by those laws.
            ``(2) Exceptions.--(A)(i) No program established by a law 
        enacted on or before the date of enactment of the Balanced 
        Budget Act of 1997 with estimated current year outlays greater 
        than $50,000,000 shall be assumed to expire in the budget year 
        or the outyears. The scoring of new programs with estimated 
        outlays greater than $50,000,000 a year shall be based on 
        scoring by the Committees on the Budget or OMB, as applicable. 
        OMB, CBO, and the Committees on the Budget shall consult on the 
        scoring of such programs where there are differences between 
        CBO and OMB.
            ``(ii) On the expiration of the suspension of a provision 
        of law that is suspended under section 171 of Public Law 104-
        127 and that authorizes a program with estimated fiscal year 
        outlays that are greater than $50,000,000, for purposes of 
        clause (i), the program shall be assumed to continue to operate 
        in the same manner as the program operated immediately before 
        the expiration of the suspension.
            ``(B) The increase for veterans' compensation for a fiscal 
        year is assumed to be the same as that required by law for 
        veterans' pensions unless otherwise provided by law enacted in 
        that session.
            ``(C) Excise taxes dedicated to a trust fund, if expiring, 
        are assumed to be extended at current rates.
            ``(D) If any law expires before the budget year or any 
        outyear, then any program with estimated current year outlays 
        greater than $50,000,000 that operates under that law shall be 
        assumed to continue to operate under that law as in effect 
        immediately before its expiration.
            ``(3) Hospital insurance trust fund.--Notwithstanding any 
        other provision of law, the receipts and disbursements of the 
        Hospital Insurance Trust Fund shall be included in all 
        calculations required by this Act.
    ``(c) Discretionary Spending.--For the budget year and each of the 
nine ensuing outyears, the baseline shall be calculated using the 
following assumptions regarding all amounts other than those covered by 
subsection (b):
            ``(1) Estimated appropriations.--Budgetary resources other 
        than unobligated balances shall be at the level provided for 
        the budget year in full-year appropriation Acts. If for any 
        account a full-year appropriation has not yet been enacted, 
        budgetary resources other than unobligated balances shall be at 
        the level available in the current year.
            ``(2) Current-year appropriations.--If, for any account, a 
        continuing appropriation is in effect for less than the entire 
        current year, then the current-year amount shall be assumed to 
        equal the amount that would be available if that continuing 
        appropriation covered the entire fiscal year. If law permits 
        the transfer of budget authority among budget accounts in the 
        current year, the current-year level for an account shall 
        reflect transfers accomplished by the submission of, or assumed 
        for the current year in, the President's original budget for 
        the budget year.
    ``(d) Up-to-Date Concepts.--In calculating the baseline for the 
budget year or each of the nine ensuing outyears, current-year amounts 
shall be calculated using the concepts and definitions that are 
required for that budget year.
    ``(e) Asset Sales.--Amounts realized from the sale of an asset 
shall not be included in estimates under section 251, 251A, 252, or 253 
of this part or section 5 of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 if 
that sale would result in a financial cost to the Government as 
determined pursuant to scorekeeping guidelines.
    ``(f) Long-Term Budget Outlook.--On or before July 1 of each year, 
CBO shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of the House of 
Representatives and the Senate the Long-Term Budget Outlook for the 
fiscal year commencing on October 1 of that year and at least the 
ensuing 40 fiscal years.''.