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SEC. 509. DEFICIT-NEUTRAL RESERVE FUND TO REDUCE 
POVERTY AND INCREASE OPPORTUNITY AND 
UPWARD MOBILITY. 
In the House, the chair of the Committee on the 
Budget may revise the allocations, aggregates, and other 
budgetary levels in this concurrent resolution for any bill 
or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or conference 
report thereon, if such measure reforms policies and pro-
grams to reduce poverty and increase opportunity and up-
ward mobility, but only if such measure would neither ad-
versely impact job creation nor increase the deficit over 
the period of fiscal years 2016 through 2025. 
SEC. 510. DEFICIT-NEUTRAL RESERVE FUND FOR TRANS-
PORTATION. 
In the House, the chair of the Committee on the 
Budget may revise the allocations, aggregates, and other 
budgetary levels in this concurrent resolution for any bill 
or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or conference 
report thereon, if such measure maintains the solvency of 
the Highway Trust Fund, but only if such measure would 
not increase the deficit over the period of fiscal years 2016 
through 2025. 
SEC. 511. DEFICIT-NEUTRAL RESERVE FUND FOR FEDERAL 
RETIREMENT REFORM. 
In the House, the chair of the Committee on the 
Budget may revise the allocations, aggregates, and other 
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budgetary levels in this concurrent resolution for any bill 
or joint resolution, or amendment thereto or conference 
report thereon, if such measure reforms, improves and up-
dates the Federal retirement system, as determined by 
such chair, but only if such measure would not increase 
the deficit over the period of fiscal years 2016 through 
2025. 
SEC. 512. DEFICIT-NEUTRAL RESERVE FUND FOR DEFENSE 
SEQUESTER REPLACEMENT. 
The chair of the Committee on the Budget may revise 
the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels in 
this concurrent resolution for any bill or joint resolution, 
or amendment thereto or conference report thereon, if 
such measure supports the following activities: Depart-
ment of Defense training and maintenance associated with 
combat 
readiness, 
modernization 
of 
equipment, 
auditability of financial statements, or military compensa-
tion and benefit reforms, by the amount provided for these 
purposes, but only if such measure would not increase the 
deficit (without counting any net revenue increases in that 
measure) over the period of fiscal years 2016 through 
2025. 
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TITLE VI—ESTIMATES OF 
DIRECT SPENDING 
SEC. 601. DIRECT SPENDING. 
(a) MEANS-TESTED DIRECT SPENDING.— 
(1) For means-tested direct spending, the aver-
age rate of growth in the total level of outlays dur-
ing the 10-year period preceding fiscal year 2016 is 
6.8 percent. 
(2) For means-tested direct spending, the esti-
mated average rate of growth in the total level of 
outlays during the 10-year period beginning with fis-
cal year 2016 is 4.6 percent under current law. 
(3) The following reforms are proposed in this 
concurrent resolution for means-tested direct spend-
ing: 
(A) In 1996, a Republican Congress and a 
Democratic president reformed welfare by lim-
iting the duration of benefits, giving States 
more control over the program, and helping re-
cipients find work. In the five years following 
passage, child-poverty rates fell, welfare case-
loads fell, and workers’ wages increased. This 
budget applies the lessons of welfare reform to 
both the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program and Medicaid. 
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(B) For Medicaid, this budget assumes the 
conversion of the Federal share of Medicaid 
spending into flexible State allotments, which 
States will be able to tailor to meet their unique 
needs. Such a reform would end the misguided 
one-size-fits-all approach that ties the hands of 
State governments and would provide States 
with the freedom and flexibility they have long 
requested in the Medicaid program. Moreover, 
this budget assumes the repeal of the Medicaid 
expansions in the President’s health care law, 
relieving State governments of the crippling 
one-size-fits-all enrollment mandates, as well as 
the overwhelming pressure the law’s Medicaid 
expansion puts on an already-strained system. 
(C) For the Supplemental Nutrition As-
sistance Program, this budget assumes the con-
version of the program into a flexible State al-
lotment tailored to meet each State’s needs. 
The allotment would increase based on the De-
partment of Agriculture Thrifty Food Plan 
index and beneficiary growth. Such a reform 
would provide incentives for States to ensure 
dollars will go towards those who need them 
most. 
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(b) NONMEANS-TESTED DIRECT SPENDING.— 
(1) For nonmeans-tested direct spending, the 
average rate of growth in the total level of outlays 
during the 10-year period preceding fiscal year 2016 
is 5.4 percent. 
(2) For nonmeans-tested direct spending, the 
estimated average rate of growth in the total level of 
outlays during the 10-year period beginning with fis-
cal year 2016 is 5.5 percent under current law. 
(3) The following reforms are proposed in this 
concurrent resolution for nonmeans-tested direct 
spending: 
(A) For Medicare, this budget advances 
policies to put seniors, not the Federal Govern-
ment, in control of their health care decisions. 
Future retirees would be able to choose from a 
range of guaranteed coverage options, with pri-
vate plans competing alongside the traditional 
fee-for-service Medicare program. Medicare 
would provide a premium-support payment ei-
ther to pay for or offset the premium of the 
plan chosen by the senior, depending on the 
plan’s cost. The Medicare premium-support 
payment would be adjusted so that the sick 
would receive higher payments if their condi-
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tions worsened; lower-income seniors would re-
ceive additional assistance to help cover out-of- 
pocket costs; and wealthier seniors would as-
sume responsibility for a greater share of their 
premiums. Putting seniors in charge of how 
their health care dollars are spent will force 
providers to compete against each other on 
price and quality. This market competition will 
act as a real check on widespread waste and 
skyrocketing health care costs. As with previous 
budgets, this program will begin in 2024 and 
makes no changes to those in or near retire-
ment. 
(B) In keeping with a recommendation 
from the National Commission on Fiscal Re-
sponsibility and Reform, this budget calls for 
Federal employees—including Members of Con-
gress and congressional staff—to make greater 
contributions toward their own retirement. 
TITLE VII—RECOMMENDED 
LONG-TERM LEVELS 
SEC. 701. LONG-TERM BUDGETING. 
The following are the recommended revenue, spend-
ing, and deficit levels for each of fiscal years 2030, 2035, 
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and 2040 as a percent of the gross domestic product of 
the United States: 
(1) REVENUES.—The budgetary levels of Fed-
eral revenues are as follows: 
Fiscal year 2030: 18.7 percent. 
Fiscal year 2035: 19.0 percent. 
Fiscal year 2040: 19.0 percent. 
(2) OUTLAYS.—The budgetary levels of total 
budget outlays are not to exceed: 
Fiscal year 2030: 18.4 percent. 
Fiscal year 2035: 17.8 percent. 
Fiscal year 2040: 16.9 percent. 
(3) DEFICITS.—The budgetary levels of deficits 
are not to exceed: 
Fiscal year 2030: -0.3 percent. 
Fiscal year 2035: -1.2 percent. 
Fiscal year 2040: -2.1 percent. 
(4) DEBT.—The budgetary levels of debt held 
by the public are not to exceed: 
Fiscal year 2030: 44.0 percent. 
Fiscal year 2035: 32.0 percent. 
Fiscal year 2040: 18.0 percent. 
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TITLE VIII—POLICY 
STATEMENTS 
SEC. 801. POLICY STATEMENT ON BALANCED BUDGET 
AMENDMENT. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The Federal Government collects approxi-
mately $3 trillion annually in taxes, but spends more 
than $3.5 trillion to maintain the operations of gov-
ernment. The Federal Government must borrow 14 
cents of every Federal dollar spent. 
