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Union Calendar No. 94 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1871 

[Report No. 113–129] 

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

to reform the budget baseline. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 8, 2013 

Mr. WOODALL (for himself, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. RIBBLE, and Mr. RYAN of 

Wisconsin) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget 

JUNE 25, 2013 

Additional sponsors: Mr. ROKITA, Mrs. BLACK, Mr. AMASH, Mr. DUNCAN of 

South Carolina, Mr. MULVANEY, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. 

MESSER, and Mr. NUGENT

JUNE 25, 2013 

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

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

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic] 


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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 2013’’. 

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 

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

13 deficit for the current year, the budget year, and the ensu14 ing nine outyears based on laws enacted through the appli15 cable date. 

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

17 be prepared annually. 

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

19 budget year and each outyear, estimates for direct spend20 ing in the baseline shall be calculated as follows: 

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

22 direct spending and receipts are assumed to operate 

23 in the manner specified in those laws for each such 

24 year and funding for entitlement authority is asVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:07 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1871.RH H1871

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1 sumed to be adequate to make all payments required 

2 by those laws. 

3 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—(A)(i) No program estab4 lished by a law enacted on or before the date of en5 actment of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 with 

6 estimated current year outlays greater than 

7 $50,000,000 shall be assumed to expire in the budg8 et year or the outyears. The scoring of new pro9 grams with estimated outlays greater than 

10 $50,000,000 a year shall be based on scoring by the 

11 Committees on the Budget or OMB, as applicable. 

12 OMB, CBO, and the Committees on the Budget 

13 shall consult on the scoring of such programs where 

14 there are differences between CBO and OMB. 

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

16 provision of law that is suspended under section 171 

17 of Public Law 104–127 and that authorizes a pro18 gram with estimated fiscal year outlays that are 

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

20 the program shall be assumed to continue to operate 

21 in the same manner as the program operated imme22 diately before the expiration of the suspension. 

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

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


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1 required by law for veterans’ pensions unless other2 wise provided by law enacted in that session. 

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

4 expiring, are assumed to be extended at current 

5 rates. 

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

7 or any outyear, then any program with estimated 

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

9 operates under that law shall be assumed to con10 tinue to operate under that law as in effect imme11 diately before its expiration. 

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

13 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the re14 ceipts and disbursements of the Hospital Insurance 

15 Trust Fund shall be included in all calculations re16 quired by this Act. 

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

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

19 shall be calculated using the following assumptions regard20 ing all amounts other than those covered by subsection 

21 (b): 

22 ‘‘(1) ESTIMATED APPROPRIATIONS.—Budgetary 

23 resources other than unobligated balances shall be at 

24 the level provided for the budget year in full-year ap25 propriation Acts. If for any account a full-year apVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:07 Jun 25, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1871.RH H1871

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1 propriation has not yet been enacted, budgetary re2 sources other than unobligated balances shall be at 

3 the level available in the current year. 

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

5 any account, a continuing appropriation is in effect 

6 for less than the entire current year, then the cur7 rent-year amount shall be assumed to equal the 

8 amount that would be available if that continuing 

9 appropriation covered the entire fiscal year. If law 

10 permits the transfer of budget authority among 

11 budget accounts in the current year, the current12 year level for an account shall reflect transfers ac13 complished by the submission of, or assumed for the 

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

15 the budget year. 

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

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

18 outyears, current-year amounts shall be calculated using 

19 the concepts and definitions that are required for that 

20 budget year. 

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

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

23 251, 251A, 252, or 253 of this part or section 5 of the 

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


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1 result in a financial cost to the Government as determined 

2 pursuant to scorekeeping guidelines. 

3 ‘‘(f) LONG-TERM BUDGET OUTLOOK.—On or before 

4 July 1 of each year, OMB CBO shall submit to the Com5 mittees on the Budget of the House of Representatives 

6 and the Senate the Long-Term Budget Outlook for the 

7 fiscal year commencing on October 1 of that year and at 

8 least the ensuing 40 fiscal years.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 94 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1871 

[Report No. 113–129] 

A BILL 

To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency 

baseline. Deficit Control Act of 1985 to reform the budget 

JUNE 25, 2013 

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


sroberts on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS