I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4444 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require that the Congressional Budget Office prepare long-term scoring estimates for reported 

bills and joint resolutions that could have significant economic and fiscal 

effects outside of the normal scoring periods. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 9, 2014 

Mr. RIBBLE (for himself, Mr. POCAN, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, and Mr. TAKANO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee 

on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require 

that the Congressional Budget Office prepare long-term 

scoring estimates for reported bills and joint resolutions 

that could have significant economic and fiscal effects 

outside of the normal scoring periods. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Long-Term Studies 

3 of Comprehensive Outcomes and Returns for the Economy 

4 Act’’ (‘‘Long-Term SCORE Act’’). 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

7 (1) The Centers for Disease Control and Pre8 vention estimates that 133 million Americans live 

9 with at least one chronic condition. 

10 (2) More than three of every four health care 

11 dollars spent in the United States derive from the 

12 care of chronic medical conditions. 

13 (3) Such conditions include diabetes, cardio14 vascular disease, cancer, obesity, arthritis, and Alz15 heimers. 

16 (4) Reports from the Trust for America’s 

17 Health, the Campaign to End Obesity, and other or18 ganizations demonstrate that Federal policies which 

19 lead to reductions in the prevalence of one or more 

20 chronic disease may save United States taxpayers as 

21 much as $611 billion over the next 20 years, and 

22 more in years beyond that time window. 

23 (5) The Congressional Budget Office, which es24 timates the cost of Federal policies, typically pro25 vides Congress with budgetary impact analyses for a 

26 five- or ten-year period. 


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1 (6) Longer-term budgetary impacts fall beyond 

2 the traditional Congressional Budget Office budget 

3 window and therefore are not captured in Congres4 sional determinations of policies that reflect strategic 

5 investments in chronic disease prevention and treat6 ment, and similar long-term policies. 

7 (7) The Congressional Budget Office has pro8 duced some long-term budget analysis, assessing the 

9 budgetary impact of certain programs for a period 

10 of as much as 75 years. 

11 (8) The Congressional Budget Office presently 

12 lacks adequate resources to conduct more regular 

13 long-term economic analyses. 

14 (9) Congress and taxpayers will benefit from 

15 having such analyses more regularly available to 

16 steward Federal dollars into the most effective poli17 cies and programs, particularly those that will gen18 erate long-term budgetary savings. 

19 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to require 

20 that the Congressional Budget Office prepare long-term 

21 scoring estimates for reported bills and joint resolutions 

22 that could have significant economic and fiscal effects out23 side of the normal scoring periods. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR 

2 LONG-TERM BUDGET SCORING. 

3 Paragraph (1) of section 201(a) of the Congressional 

4 Budget Act of 1974 is amended by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after 

5 ‘‘(1)’’ and by adding at the end the following new subpara6 graph: 

7 ‘‘(B) There is established within the Office a 

8 long-term budget scoring division which shall be 

9 headed by an assistant director who shall report di10 rectly to the Director.’’. 

11 SEC. 4. LONG-TERM COST ANALYSES OF LEGISLATION BY 

12 CBO. 

13 Section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 

14 is amended by inserting ‘‘(a) COST ESTIMATES.—’’ after 

15 ‘‘SEC. 402.’’ and by adding at the end the following new 

16 subsection: 

17 ‘‘(b) LONG-TERM COST ESTIMATES.—Whenever the 

18 Director of the Congressional Budget Office prepares an 

19 analysis of the costs of a bill or resolution under sub20 section (a), and upon the request of any Member of the 

21 House of Representatives or the Senate, the Director shall 

22 prepare and submit to such committee the information re23 quested under paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of subsection 

24 (a), except that such information shall be for, if prac25 ticable, at least each of the next four ten fiscal-year peri26 ods beginning with the first fiscal year after the last fiscal 


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1 year for which an analysis was prepared under subsection 

2 (a).’’. 

3 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS FOR LONG4 TERM COST ESTIMATING. 

5 Section 201(g) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

6 1974 is amended by striking the second sentence and in7 serting the following new sentence: ‘‘In addition to such 

8 sums as may otherwise be appropriated to the Office, 

9 there are authorized to be appropriated to the Office for 

10 each fiscal year $5,000,000 to enable it to prepare the 

11 long-term cost estimates required by section 402(b).’’. 

Æ 


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