(2) At the end of the year 2014, the national 
debt of the United States was more than $18.1 tril-
lion. 
(3) A majority of States have petitioned the 
Federal Government to hold a Constitutional Con-
vention for the consideration of adopting a Balanced 
Budget Amendment to the United States Constitu-
tion. 
(4) Forty-nine States have fiscal limitations in 
their State Constitutions, including the requirement 
to annually balance the budget. 
(5) H.J. Res. 2, sponsored by Rep. Robert W. 
Goodlatte (R–VA), was considered by the House of 
Representatives on November 18, 2011, though it 
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received 262 aye votes, it did not receive the two- 
thirds required for passage. 
(6) Numerous balanced budget amendment pro-
posals have been introduced on a bipartisan basis in 
the House. Twelve were introduced in the 113th 
Congress alone, including H.J. Res. 4 by Democratic 
Representative John J. Barrow of Georgia, and H.J. 
Res. 38 by Republican Representative Jackie 
Walorski of Indiana. 
(7) The joint resolution providing for a bal-
anced budget amendment to the United States Con-
stitution referred to in paragraph (5) prohibited out-
lays for a fiscal year (except those for repayment of 
debt principal) from exceeding total receipts for that 
fiscal year (except those derived from borrowing) un-
less Congress, by a three-fifths roll call vote of each 
chamber, authorizes a specific excess of outlays over 
receipts. 
(8) In 1995, a balanced budget amendment to 
the United States Constitution passed the House 
with bipartisan support, but failed of passage by one 
vote in the United States Senate. 
(b) POLICY STATEMENT.—It is the policy of this res-
olution that Congress should pass a joint resolution incor-
porating the provisions set forth in subsection (b), and 
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send such joint resolution to the States for their approval, 
to amend the Constitution of the United States to require 
an annual balanced budget. 
SEC. 802. POLICY STATEMENT ON BUDGET PROCESS AND 
BASELINE REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.— 
(1) In 1974, after more than 50 years of execu-
tive dominance over fiscal policy, Congress acted to 
reassert its ‘‘power of the purse’’, and passed the 
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control 
Act. 
(2) The measure explicitly sought to establish 
congressional control over the budget process, to 
provide for annual congressional determination of 
the appropriate level of taxes and spending, to set 
important national budget priorities, and to find 
ways in which Members of Congress could have ac-
cess to the most accurate, objective, and highest 
quality information to assist them in discharging 
their duties. 
(3) Far from achieving its intended purpose, 
however, the process has instituted a bias toward 
higher spending and larger government. The behe-
moth of the Federal Government has largely been fi-
nanced through either borrowing or taking ever 
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greater amounts of the national income through high 
taxation. 
(4) The process does not treat programs and 
policies consistently and shows a bias toward higher 
spending and higher taxes. 
(5) It assumes extension of spending programs 
(of more than $50 million per year) scheduled to ex-
pire. 
(6) Yet it does not assume the extension of tax 
policies in the same way. consequently, extending ex-
isting tax policies that may be scheduled to expire is 
characterized as a new tax reduction, requiring off-
sets to ‘‘pay for’’ merely keeping tax policy the same 
even though estimating conventions would not re-
quire similar treatment of spending programs. 
(7) The original goals set for the congressional 
process are admirable in their intent, but because 
the essential mechanisms of the process have re-
mained the same, and ‘‘reforms’’ enacted over the 
past 40 years have largely taken the form of 
layering greater levels of legal complexity without re-
forming or reassessing the very fundamental nature 
of the process. 
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(b) POLICY STATEMENT.—It is the policy of this con-
current resolution on the budget that as the primary 
branch of Government, Congress must: 
(1) Restructure the fundamental procedures of 
budget decision making. 
(2) Reassert Congress’s ‘‘power of the purse’’, 
and reinforce the balance of powers between Con-
gress and the President, as the 1974 Act intended. 
(3) Create greater incentives for lawmakers to 
do budgeting as intended by the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974, especially adopting a budget 
resolution every year. 
(4) Encourage more effective control over 
spending, especially currently uncontrolled direct 
spending. 
(5) Consider innovative fiscal tools such as: zero 
based budgeting, which would require a department 
or agency to justify its budget as if it were a new 
expenditure; and direct spending caps to enhance 
oversight of automatic pilot spending that increases 
each year without congressional approval. 
(6) Promote efficient and timely budget actions, 
so that lawmakers complete their budget actions by 
the time the new fiscal year begins. 
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(7) Provide access to the best analysis of eco-
nomic conditions available and increase awareness of 
how fiscal policy directly impacts overall economic 
growth and job creation. 
(8) Remove layers of complexity that have com-
plicated the procedures designed in 1974, and made 
budgeting more arcane and opaque. 
(9) Remove existing biases that favor higher 
spending. 
(10) Include procedures by which current tax 
laws may be extended and treated on a basis that 
is not different from the extension of entitlement 
programs. 
(c) BUDGET
PROCESS
REFORM.—Comprehensive 
budget process reform should also remove the bias in the 
baseline against the extension of current tax laws in the 
following ways: 
(1) Permanent extension of tax laws should not 
be used as a means to increase taxes on other tax-
payers. 
(2) For those expiring tax provisions that are 
proposed to be permanently extended, Congress 
should use a more realistic baseline that does not re-
quire them to be offset. 
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(3) Tax-reform legislation should not include 
tax increases just to offset the extension of current 
tax laws. 
(d) LEGISLATION.—The Committee on the Budget 
intends to draft legislation during the 114th Congress that 
will rewrite the Congressional Budget and Impoundment 
Control Act of 1974 to fulfill the goals of making the con-
gressional budget process more effective in ensuring tax-
payers’ dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. 
SEC. 803. POLICY STATEMENT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND 
JOB CREATION. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Although the United States economy tech-
nically emerged from recession more than 5 years 
ago, the subsequent recovery has felt more like a 
malaise than a rebound. Real gross domestic product 
GDP growth over the past 5 years has averaged 
slightly more than 2 percent, well below the 3.2 per-
cent historical trend rate of growth in the United 
States. Although the economy has shown some wel-
come signs of improvement of late, the Nation re-
mains in the midst of the weakest economic recovery 
of the modern era. 
(2) Looking ahead, CBO expects the economy 
to grow by an average of just 2.3 percent over the 
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next 10 years. That level of economic growth is sim-
ply unacceptable and insufficient to expand opportu-
nities and the incomes of millions of middle-income 
Americans. 
(3) Sluggish economic growth has also contrib-
uted to the country’s fiscal woes. Subpar growth 
means that revenue levels are lower than they would 
otherwise be while government spending (e.g. welfare 
and income-support programs) is higher. Clearly, 
there is a dire need for policies that will spark high-
er rates of economic growth and greater, higher- 
quality job opportunities. 
(4) Although job gains have been trending up 
of late, other aspects of the labor market remain 
weak. The labor force participation rate, for in-
stance, is hovering just under 63 percent, close to 
the lowest level since 1978. Long-term unemploy-
ment also remains a problem. Of the roughly 8.7 
million people who are currently unemployed, 2.7 
million (more than 30 percent) have been unem-
ployed for more than 6 months. Long-term unem-
ployment erodes an individual’s job skills and de-
taches them from job opportunities. It also under-
mines the long-term productive capacity of the econ-
omy. 
