I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3578 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 

to reform the budget baseline. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 7, 2011 

Mr. WOODALL (for himself, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. 

YOUNG of Indiana, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. CHAFFETZ, and 

Mr. STUTZMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Budget 

A BILL 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

Control Act of 1985 to reform the budget baseline. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Baseline Reform Act 

5 of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. THE BASELINE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 257 of the Balanced 

8 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

9 amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 257. THE BASELINE. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) For any fiscal year, the base3 line refers to a projection of current-year levels of new 

4 budget authority, outlays, or receipts and the surplus or 

5 deficit for the current year, the budget year, and the ensu6 ing nine outyears based on laws enacted through the appli7 cable date. 

8 ‘‘(2) The baselines referred to in paragraph (1) shall 

9 be prepared annually. 

10 ‘‘(b) DIRECT SPENDING AND RECEIPTS.—For the 

11 budget year and each outyear, estimates for direct spend12 ing in the baseline shall be calculated as follows: 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Laws providing or creating 

14 direct spending and receipts are assumed to operate 

15 in the manner specified in those laws for each such 

16 year and funding for entitlement authority is as17 sumed to be adequate to make all payments required 

18 by those laws. 

19 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—(A)(i) No program estab20 lished by a law enacted on or before the date of en21 actment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with 

22 estimated current year outlays greater than 

23 $50,000,000 shall be assumed to expire in the budg24 et year or the outyears. The scoring of new pro25 grams with estimated outlays greater than 

26 $50,000,000 a year shall be based on scoring by the 


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1 Committees on the Budget or OMB, as applicable. 

2 OMB, CBO, and the Committees on the Budget 

3 shall consult on the scoring of such programs where 

4 there are differences between CBO and OMB. 

5 ‘‘(ii) On the expiration of the suspension of a 

6 provision of law that is suspended under section 171 

7 of Public Law 104–127 and that authorizes a pro8 gram with estimated fiscal year outlays that are 

9 greater than $50,000,000, for purposes of clause (i), 

10 the program shall be assumed to continue to operate 

11 in the same manner as the program operated imme12 diately before the expiration of the suspension. 

13 ‘‘(B) The increase for veterans’ compensation 

14 for a fiscal year is assumed to be the same as that 

15 required by law for veterans’ pensions unless other16 wise provided by law enacted in that session. 

17 ‘‘(C) Excise taxes dedicated to a trust fund, if 

18 expiring, are assumed to be extended at current 

19 rates. 

20 ‘‘(D) If any law expires before the budget year 

21 or any outyear, then any program with estimated 

22 current year outlays greater than $50,000,000 that 

23 operates under that law shall be assumed to con24 tinue to operate under that law as in effect imme25 diately before its expiration. 


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1 ‘‘(3) HOSPITAL INSURANCE TRUST FUND.— 

2 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re3 ceipts and disbursements of the Hospital Insurance 

4 Trust Fund shall be included in all calculations re5 quired by this Act. 

6 ‘‘(c) DISCRETIONARY SPENDING.—For the budget 

7 year and each of the nine ensuing outyears, the baseline 

8 shall be calculated using the following assumptions regard9 ing all amounts other than those covered by subsection 

10 (b): 

11 ‘‘(1) ESTIMATED APPROPRIATIONS.—Budgetary 

12 resources other than unobligated balances shall be at 

13 the level provided for the budget year in full-year ap14 propriation Acts. If for any account a full-year ap15 propriation has not yet been enacted, budgetary re16 sources other than unobligated balances shall be at 

17 the level available in the current year. 

18 ‘‘(2) CURRENT-YEAR APPROPRIATIONS.—If, for 

19 any account, a continuing appropriation is in effect 

20 for less than the entire current year, then the cur21 rent-year amount shall be assumed to equal the 

22 amount that would be available if that continuing 

23 appropriation covered the entire fiscal year. If law 

24 permits the transfer of budget authority among 

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1 year level for an account shall reflect transfers ac2 complished by the submission of, or assumed for the 

3 current year in, the President’s original budget for 

4 the budget year. 

5 ‘‘(d) UP-TO-DATE CONCEPTS.—In calculating the 

6 baseline for the budget year or each of the nine ensuing 

7 outyears, current-year amounts shall be calculated using 

8 the concepts and definitions that are required for that 

9 budget year. 

10 ‘‘(e) ASSET SALES.—Amounts realized from the sale 

11 of an asset shall not be included in estimates under section 

12 251, 251A, 252, or 253 of this part or section 5 of the 

13 Statutory-Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 if that sale would 

14 result in a financial cost to the Government as determined 

15 pursuant to scorekeeping guidelines.’’. 

16 (b) DEFINITIONS.—Section 250(c) of the Balanced 

17 Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following new para19 graphs: 

20 ‘‘(22) The term ‘Medicare’ means programs 

21 within budget function 570. 

22 ‘‘(23) The term ‘Medicaid and other health-re23 lated spending’ means programs within budget func24 tion 550. 


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1 ‘‘(24) The term ‘other direct spending’ means 

2 programs other than those within budget functions 

3 550 and 570, excluding Social Security and net in4 terest.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL CBO REPORT TO BUDGET COMMIT6 TEES. 

7 Section 202(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

8 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

9 paragraphs: 

10 ‘‘(4) After the President’s budget submission 

11 under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States 

12 Code, in addition to the baseline projections, the Di13 rector shall submit to the Committees on the Budget 

14 of the House of Representatives or the Senate a sup15 plemental projection assuming extension of current 

16 tax policy for the fiscal year commencing on October 

17 1 of that year with an alternative projection for that 

18 fiscal year, assuming the extension of current tax 

19 policy, excluding emergency provisions, in the fiscal 

20 year before the submission of a report. 

21 ‘‘(5) On or before July 1 of each year, the Di22 rector shall submit to the Committees on the Budget 

23 of the House of Representatives and the Senate, the 

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1 mencing on October 1 of that year and at least the 

2 ensuing 30 fiscal years.’’. 

Æ 


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