II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 749 

To require dynamic scoring of major legislation. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 17, 2015 

Mr. PORTMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Budget 

A BILL 

To require dynamic scoring of major legislation. 

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 ‘‘The Honest Scoring 

5 Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. HONEST ACCOUNTING ESTIMATES. 

7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

8 (1) BUDGET.—The term ‘‘budget’’ means— 

9 (A) a concurrent resolution on the budget; 

10 or 

11 (B) a written statement submitted for 

12 printing in the Congressional Record by the 


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1 Chairman of the Committee on the Budget of 

2 the Senate that establishes allocations, aggre3 gates, and levels for purposes of enforcing the 

4 Congressional Budget Act of 1974. 

5 (2) BUDGETARY EFFECTS.—The term ‘‘budg6 etary effects’’ means changes in outlays or revenues. 

7 (3) MAJOR LEGISLATION.— 

8 (A) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘major legis9 lation’’ means any bill, resolution, conference 

10 report, or treaty— 

11 (i) for which an estimate is prepared 

12 under section 402 of the Congressional 

13 Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653) that 

14 indicates that not less than 1 of the 

15 amounts described in subparagraph (B), 

16 before incorporating macroeconomic ef17 fects, is greater than $15,000,000,000 in 

18 any fiscal year of the estimate; or 

19 (ii) designated as major legislation by 

20 the Chairman of the Committee on the 

21 Budget of the Senate or the Chairman of 

22 the Committee of the Budget of the House 

23 of Representatives. 

24 (B) AMOUNTS.—The amounts described in 

25 this subparagraph are— 


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1 (i) the sum of the individual positive 

2 changes in budgetary effects, not including 

3 timing shifts, resulting from such measure; 

4 and 

5 (ii) the sum of the absolute value of 

6 the individual negative budgetary effects, 

7 not including timing shifts, resulting from 

8 such measure. 

9 (4) TIMING SHIFTS.—The term ‘‘timing shifts’’ 

10 means— 

11 (A) a delay of the date on which outlays 

12 flowing from direct spending would otherwise 

13 occur from one fiscal year to the next fiscal 

14 year; or 

15 (B) an acceleration of the date on which 

16 revenues would otherwise occur from one fiscal 

17 year to the next fiscal year. 

18 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR CBO ESTIMATES.—An esti19 mate provided by the Congressional Budget Office under 

20 section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 

21 U.S.C. 653) for any major legislation shall include— 

22 (1) an estimate of budgetary effects without 

23 macroeconomic effects; 

24 (2) an estimate of the budgetary effects from 

25 changes in economic output, employment, capital 


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1 stock, interest rates, and other macroeconomic vari2 ables resulting from the major legislation, which 

3 shall delineate between revenue and outlay effects; 

4 and 

5 (3) a total estimate of the budgetary effects in6 corporating the macroeconomic budgetary effects. 

7 (c) REQUIREMENT FOR JCT ESTIMATES.—An esti8 mate provided by the Joint Committee on Taxation to the 

9 Director of the Congressional Budget Office under section 

10 201(f) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 

11 601(f)) for any major legislation shall include— 

12 (1) an estimate of budgetary effects without 

13 macroeconomic effects; 

14 (2) an estimate of the budgetary effects from 

15 changes in economic output, employment, capital 

16 stock, interest rates, and other macroeconomic vari17 ables resulting from the major legislation, which 

18 shall delineate between revenue and outlay effects; 

19 and 

20 (3) a total estimate of the budgetary effects in21 corporating the macroeconomic budgetary effects. 

22 (d) CONTENTS OF ESTIMATES.—An estimate re23 quired to be provided under subsection (b) or (c) shall in24 clude— 


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1 (1) a qualitative assessment of the budgetary 

2 effects (including macroeconomic variables described 

3 in subsections (b) and (c)) of the major legislation 

4 in the 20-fiscal year period beginning after the last 

5 fiscal year of the most recently adopted budget that 

6 sets forth appropriate levels required under section 

7 301 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 

8 U.S.C. 632); and 

9 (2) an identification of the assumptions and the 

10 source of data underlying the estimate. 

Æ 


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