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(5) Perhaps most important, wage gains and in-
come growth have been subpar for middle-class 
Americans. Average hourly earnings of private-sector 
workers have increased by just 1.6 percent over the 
past year. Prior to the recession, average hourly 
earnings were tracking close to 4 percent. Likewise, 
average income levels have remained flat in recent 
years. Real median household income is just under 
$52,000, one of the lowest levels since 1995. 
(6) The unsustainable fiscal trajectory has cast 
a shadow on the country’s economic outlook. inves-
tors and businesses make decisions on a forward- 
looking basis. they know that today’s large debt lev-
els are simply tomorrow’s tax hikes, interest rate in-
creases, or inflation and they act accordingly. This 
debt overhang, and the uncertainty it generates, can 
weigh on growth, investment, and job creation. 
(7) Nearly all economists, including those at the 
CBO, conclude that reducing budget deficits (there-
by bending the curve on debt levels is a net positive 
for economic growth over time. The logic is that def-
icit reduction creates long-term economic benefits 
because it increases the pool of national savings and 
boosts investment, thereby raising economic growth 
and job creation. 
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(8) CBO analyzed the House Republican fiscal 
year 2016 budget resolution and found it would in-
crease real output per capita (a proxy for a coun-
try’s standard of living) by about $1,000 in 2025 
and roughly $5,000 by 2040 relative to the baseline 
path. That means more income and greater pros-
perity for all Americans. 
(9) In contrast, if the Government remains on 
the current fiscal path, future generations will face 
ever-higher debt service costs, a decline in national 
savings, and a ‘‘crowding out’’ of private investment. 
This dynamic will eventually lead to a decline in eco-
nomic output and a diminution in our country’s 
standard of living. 
(10) The key economic challenge is determining 
how to expand the economic pie, not how best to di-
vide up and re-distribute a shrinking pie. 
(11) A stronger economy is vital to lowering 
deficit levels and eventually balancing the budget. 
According to CBO, if annual real GDP growth is 
just 0.1 percentage point higher over the budget 
window, deficits would be reduced by $326 billion. 
(12) This budget resolution therefore embraces 
pro-growth policies, such as fundamental tax reform, 
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that will help foster a stronger economy, greater op-
portunities and more job creation. 
(b) POLICY ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND JOB CRE-
ATION.—It is the policy of this resolution to promote fast-
er economic growth and job creation. By putting the budg-
et on a sustainable path, this resolution ends the debt- 
fueled uncertainty holding back job creators. Reforms to 
the tax code will put American businesses and workers in 
a better position to compete and thrive in the 21st century 
global economy. This resolution targets the regulatory red 
tape and cronyism that stack the deck in favor of special 
interests. All of the reforms in this resolution serve as 
means to the larger end of helping the economy grow and 
expanding opportunity for all Americans. 
SEC. 804. POLICY STATEMENT ON TAX REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) A world-class tax system should be simple, 
fair, and promote (rather than impede) economic 
growth. The United States tax code fails on all three 
counts: It is notoriously complex, patently unfair, 
and highly inefficient. The tax code’s complexity dis-
torts decisions to work, save, and invest, which leads 
to slower economic growth, lower wages, and less job 
creation. 
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(2) Over the past decade alone, there have been 
4,107 changes to the tax code, more than one per 
day. Many of the major changes over the years have 
involved carving out special preferences, exclusions, 
or deductions for various activities or groups. These 
loopholes add up to more than $1 trillion per year 
and make the code unfair, inefficient, and highly 
complex. 
(3) In addition, these tax preferences are dis-
proportionately used by upper-income individuals. 
(4) The large amount of tax preferences that 
pervade the code end up narrowing the tax base. A 
narrow tax base, in turn, requires much higher tax 
rates to raise a given amount of revenue. 
(5) It is estimated that American taxpayers end 
up spending $160 billion and roughly 6 billion hours 
a year complying with the tax code waste of time 
and resources that could be used in more productive 
activities. 
(6) Standard economic theory shows that high 
marginal tax rates dampen the incentives to work, 
save, and invest, which reduces economic output and 
job creation. Lower economic output, in turn, mutes 
the intended revenue gain from higher marginal tax 
rates. 
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(7) Roughly half of United States active busi-
ness income and half of private sector employment 
are derived from business entities (such as partner-
ships, S corporations, and sole proprietorships) that 
are taxed on a ‘‘pass-through’’ basis, meaning the 
income flows through to the tax returns of the indi-
vidual owners and is taxed at the individual rate 
structure rather than at the corporate rate. Small 
businesses, in particular, tend to choose this form 
for Federal tax purposes, and the top Federal rate 
on such small business income can reach nearly 45 
percent. For these reasons, sound economic policy 
requires lowering marginal rates on these pass- 
through entities. 
(8) The United States corporate income tax 
rate (including Federal, State, and local taxes) sums 
to slightly more than 39 percent, the highest rate in 
the industrialized world. Tax rates this high sup-
press wages and discourage investment and job cre-
ation, distort business activity, and put American 
businesses at a competitive disadvantage with for-
eign competitors. 
(9) By deterring potential investment, the 
United States corporate tax restrains economic 
growth and job creation. The United States tax rate 
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differential with other countries also fosters a vari-
ety of complicated multinational corporate behaviors 
intended to avoid the tax, which have the effect of 
moving the tax base offshore, destroying American 
jobs, and decreasing corporate revenue. 
(10) The ‘‘worldwide’’ structure of United 
States international taxation essentially taxes earn-
ings of United States firms twice, putting them at 
a significant competitive disadvantage with competi-
tors with more competitive international tax systems. 
(11) Reforming the United States tax code to 
a more competitive international system would boost 
the competitiveness of United States companies op-
erating abroad and it would also greatly reduce tax 
avoidance. 
(12) The tax code imposes costs on American 
workers through lower wages, on consumers in high-
er prices, and on investors in diminished returns. 
(13) Revenues have averaged about 17.4 per-
cent of the economy throughout modern American 
history. Revenues rise above this level under current 
law to 18.3 percent of the economy by the end of the 
10-year budget window. 
(14) Attempting to raise revenue through new 
tax increases to meet out-of-control spending would 
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sink the economy and Americans’ ability to save for 
their retirement and their children’s education. 
(15) This resolution also rejects the idea of in-
stituting a carbon tax in the United States, which 
some have offered as a new source of revenue. Such 
a plan would damage the economy, cost jobs, and 
raise prices on American consumers. 
(16) Closing tax loopholes to fund spending 
does not constitute fundamental tax reform. 
(17) The goal of tax reform should be to curb 
or eliminate loopholes and use those savings to lower 
tax rates across the board not to fund more wasteful 
Government spending. Washington has a spending 
problem, not a revenue problem. 
(18) Many economists believe that fundamental 
tax reform (i.e. a broader tax base and lower tax 
rates) would lead to greater labor supply and in-
creased investment, which, over time, would have a 
positive impact on total national output. 
(19) Heretofore, the congressional scorekeepers 
the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the 
Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT). 
(20) Static scoring implicitly assumes that the 
size of the economy (and therefore key economic 
variables such as labor supply and investment) re-
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mains fixed throughout the considered budget hori-
zon. This is an abstraction from reality. 
(21) A new House rule was adopted at the be-
ginning of the 114th Congress to help correct this 
problem. This rule requires CBO and JCT to incor-
porate the macroeconomic effects of major legisla-
tion into their official cost estimates. 
