II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1780 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide for studies 

and reports relating to the impact of legislation on spending on children, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 11, 2019 

Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. CASEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Budget 

A BILL 

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to provide 

for studies and reports relating to the impact of legislation on spending on children, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Focus on Children 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STUDIES AND REPORTS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL 

2 BUDGET OFFICE RELATING TO THE IMPACT 

3 OF LEGISLATION ON SPENDING ON CHIL4 DREN. 

5 Section 202(g) of the Congressional Budget Act of 

6 1974 (2 U.S.C. 602(g)) is amended— 

7 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND REPORTS

8 TO CONGRESS’’ after ‘‘STUDIES’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(3) SPENDING ON CHILDREN STUDIES AND

11 REPORTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph— 

13 ‘‘(i) the term ‘budget of the President’ 

14 means the budget of the President sub15 mitted to Congress under section 1105(a) 

16 of title 31, United States Code; 

17 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘child’ means an indi18 vidual under 19 years of age; 

19 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘key indicator’ includes 

20 information relating to the outlays de21 scribed in subclause (I), (II), (III), or (IV) 

22 of clause (iv); and 

23 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘spending on children’ 

24 includes— 

25 ‘‘(I) outlays under an entitlement 

26 authority that go directly to children; 


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1 ‘‘(II) outlays for a Federal pro2 gram or initiative that, consistent 

3 with the mission of the program or 

4 initiative, delivers services exclusively 

5 to children; 

6 ‘‘(III) outlays for a Federal pro7 gram or initiative that, while not serv8 ing children directly, has as a core 

9 mission goal the improvement of the 

10 health, education, welfare, or general 

11 well-being of children; and 

12 ‘‘(IV) for a Federal program or 

13 initiative that delivers services to both 

14 children and adults, the portion of 

15 outlays under the program or initia16 tive attributable to providing benefits 

17 for children, based on the best avail18 able data. 

19 ‘‘(B) STUDIES.—At the request of the 

20 Chairman or Ranking Member of a committee 

21 of the Senate or the House of Representatives, 

22 the Director shall, to the extent practicable, 

23 conduct a study of a bill, joint resolution, 

24 amendment, amendment between the Houses, 


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1 or conference report containing changes in 

2 spending on children. 

3 ‘‘(C) ANNUAL REPORTS ON SPENDING.— 

4 Not later than 15 days after the last day of 

5 each fiscal year, the Director shall submit to 

6 Congress a report that includes— 

7 ‘‘(i) information and data regarding 

8 spending on children under appropriation 

9 Acts, including Acts making supplemental 

10 appropriations and continuing resolutions, 

11 for that fiscal year; 

12 ‘‘(ii) information and data regarding 

13 spending on children under an entitlement 

14 authority for that fiscal year; 

15 ‘‘(iii) the share of Federal spending 

16 that constitutes spending on children 

17 under appropriation Acts, including Acts 

18 making supplemental appropriations and 

19 continuing resolutions, for that fiscal year; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(iv) the share of Federal spending 

22 that constitutes spending on children 

23 under an entitlement authority for that fis24 cal year. 


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1 ‘‘(D) ANNUAL REPORTS ON THE BUDGET

2 OF THE PRESIDENT.—Not later than 15 days 

3 after the date on which the President submits 

4 to Congress the budget of the President for a 

5 fiscal year, the Director shall submit to Con6 gress a report on the budget of the President 

7 that includes, for the prior fiscal year, the cur8 rent fiscal year, the fiscal year for which the 

9 budget of the President is submitted, and the 

10 ensuing fiscal year— 

11 ‘‘(i) a summary of the total amount of 

12 the appropriations or new obligational au13 thority and outlays requested for spending 

14 on children; 

15 ‘‘(ii) an estimate of the level of spend16 ing on children; 

17 ‘‘(iii) an estimate of the share of Fed18 eral spending that constitutes spending on 

19 children; and 

20 ‘‘(iv) an estimate of the date on which 

21 Federal spending on children will be less 

22 than outlays for interest on the public 

23 debt. 

24 ‘‘(E) WARNING REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the discretion 

2 of the Director, the Director may provide 

3 a warning report to Congress regarding a 

4 fiscal year in which outlays for interest on 

5 the public debt will exceed spending on 

6 children. 

7 ‘‘(ii) CONTENTS OF WARNING RE8 PORTS.—The Director may include in a re9 port issued under clause (i) a list of pos10 sible budgetary options, including, if ap11 propriate, the inclusion of reconciliation di12 rectives under section 310 in the concur13 rent resolution on the budget for a fiscal 

14 year, that may be used by Congress in 

15 order to prevent such an imbalance be16 tween outlays for interest on the public 

17 debt and spending on children. 

18 ‘‘(F) OPEN DATA AND TRANSPARENCY.— 

19 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall 

20 publish all of the reports and studies re21 quired under this paragraph in a publicly 

22 accessible format, including through— 

23 ‘‘(I) the dashboard described in 

24 clause (ii); and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the open data portal de2 scribed in clause (iii). 

3 ‘‘(ii) DASHBOARD.—The Director 

4 shall develop and maintain on an internet 

5 website available to the public a tool (com6 monly referred to as a ‘dashboard’) that— 

7 ‘‘(I) highlights the key indicators 

8 identified in the reports and studies 

9 required under this paragraph; and 

10 ‘‘(II) uses visualization tools to 

11 assist the public in understanding 

12 trends in spending on children over 

13 periods of time. 

14 ‘‘(iii) OPEN DATA PORTAL.—The Di15 rector shall develop and maintain an inter16 net website available to the public that— 

17 ‘‘(I) provides raw quantitative 

18 data relating to spending on children 

19 contained in reports and studies re20 quired under this paragraph; 

21 ‘‘(II) provides that data in a 

22 widely accessible file format that al23 lows the public to analyze the data; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(III) categorizes that data by 

2 budget account.’’. 

Æ 


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