Accurate Accounting Act of 2016

To amend the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to include the outlays and revenue totals relating to social security benefits in a concurrent resolution on the budget, and for other purposes. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Accurate Accounting Act of 2016 I Social Security on budget 101. Content of concurrent resolution on the budget (a) Congressional Budget Act of 1974 Section 301(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 ( 2 U.S.C. 632(a) (b) Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 Section 13301 of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 ( 2 U.S.C. 632 (a) Exclusion of Social Security from All Budgets Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the receipts and disbursements of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund shall not be counted as new budget authority, outlays, receipts, or deficit or surplus for the purpose of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 ( 2 U.S.C. 900 et seq. . 102. Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 Section 3(4) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 ( 2 U.S.C. 932(4) (D) The term savings . II Zero-based budgeting 201. Findings; sense of the Senate (a) Findings Congress finds that— (1) Congress has the authority and responsibility under the Constitution of the United States over financial and budgetary matters, including the power to appropriate funds; (2) it is recognized that the incremental budgeting does not lend itself to cost control nor accountability in spending; (3) a zero-based budget would offer tangible savings achieved through more thorough planning and more efficient allocation of resources; and (4) zero-based budgeting would establish a budget based upon current needs rather than previous expenditures. (b) Sense of the Senate It is the sense of the Senate that Congress should establish a plan to apply zero-based budgeting to the Federal budgetary process. 202. Zero-based budgeting Section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (i) (1) The President shall submit with materials related to the budget transmitted under subsection (a) on or after January 1, 2017, and not less than once every 4 years thereafter, a budget for each department and agency that contains the following information: (A) A description of each activity for which the department or agency receives an appropriation in the current fiscal year or for which the department or agency requests an appropriation for the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted. (B) The legal basis for each activity described in subparagraph (A). (C) For each activity described in subparagraph (A)— (i) 3 alternative funding levels for the fiscal year in which the budget is submitted; (ii) a summary of the priorities that would be accomplished within each level; and (iii) the additional increments of value that would be added by the higher funding levels, not fewer than 2 of which shall be not greater than the funding level for the current fiscal year. (D) For each activity, 1 or more measures of cost efficiency and effectiveness of the activity. (2) As soon as practicable, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall publish guidelines to carry out this subsection, including guidelines that require that— (A) the baseline budget of each department or agency is assumed to be zero; and (B) each proposed expenditure shall be justified as if the proposed expenditure is a new expenditure. . III Off-budget program accountability 401. Study by the General Accounting Office of forms of Federal financial commitments that are not reviewed annually by Congress The second sentence of section 404 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 ( 2 U.S.C. 654 from time to time not less than once every 5 years

Summary: Accurate Accounting Act of 2016 This bill amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 to permit Social Security spending and revenues to be counted in the totals included in the congressional budget resolution and the President's budget. The bill amends the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (PAYGO) to prohibit increases in Social Security revenues or decreases in Social Security spending from being counted as savings for the purpose of PAYGO rules that restrict legislation that increases the deficit. (Under current law, the Social Security trust funds are off-budget and all budgetary effects are excluded from the budget totals and PAYGO calculations.) The President must submit a budget for each department and agency that includes: a description of each activity for which funds were appropriated for the current year or requested for the budget year, the legal basis for each activity, three alternative funding levels and the priorities that could be accomplished with each, and measures of cost efficiency and effectiveness for each activity. The Office of Management and Budget must publish guidelines to require: (1) the baseline budget of each department or agency to be assumed to be zero, and (2) each proposed expenditure to be justified as if it were new. The Government Accountability Office must revise a study of mandatory spending required under current law at least every five years.