(22) This rule seeks to bridge the divide be-
tween static estimates and scoring that incorporates 
economic feedback effects by providing policymakers 
with a greater amount of information about the like-
ly economic impact of policies under their consider-
ation while at the same time preserving traditional 
scoring methods and reporting conventions. 
(b) POLICY ON TAX REFORM.—It is the policy of this 
resolution that Congress should enact legislation that pro-
vides for a comprehensive reform of the United States tax 
code to promote economic growth, create American jobs, 
increase wages, and benefit American consumers, inves-
tors, and workers through fundamental tax reform that— 
(1) simplifies the tax code to make it fairer to 
American families and businesses and reduces the 
amount of time and resources necessary to comply 
with tax laws; 
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(2) substantially lowers tax rates for individuals 
and consolidates the current seven individual income 
tax brackets into fewer brackets; 
(3) repeals the Alternative Minimum Tax; 
(4) reduces the corporate tax rate; and 
(5) transitions the tax code to a more competi-
tive system of international taxation in a manner 
that does not discriminate against any particular 
type of income or industry. 
SEC. 805. POLICY STATEMENT ON TRADE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Opening foreign markets to American ex-
ports is vital to the United States economy and ben-
eficial to American workers and consumers. The 
Commerce Department estimates that every $1 bil-
lion of United States exports supports more than 
5,000 jobs here at home. 
(2) The United States can increase economic 
opportunities for American workers and businesses 
through the expansion of trade, adherence to trade 
agreement rules by the United States and its trading 
partners, and the elimination of foreign trade bar-
riers to United States goods and services. 
(3) Trade Promotion Authority is a bipartisan 
and bicameral effort to strengthen the role of Con-
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gress in setting negotiating objectives for trade 
agreements, to improve consultation with Congress 
by the Administration, and to provide a clear frame-
work for congressional consideration and implemen-
tation of trade agreements. 
(4) Global trade and commerce is not a zero- 
sum game. The idea that global expansion tends to 
‘‘hollow out’’ United States operations is incorrect. 
Foreign-affiliate activity tends to complement, not 
substitute for, key parent activities in the United 
States such as employment, worker compensation, 
and 
capital 
investment. 
When 
United 
States 
headquartered multinationals invest and expand op-
erations abroad it often leads to more jobs and eco-
nomic growth at home. 
(5) Trade agreements have saved the average 
American family of four more than $10,000 per 
year, as a result of lower duties. Trade agreements 
also lower the cost of manufacturing inputs by re-
moving duties. 
(6) American businesses and workers have 
shown that, on a level playing field, they can excel 
and surpass the international competition. 
(7) When negotiating trade agreements, United 
States laws on Intellectual Property (IP) protection 
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should be used as a benchmark for establishing glob-
al IP frameworks. Strong IP protections have con-
tributed significantly to the United States status as 
a world leader in innovation across sectors, including 
in the development of life-saving biologic medicines. 
The data protections afforded to biologics in United 
States law, including 12 years of data protection, 
allow continued development of pioneering medicines 
to benefit patients both in the United States and 
abroad. To maintain the cycle of innovation and 
achieve truly 21st century trade agreements, it is 
vital that our negotiators insist on the highest stand-
ards for IP protections. 
(8) The status quo of the current tax code also 
undermines the competitiveness of United States 
businesses and costs the United States economy in-
vestment and jobs. 
(9) The United States currently has an anti-
quated system of international taxation whereby 
United States multinationals operating abroad pay 
both the foreign-country tax and United States cor-
porate taxes. They are essentially taxed twice. This 
puts them at an obvious competitive disadvantage. A 
modern and competitive international tax system 
would facilitate global commerce for United States 
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multinational companies and would encourage for-
eign business investment and job creation in the 
United States. 
(10) The ability to defer United States taxes on 
their foreign operations, which some erroneously 
refer to as a ‘‘tax loophole,’’ cushions this disadvan-
tage to a certain extent. Eliminating or restricting 
this provision (and others like it) would harm United 
States competitiveness. 
(11) This budget resolution advocates funda-
mental tax reform that would lower the United 
States corporate rate, now the highest in the indus-
trialized world, and switch to a more competitive 
system of international taxation. This would make 
the United States a much more attractive place to 
invest and station business activity and would chip 
away at the incentives for United States companies 
to keep their profits overseas (because the United 
States corporate rate is so high). 
(b) POLICY ON TRADE.—It is the policy of this con-
current resolution to pursue international trade, global 
commerce, and a modern and competitive United States 
international tax system to promote job creation in the 
United States. The United States should continue to seek 
increased economic opportunities for American workers 
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and businesses through the expansion of trade opportuni-
ties, adherence to trade agreements and rules by the 
United States and its trading partners, and the elimi-
nation of foreign trade barriers to United States goods 
and services by opening new markets and by enforcing 
United States rights. To that end, Congress should pass 
Trade Promotion Authority to strengthen the role of Con-
gress in setting negotiating objectives for trade agree-
ments, to improve consultation with Congress by the Ad-
ministration, and to provide a clear framework for con-
gressional consideration and implementation of trade 
agreements. 
SEC. 806. POLICY STATEMENT ON SOCIAL SECURITY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) More than 55 million retirees, individuals 
with disabilities, and survivors depend on Social Se-
curity. Since enactment, Social Security has served 
as a vital leg on the ‘‘three-legged stool’’ of retire-
ment security, which includes employer provided 
pensions as well as personal savings. 
(2) The Social Security Trustees Report has re-
peatedly recommended that Social Security’s long- 
term financial challenges be addressed soon. Each 
year without reform, the financial condition of Social 
Security becomes more precarious and the threat to 
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seniors and those receiving Social Security disability 
benefits becomes more pronounced: 
(A) In 2016, the Disability Insurance 
Trust Fund will be exhausted and program rev-
enues will be unable to pay scheduled benefits. 
(B) In 2033, the combined Old-Age and 
Survivors and Disability Trust Funds will be 
exhausted, and program revenues will be unable 
to pay scheduled benefits. 
(C) With the exhaustion of the Trust 
Funds in 2033, benefits will be cut nearly 23 
percent across the board, devastating those cur-
rently in or near retirement and those who rely 
on Social Security the most. 
(3) The recession and continued low economic 
growth have exacerbated the looming fiscal crisis 
facing Social Security. The most recent Congres-
sional Budget Office (CBO) projections find that So-
cial Security will run cash deficits of more than $2 
trillion over the next 10 years. 
(4) Lower income Americans rely on Social Se-
curity for a larger proportion of their retirement in-
come. Therefore, reforms should take into consider-
ation the need to protect lower income Americans’ 
retirement security. 
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(5) The Disability Insurance program provides 
an essential income safety net for those with disabil-
ities and their families. According to the CBO, be-
tween 1970 and 2012, the number of people receiv-
ing disability benefits (both disabled workers and 
their dependent family members) has increased by 
more than 300 percent from 2.7 million to over 10.9 
million. This increase is not due strictly to popu-
lation growth or decreases in health. David Autor 
and Mark Duggan have found that the increase in 
individuals on disability does not reflect a decrease 
in self-reported health. CBO attributes program 
growth to changes in demographics, changes in the 
composition of the labor force and compensation, as 
well as Federal policies. 
(6) If this program is not reformed, families 
who rely on the lifeline that disability benefits pro-
vide will face benefit cuts of up to 20 percent in 
2016, devastating individuals who need assistance 
the most. 
