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Union Calendar No. 259 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3578 

[Report No. 112–378] 

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 

JANUARY 30, 2012 

Additional sponsors: Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. DUNCAN of South 

Carolina, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. FLORES, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. BERG, Mr. AMASH, Mr. PAULSEN, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. KLINE, and Mr. HUELSKAMP

JANUARY 30, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on December 7, 2011] 


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A BILL 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit 

Control Act of 1985 to reform the budget baseline. 


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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 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. THE BASELINE. 

7 Section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

8 Deficit Control Act of 1985 is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 257. THE BASELINE. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—(1) For any fiscal year, the base11 line refers to a projection of current-year levels of new budg12 et authority, outlays, or receipts and the surplus or deficit 

13 for the current year, the budget year, and the ensuing nine 

14 outyears based on laws enacted through the applicable date. 

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

16 be prepared annually. 

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

18 budget year and each outyear, estimates for direct spending 

19 in the baseline shall be calculated as follows: 

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

21 direct spending and receipts are assumed to operate 

22 in the manner specified in those laws for each such 

23 year and funding for entitlement authority is as24 sumed to be adequate to make all payments required 

25 by those laws. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—(A)(i) No program estab2 lished by a law enacted on or before the date of enact3 ment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with esti4 mated current year outlays greater than $50,000,000 

5 shall be assumed to expire in the budget year or the 

6 outyears. The scoring of new programs with estimated 

7 outlays greater than $50,000,000 a year shall be 

8 based on scoring by the Committees on the Budget or 

9 OMB, as applicable. OMB, CBO, and the Committees 

10 on the Budget shall consult on the scoring of such pro11 grams where there are differences between CBO and 

12 OMB. 

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

14 provision of law that is suspended under section 171 

15 of Public Law 104–127 and that authorizes a pro16 gram with estimated fiscal year outlays that are 

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

18 the program shall be assumed to continue to operate 

19 in the same manner as the program operated imme20 diately before the expiration of the suspension. 

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

22 a fiscal year is assumed to be the same as that re23 quired by law for veterans’ pensions unless otherwise 

24 provided by law enacted in that session. 


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1 ‘‘(C) Excise taxes dedicated to a trust fund, if ex2 piring, are assumed to be extended at current rates. 

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

4 or any outyear, then any program with estimated 

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

6 operates under that law shall be assumed to continue 

7 to operate under that law as in effect immediately be8 fore its expiration. 

9 ‘‘(3) HOSPITAL INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—Not10 withstanding any other provision of law, the receipts 

11 and disbursements of the Hospital Insurance Trust 

12 Fund shall be included in all calculations required by 

13 this Act. 

14 ‘‘(c) DISCRETIONARY SPENDING.—For the budget year 

15 and each of the nine ensuing outyears, the baseline shall 

16 be calculated using the following assumptions regarding all 

17 amounts other than those covered by subsection (b): 

18 ‘‘(1) ESTIMATED APPROPRIATIONS.—Budgetary 

19 resources other than unobligated balances shall be at 

20 the level provided for the budget year in full-year ap21 propriation Acts. If for any account a full-year ap22 propriation has not yet been enacted, budgetary re23 sources other than unobligated balances shall be at the 

24 level available in the current year. 


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

2 any account, a continuing appropriation is in effect 

3 for less than the entire current year, then the current4 year amount shall be assumed to equal the amount 

5 that would be available if that continuing appropria6 tion covered the entire fiscal year. If law permits the 

7 transfer of budget authority among budget accounts 

8 in the current year, the current-year level for an ac9 count shall reflect transfers accomplished by the sub10 mission of, or assumed for the current year in, the 

11 President’s original budget for the budget year. 

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

13 baseline for the budget year or each of the nine ensuing out14 years, current-year amounts shall be calculated using the 

15 concepts and definitions that are required for that budget 

16 year. 

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

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

19 251, 251A, 252, or 253 of this part or section 5 of the Statu20 tory-Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 if that sale would result 

21 in a financial cost to the Government as determined pursu22 ant to scorekeeping guidelines.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. ADDITIONAL CBO REPORT TO BUDGET COMMIT2 TEES. 

3 Section 202(e) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

4 is amended by adding at the end the following new para5 graphs: 

6 ‘‘(4)(A) After the President’s budget submission 

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

8 in addition to the baseline projections, the Director 

9 shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of the 

10 House of Representatives and the Senate a supple11 mental projection assuming extension of current tax 

12 policy for the fiscal year commencing on October 1 of 

13 that year with a supplemental projection for the 10 

14 fiscal-year period beginning with that fiscal year, as15 suming the extension of current tax policy. 

16 ‘‘(B) For the purposes of this paragraph, the 

17 term ‘current tax policy’ means the tax policy in stat18 ute as of December 31 of the current year assuming— 

19 ‘‘(i) the budgetary effects of measures ex20 tending the Economic Growth and Tax Relief 

21 Reconciliation Act of 2001; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the budgetary effects of measures ex23 tending the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Rec24 onciliation Act of 2003; 

25 ‘‘(iii) the continued application of the alter26 native minimum tax as in effect for taxable 


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1 years beginning in 2011 pursuant to title II of 

2 the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reau3 thorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, as4 suming that for taxable years beginning after 

5 2011 the exemption amount shall equal— 

6 ‘‘(I) the exemption amount for taxable 

7 years beginning in 2011, as indexed for in8 flation; or 

9 ‘‘(II) if a subsequent law modifies the 

10 exemption amount for later taxable years, 

11 the modified exemption amount, as indexed 

12 for inflation; and 

13 ‘‘(iv) the budgetary effects of extending the 

14 estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax 

15 provisions of title III of the Tax Relief, Unem16 ployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job 

17 Creation Act of 2010. 

18 ‘‘(5) On or before July 1 of each year, the Direc19 tor shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of 

20 the House of Representatives and the Senate, the 

21 Long-Term Budget Outlook for the fiscal year com22 mencing on October 1 of that year and at least the 

23 ensuing 40 fiscal years.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 259 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3578 

[Report No. 112–378] 

A BILL 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

baseline. Deficit Control Act of 1985 to reform the budget 

JANUARY 30, 2012 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


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