(7) In the past, Social Security has been re-
formed on a bipartisan basis, most notably by the 
‘‘Greenspan Commission’’ which helped to address 
Social Security shortfalls for more than a genera-
tion. 
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(8) Americans deserve action by the President, 
the House, and the Senate to preserve and strength-
en Social Security. It is critical that bipartisan ac-
tion be taken to address the looming insolvency of 
Social Security. In this spirit, this resolution creates 
a bipartisan opportunity to find solutions by requir-
ing policymakers to ensure that Social Security re-
mains a critical part of the safety net. 
(b) POLICY ON SOCIAL SECURITY.—It is the policy 
of this resolution that Congress should work on a bipar-
tisan basis to make Social Security sustainably solvent. 
This resolution assumes reform of a current law trigger, 
such that: 
(1) If in any year the Board of Trustees of the 
Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust 
Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust 
Fund annual Trustees Report determines that the 
75-year actuarial balance of the Social Security 
Trust Funds is in deficit, and the annual balance of 
the Social Security Trust Funds in the 75th year is 
in deficit, the Board of Trustees should, no later 
than September 30 of the same calendar year, sub-
mit to the President recommendations for statutory 
reforms necessary to achieve a positive 75-year actu-
arial balance and a positive annual balance in the 
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75th year. Recommendations provided to the Presi-
dent must be agreed upon by both Public Trustees 
of the Board of Trustees. 
(2) Not later than 1 December of the same cal-
endar year in which the Board of Trustees submit 
their 
recommendations, 
the 
President 
should 
promptly submit implementing legislation to both 
Houses of Congress including his recommendations 
necessary to achieve a positive 75-year actuarial bal-
ance and a positive annual balance in the 75th year. 
The Majority Leader of the Senate and the Majority 
Leader of the House should introduce the Presi-
dent’s legislation upon receipt. 
(3) Within 60 days of the President submitting 
legislation, the committees of jurisdiction to which 
the legislation has been referred should report a bill, 
which should be considered by the full House or 
Senate under expedited procedures. 
(4) Legislation submitted by the President 
should— 
(A) protect those in or near retirement; 
(B) preserve the safety net for those who 
count on Social Security the most, including 
those with disabilities and survivors; 
(C) improve fairness for participants; 
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(D) reduce the burden on, and provide cer-
tainty for, future generations; and 
(E) secure the future of the Disability In-
surance program while addressing the needs of 
those with disabilities today and improving the 
determination process. 
(c) POLICY ON DISABILITY INSURANCE.—It is the 
policy of this resolution that Congress and the President 
should enact legislation on a bipartisan basis to reform 
the Disability Insurance program prior to its insolvency 
in 2016 and should not raid the Social Security retirement 
system without reforms to the Disability Insurance sys-
tem. This resolution assumes reform that— 
(1) ensure benefits continue to be paid to indi-
viduals with disabilities and their family members 
who rely on them; 
(2) prevents a 20 percent across-the-board ben-
efit cut; 
(3) makes the Disability Insurance program 
work better; and 
(4) promotes opportunity for those trying to re-
turn to work. 
(d) POLICY ON SOCIAL SECURITY SOLVENCY.—Any 
legislation that Congress considers to improve the solvency 
of the Disability Insurance trust fund also must improve 
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the long-term solvency of the combined Old Age and Sur-
vivors Disability Insurance (OASDI) trust fund. 
SEC. 807. POLICY STATEMENT ON REPEALING THE PRESI-
DENT’S HEALTH CARE LAW AND PROMOTING 
REAL HEALTH CARE REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The President’s health care law put Wash-
ington’s priorities first, and not patients’. The Af-
fordable Care Act (ACA) has failed to reduce health 
care premiums as promised; instead, the law man-
dated benefits and coverage levels, denying patients 
the opportunity to choose the type of coverage that 
best suits their health needs and driving up health 
coverage costs. A typical family’s health care pre-
miums were supposed to decline by $2,500 a year; 
instead, according to the 2014 Employer Health 
Benefits Survey, health care premiums have in-
creased by 7 percent for individuals and families 
since 2012. 
(2) The President pledged ‘‘If you like your 
health care plan, you can keep your health care 
plan.’’ Instead, the nonpartisan Congressional Budg-
et Office now estimates 9 million Americans with 
employment-based health coverage will lose those 
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plans due to the President’s health care law, further 
limiting patient choice. 
(3) Then-Speaker of the House, Pelosi, said 
that the President’s health care law would create 4 
million jobs over the life of the law and almost 
400,000 jobs immediately. Instead, the Congres-
sional Budget Office estimates that the reduction in 
hours worked due to Obamacare represents a decline 
of about 2.0 to 2.5 million full-time equivalent work-
ers, compared with what would have occurred in the 
absence of the law. The full impact on labor rep-
resents a reduction in employment by 1.5 percent to 
2.0 percent, while additional studies show less mod-
est results. A recent study by the Mercatus Center 
at 
George 
Mason 
University 
estimates 
that 
Obamacare will reduce employment by up to 3 per-
cent, or about 4 million full-time equivalent workers. 
(4) The President has charged the Independent 
Payment Advisory Board, a panel of unelected bu-
reaucrats, with cutting Medicare by an additional 
$20.9 billion over the next ten years, according to 
the President’s most recent budget. 
(5) Since ACA was signed into law, the admin-
istration has repeatedly failed to implement it as 
written. The President has unilaterally acted to 
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make a total of 28 changes, delays, and exemptions. 
The President has signed into law another 17 
changes made by Congress. The Supreme Court 
struck down the forced expansion of Medicaid; ruled 
the individual ‘‘mandate’’ could only be character-
ized as a tax to remain constitutional; and rejected 
the requirement that closely held companies provide 
health insurance to their employees if doing so vio-
lates these companies’ religious beliefs. Even now, 
almost five years after enactment, the Supreme 
Court continues to evaluate the legality of how the 
President’s administration has implemented the law. 
All of these changes prove the folly underlying the 
entire program health care in the United States can-
not be run from a centralized bureaucracy. 
(6) The President’s health care law is 
unaffordable, intrusive, overreaching, destructive, 
and unworkable. The law should be fully repealed, 
allowing for real, patient-centered health care re-
form: the development of real health care reforms 
that puts patients first, that make affordable, qual-
ity health care available to all Americans, and that 
build on the innovation and creativity of all the par-
ticipants in the health care sector. 
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(b) POLICY ON PROMOTING REAL HEALTH CARE RE-
FORM.—It is the policy of this resolution that the Presi-
dent’s health care law should be fully repealed and real 
health care reform promoted in accordance with the fol-
lowing principles: 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Health care reform should 
enhance affordability, accessibility, quality, innova-
tion, choices and responsiveness in health care cov-
erage for all Americans, putting patients, families, 
and doctors in charge, not Washington, DC. These 
reforms should encourage increased competition and 
transparency. Under the President’s health care law, 
government controls Americans’ health care choices. 
Under true, patient-centered reform, Americans 
would. 
(2) AFFORDABILITY.—Real reform should be 
centered on ensuring that all Americans, no matter 
their age, income, or health status, have the ability 
to afford health care coverage. The health care deliv-
ery structure should be improved, and individuals 
should not be priced out of the health insurance 
market due to pre-existing conditions, but national-
ized health care is not only unnecessary to accom-
plish this, it undermines the goal. Individuals should 
be allowed to join together voluntarily to pool risk 
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through mechanisms such as Individual Membership 
Associations and Small Employer Membership Asso-
ciations. 
(3) ACCESSABILITY.—Instead of Washington 
outlining for Americans the ways they cannot use 
their health insurance, reforms should make health 
coverage more portable. Individuals should be able to 
own their insurance and have it follow them in and 
out of jobs throughout their career. Small business 
owners should be permitted to band together across 
State lines through their membership in bona fide 
trade or professional associations to purchase health 
coverage for their families and employees at a low 
cost. This will increase small businesses’ bargaining 
power, volume discounts, and administrative effi-
ciencies while giving them freedom from State-man-
dated benefit packages. Also, insurers licensed to sell 
policies in one State should be permitted to offer 
them to residents in any other State, and consumers 
should be permitted to shop for health insurance 
across State lines, as they are with other insurance 
products online, by mail, by phone, or in consulta-
tion with an insurance agent. 
(4) QUALITY.—Incentives for providers to de-
liver high-quality, responsive, and coordinated care 
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will promote patient outcomes and drive down health 
care costs. likewise, reforms that work to restore the 
patient-physician relationship by reducing adminis-
trative burdens and allowing physicians to do what 
they do best—care for patients. 
(5) CHOICES.—Individuals and families should 
be free to secure the health care coverage that best 
meets their needs, rather than instituting one-size- 
fits-all directives from Federal bureaucracies such as 
the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of 
Health and Human Services, and the Independent 
Payment Advisory Board. 
(6) INNOVATION.—Instead of stifling innovation 
in health care technologies, treatments, medications, 
and therapies with Federal mandates, taxes, and 
price controls, a reformed health care system should 
encourage research, development and innovation. 
(7) RESPONSIVENESS.—Reform should return 
authority to States wherever possible to make the 
system more responsive to patients and their needs. 
Instead of tying States’ hands with Federal require-
ments for their Medicaid programs, the Federal 
Government should return control of this program to 
the States. Not only does the current Medicaid pro-
gram drive up Federal debt and threaten to bank-
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rupt State budgets, but States are better positioned 
to provide quality, affordable care to those who are 
eligible for the program and to track down and weed 
out waste, fraud and abuse. Beneficiary choices in 
the State Children’s Health Insurance Program 
(SCHIP) and Medicaid should be improved. States 
should make available the purchase of private insur-
ance as an option to their Medicaid and SCHIP pop-
ulations (though they should not require enroll-
ment). 
(8) REFORMS.—Reforms should be made to 
prevent lawsuit abuse and curb the practice of de-
fensive medicine, which are significant drivers in-
creasing health care costs. The burden of proof in 
medical malpractice cases should be based on com-
pliance with best practice guidelines, and States 
should be free to implement those policies to best 
suit their needs. 
SEC. 808. POLICY STATEMENT ON MEDICARE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) More than 50 million Americans depend on 
Medicare for their health security. 
(2) The Medicare Trustees Report has repeat-
edly recommended that Medicare’s long-term finan-
cial challenges be addressed soon. Each year without 
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reform, the financial condition of Medicare becomes 
more precarious and the threat to those in or near 
retirement becomes more pronounced. According to 
the Medicare Trustees Report— 
(A) the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund 
will be exhausted in 2030 and unable to pay 
scheduled benefits; 
(B) Medicare enrollment is expected to in-
crease by over 50 percent in the next two dec-
ades, as 10,000 baby boomers reach retirement 
age each day; 
(C) enrollees remain in Medicare three 
times longer than at the outset of the program; 
(D) current workers’ payroll contributions 
pay for current beneficiaries; 
(E) in 2013, the ratio was 3.2 workers per 
beneficiary, but this falls to 2.3 in 2030 and 
continues to decrease over time; 
(F) most Medicare beneficiaries receive 
about three dollars in Medicare benefits for 
every one dollar paid into the program; and 
(G) Medicare spending is growing faster 
than the economy and Medicare outlays are 
currently rising at a rate of 6.5 percent per 
year over the next 10 years. According to the 
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Congressional Budget Office’s 2014 Long-Term 
Budget Outlook, spending on Medicare is pro-
jected to reach 5 percent of gross domestic 
product (GDP) by 2043 and 9.3 percent of 
GDP by 2089. 
(3) Failing to address this problem will leave 
millions of American seniors without adequate health 
security and younger generations burdened with 
enormous debt to pay for spending levels that cannot 
be sustained. 
(b) POLICY ON MEDICARE REFORM.—It is the policy 
of this resolution to preserve the program for those in or 
near retirement and strengthen Medicare for future bene-
ficiaries. 
(c) ASSUMPTIONS.—This resolution assumes reform 
of the Medicare program such that— 
(1) current Medicare benefits are preserved for 
those in or near retirement; 
(2) permanent reform of the sustainable growth 
rate is responsibly accounted for to ensure physi-
cians continue to participate in the Medicare pro-
gram and provide quality health care for bene-
ficiaries; 
(3) when future generations reach eligibility, 
Medicare is reformed to provide a premium support 
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payment and a selection of guaranteed health cov-
erage options from which recipients can choose a 
plan that best suits their needs; 
(4) Medicare will maintain traditional fee-for- 
service as a plan option; 
(5) Medicare will provide additional assistance 
for lower income beneficiaries and those with greater 
health risks; and 
(6) Medicare spending is put on a sustainable 
path and the Medicare program becomes solvent 
over the long-term. 
SEC. 809. POLICY STATEMENT ON MEDICAL DISCOVERY, 
DEVELOPMENT, DELIVERY AND INNOVATION. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) For decades, the Nation’s commitment to 
the discovery, development, and delivery of new 
treatments and cures has made the United States 
the biomedical innovation capital of the world, bring-
ing life-saving drugs and devices to patients and well 
over a million high-paying jobs to local communities. 
(2) Thanks to the visionary and determined 
leadership of innovators throughout America, includ-
ing industry, academic medical centers, and the Na-
tional Institutes of Health (NIH), the United States 
has led the way in early discovery. The United 
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States leadership role is being threatened, however, 
as other countries contribute more to basic research 
from both public and private sources. 
(3) The Organisation for Economic Develop-
ment and Cooperation predicts that China, for ex-
ample, will outspend the United States in total re-
search and development by the end of the decade. 
(4) Federal policies should foster innovation in 
health care, not stifle it. America should maintain 
its world leadership in medical science by encour-
aging competitive forces to work through the mar-
ketplace in delivering cures and therapies to pa-
tients. 
(5) Too often the bureaucracy and red-tape in 
Washington hold back medical innovation and pre-
vent new lifesaving treatments from reaching pa-
tients. This resolution recognizes the valuable role of 
the NIH and the indispensable contributions to med-
ical research coming from outside Washington. 
(6) America is the greatest, most innovative 
Nation on Earth. Her people are innovators, entre-
preneurs, visionaries, and relentless builders of the 
future. Americans were responsible for the first tele-
phone, the first airplane, the first computer, for put-
ting the first man on the moon, for creating the first 
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vaccine for polio and for legions of other scientific 
and medical breakthroughs that have improved and 
prolonged human health and life for countless people 
in America and around the world. 
(b) POLICY ON MEDICAL INNOVATION.— 
(1) It is the policy of this resolution to support 
the important work of medical innovators through-
out the country, including private-sector innovators, 
medical centers and the National Institutes of 
Health. 
(2) At the same time, the budget calls for con-
tinued strong funding for the agencies that engage 
in valuable research and development, while also 
urging Washington to get out of the way of re-
searchers, discoverers and innovators all over the 
country. 
SEC. 810. POLICY STATEMENT ON FEDERAL REGULATORY 
REFORM. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Excessive regulation at the Federal level 
has hurt job creation and dampened the economy, 
slowing the Nation’s recovery from the economic re-
cession. 
(2) Since President Obama’s inauguration in 
2009, the administration has issued more than 
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468,500 pages of regulations in the Federal Register 
including 70,066 pages in 2014. 
(3) The National Association of Manufacturers 
estimates the total cost of regulations is as high as 
$2.03 trillion per year. Since 2009, the White House 
has generated more than $494 billion in regulatory 
activity, with an additional $87.6 billion in regu-
latory costs currently pending. 
(4) The Dodd-Frank financial services legisla-
tion (Public Law 111–203) has resulted in more 
than $32 billion in compliance costs and saddled job 
creators with more than 63 million hours of compli-
ance paperwork. 
(5) Implementation of the Affordable Care Act 
to date has added 132.9 million annual hours of 
compliance paperwork, imposing $24.3 billion of 
compliance costs on the private sector and an $8 bil-
lion cost burden on the States. 
(6) The highest regulatory costs come from 
rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA); these regulations are primarily targeted at 
the coal industry. In June 2014, the EPA proposed 
a rule to cut carbon pollution from the Nation’s 
power 
plants. 
The 
proposed 
standards 
are 
unachievable with current commercially available 
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technology, resulting in a de-facto ban on new coal- 
fired power plants. 
(7) Coal-fired power plants provide roughly 40 
percent of the United States electricity at a low cost. 
Unfairly targeting the coal industry with costly and 
unachievable regulations will increase energy prices, 
disproportionately disadvantaging energy-intensive 
industries like manufacturing and construction, and 
will make life more difficult for millions of low-in-
come and middle class families already struggling to 
pay their bills. 
(8) Three hundred and thirty coal units are 
being retired or converted as a result of EPA regula-
tions. Combined with the de-facto prohibition on new 
plants, these retirements and conversions may fur-
ther increase the cost of electricity. 
(9) A recent study by the energy market anal-
ysis group Energy Ventures Analysis Inc. estimates 
the average energy bill in West Virginia will rise 
$750 per household by 2020, due in part to EPA 
regulations. West Virginia receives 95 percent of its 
electricity from coal. 
(10) The Heritage Foundation found that a 
phase-out of coal would cost 600,000 jobs by the end 
of 2023, resulting in an aggregate gross domestic 
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product decrease of $2.23 trillion over the entire pe-
riod and reducing the income of a family of four by 
$1,200 per year. Of these jobs, 330,000 will come 
from the manufacturing sector, with California, 
Texas, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New 
York, Indiana, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and 
Georgia seeing the highest job losses. 
(b) POLICY ON FEDERAL REGULATORY REFORM.— 
It is the policy of this resolution that Congress should, 
in consultation with the public burdened by excessive regu-
lation, enact legislation that— 
(1) promotes economic growth and job creation 
by eliminating unnecessary red tape and stream-
lining and simplifying Federal regulations; 
(2) requires the implementation of a regulatory 
budget to be allocated amongst Government agen-
cies, which would require congressional approval and 
limit the maximum costs of regulations in a given 
year; 
(3) requires congressional approval of all new 
major regulations (those with an impact of $100 
million or more) before enactment as opposed to cur-
rent law in which Congress must expressly dis-
approve of regulation to prevent it from becoming 
law, which would keep Congress engaged as to pend-
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ing regulatory policy and prevent costly and unsound 
policies from being implemented and becoming effec-
tive; 
(4) requires a three year retrospective cost-ben-
efit analysis of all new major regulations, to ensure 
that regulations operate as intended; 
(5) reinforces the requirement of regulatory im-
pact analysis for regulations proposed by executive 
branch agencies but also expands the requirement to 
independent agencies so that by law they consider 
the costs and benefits of proposed regulations rather 
than merely being encouraged to do so as is current 
practice; and 
(6) requires a formal rulemaking process for all 
major regulations, which would increase trans-
parency over the process and allow interested parties 
to communicate their views on proposed legislation 
to agency officials. 
SEC. 811. POLICY STATEMENT ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND 
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY. 
(a) FINDINGS ON HIGHER EDUCATION.—The House 
finds the following: 
(1) A well-educated workforce is critical to eco-
nomic, job, and wage growth. 
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(2) Roughly 20 million students are enrolled in 
American colleges and universities. 
(3) Over the past decade, tuition and fees have 
been growing at an unsustainable rate. Between the 
2004–2005 Academic Year and the 2014–2015 Aca-
demic Year— 
(A) published tuition and fees at public 4- 
year colleges and universities increased at an 
average rate of 3.5 percent per year above the 
rate of inflation; 
(B) published tuition and fees at public 
two-year colleges and universities increased at 
an average rate of 2.5 percent per year above 
the rate of inflation; and 
(C) published tuition and fees at private 
nonprofit 4-year colleges and universities in-
creased at an average rate of 2.2 percent per 
year above the rate of inflation. 
(4) Federal financial aid for higher education 
has also seen a dramatic increase. The portion of the 
Federal student aid portfolio composed of Direct 
Loans, Federal Family Education Loans, and Per-
kins Loans with outstanding balances grew by 119 
percent between fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 
2014. 
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(5) This spending has failed to make college 
more affordable. 
(6) In his 2012 State of the Union Address, 
President Obama noted: ‘‘We can’t just keep sub-
sidizing skyrocketing tuition; we’ll run out of 
money’’. 
(7) American students are chasing ever-increas-
ing tuition with ever-increasing debt. According to 
the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student 
debt now stands at nearly $1.2 trillion. This makes 
student loans the second largest balance of consumer 
debt, after mortgage debt. 
(8) Students are carrying large debt loads and 
too many fail to complete college or end up default-
ing on these loans due to their debt burden and a 
weak economy and job market. 
(9) Based on estimates from the Congressional 
Budget Office, the Pell Grant Program will face a 
fiscal shortfall beginning in fiscal year 2017 and 
continuing in each subsequent year in the current 
budget window. 
(10) Failing to address these problems will 
jeopardize access and affordability to higher edu-
cation for America’s young people. 
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(b) POLICY
ON
HIGHER
EDUCATION
AFFORD-
ABILITY.—It is the policy of this resolution to address the 
root drivers of tuition inflation, by— 
(1) targeting Federal financial aid to those 
most in need; 
(2) streamlining programs that provide aid to 
make them more effective; 
(3) maintaining the maximum Pell grant award 
level at $5,775 in each year of the budget window; 
and 
(4) removing regulatory barriers in higher edu-
cation that act to restrict flexibility and innovative 
teaching, particularly as it relates to non-traditional 
models such as online coursework and competency- 
based learning. 
(c) FINDINGS ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.—The 
House finds the following: 
(1) 8.7 million Americans are currently unem-
ployed. 
(2) Despite billions of dollars in spending, those 
looking for work are stymied by a broken workforce 
development system that fails to connect workers 
with assistance and employers with trained per-
sonnel. 
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(3) The House Education and Workforce Com-
mittee successfully consolidated 15 job training pro-
grams in the recently enacted Workforce Innovation 
and Opportunity Act. 
(d) POLICY ON WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.—It is 
the policy of this resolution to address the failings in the 
current workforce development system, by— 
(1) further streamlining and consolidating Fed-
eral job training programs; and 
(2) empowering states with the flexibility to tai-
lor funding and programs to the specific needs of 
their workforce, including the development of career 
scholarships. 
SEC. 812. POLICY STATEMENT ON DEPARTMENT OF VET-
ERANS AFFAIRS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) For years, there has been serious concern 
regarding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 
bureaucratic mismanagement and continuous failure 
to provide veterans timely access to health care and 
benefits. 
(2) In 2014, reports started breaking across the 
Nation that VA medical centers were manipulating 
wait-list documents to hide long delays veterans were 
facing to receive health care. The VA hospital scan-
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dal led to the immediate resignation of then-Sec-
retary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. 
(3) In 2015, for the first time ever, VA health 
care was added to the ‘‘high-risk’’ list of the Govern-
ment Accountability Office (GAO), due to manage-
ment and oversight failures that have directly re-
sulted in risks to the timeliness, cost-effectiveness, 
and quality of health care. 
(4) In response to the scandal, the House Com-
mittee on Veterans’ Affairs held several oversight 
hearings and ultimately enacted the Veterans’ Ac-
cess, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 
(VACAA) (Public Law 113–146) to address these 
problems. VACAA provided $15 billion in emergency 
resources to fund internal health care needs within 
the department and provided veterans enhanced ac-
cess to private-sector health care under the new Vet-
erans Choice Program. 
(b) POLICY ON THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AF-
FAIRS.—This budget supports the continued oversight ef-
forts by the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to en-
sure the VA is not only transparent and accountable, but 
also successful in achieving its goals in providing timely 
health care and benefits to America’s veterans. The Budg-
et Committee will continue to closely monitor the VA’s 
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progress to ensure resources provided by Congress are suf-
ficient and efficiently used to provide needed benefits and 
services to veterans. 
SEC. 813. POLICY STATEMENT ON FEDERAL ACCOUNTING 
METHODOLOGIES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Given the thousands of Federal programs 
and trillions of dollars the Federal Government 
spends each year, assessing and accounting for Fed-
eral fiscal activities and liabilities is a complex un-
dertaking. 
(2) Current methods of accounting leave much 
to be desired in capturing the full scope of govern-
ment and in presenting information in a clear and 
compelling way that illuminates the best options 
going forward. 
(3) Most fiscal analysis produced by the Con-
gressional Budget Office (CBO) is conducted over a 
relatively short time horizon: 10 or 25 years. While 
this time frame is useful for most purposes, it fails 
to consider the fiscal consequences over the longer 
term. 
(4) Additionally, current accounting method-
ology does not provide an analysis of how the Fed-
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eral Government’s fiscal situation over the long run 
affects Americans of various age cohorts. 
(5) Another consideration is how Federal pro-
grams should be accounted for. The ‘‘accrual meth-
od’’ of accounting records revenue when it is earned 
and expenses when they are incurred, while the 
‘‘cash method’’ records revenue and expenses when 
cash is actually paid or received. 
(6) The Federal budget accounts for most pro-
grams using cash accounting. Some programs, how-
ever, particularly loan and loan guarantee programs, 
are accounted for using accrual methods. 
(7) GAO has indicated that accrual accounting 
may provide a more accurate estimation of the Fed-
eral Government’s liabilities than cash accounting 
for some programs specifically those that provide 
some form of insurance. 
(8) Where accrual accounting is used, it is al-
most exclusively calculated by CBO according to the 
methodology outlined in the Federal Credit Reform 
Act of 1990 (FCRA). CBO uses fair value method-
ology instead of FCRA to measure the cost of 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for example. 
(9) FCRA methodology, however, understates 
the risk and thus the true cost of Federal programs. 
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An alternative is fair value methodology, which uses 
discount rates that incorporate the risk inherent to 
the type of liability being estimated in addition to 
Treasury discount rates of the proper maturity 
length. 
(10) The Congressional Budget Office has con-
cluded that ‘‘adopting a fair-value approach would 
provide a more comprehensive way to measure the 
costs of Federal credit programs and would permit 
more level comparisons between those costs and the 
costs of other forms of federal assistance’’ than the 
current approach under FCRA. 
(b) POLICY ON FEDERAL ACCOUNTING METHODOLO-
GIES.—It is the policy of this resolution that Congress 
should, in consultation with the Congressional Budget Of-
fice and the public affected by Federal budgetary choices, 
adopt Government-wide reforms of budget and accounting 
practices so the American people and their representatives 
can more readily understand the fiscal situation of the 
Government of the United States and the options best 
suited to improving it. Such reforms may include but 
should not be limited to the following: 
(1) Providing additional metrics to enhance our 
current analysis by considering our fiscal situation 
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comprehensively, over an extended time horizon, and 
as it affects Americans of various age cohorts. 
(2) Expanding the use of accrual accounting 
where appropriate. 
(3) Accounting for certain Federal credit pro-
grams using fair value accounting as opposed to the 
current approach under the Federal Credit Reform 
Act of 1990. 
SEC. 814. POLICY STATEMENT ON SCOREKEEPING FOR 
OUTYEAR BUDGETARY EFFECTS IN APPRO-
PRIATION ACTS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Section 302 of the Congressional Budget 
Act of 1974 directs the Committee on the Budget to 
provide an allocation of budgetary resources to the 
Committee on Appropriations for the budget year 
covered by a concurrent resolution on the budget. 
(2) The allocation of budgetary resources pro-
vided by the Committee on the Budget to the Com-
mittee on Appropriations covers a period of one fis-
cal year only, which is effective for the budget year. 
(3) An appropriation Act, joint resolution, 
amendment thereto or conference report thereon 
may contain changes to programs that result in di-
rect budgetary effects that occur beyond the budget 
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year and beyond the period for which the allocation 
of budgetary resources provided by the Committee 
on the Budget is effective. 
(4) The allocation of budgetary resources pro-
vided to the Committee on Appropriations does not 
currently anticipate or capture direct outyear budg-
etary effects to programs. 
(5) Budget enforcement could be improved by 
capturing the direct outyear budgetary effects 
caused by appropriation Acts and using this infor-
mation to determine the appropriate allocations of 
budgetary resources to the Committee on Appropria-
tions when considering future concurrent resolutions 
on the budget. 
(b) POLICY STATEMENT.—It is the policy of the 
House of Representatives to more effectively allocate 
budgetary resources and accurately enforce budget targets 
by agreeing to a procedure by which the Committee on 
the Budget should consider the direct outyear budgetary 
effects of changes to mandatory programs enacted in ap-
propriations bills, joint resolutions, amendments thereto 
or conference reports thereon when setting the allocation 
of budgetary resources for the Committee on Appropria-
tions in a concurrent resolution on the budget. The rel-
evant committees of jurisdiction are directed to consult on 
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a procedure during fiscal year 2016 and include rec-
ommendations for implementing such procedure in the fis-
cal year 2017 concurrent resolution on the budget. 
SEC. 815. POLICY STATEMENT ON REDUCING UNNECES-
SARY, 
WASTEFUL, 
AND 
UNAUTHORIZED 
SPENDING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The Government Accountability Office 
(GAO) is required by law to identify examples of 
waste, duplication, and overlap in Federal programs, 
and has so identified dozens of such examples. 
(2) In its report to Congress on Government 
Efficiency and Effectiveness, the Comptroller Gen-
eral has stated that addressing the identified waste, 
duplication, and overlap in Federal programs could 
‘‘lead to tens of billions of dollars of additional sav-
ings.’’. 
(3) In 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 the GAO 
issued reports showing excessive duplication and re-
dundancy in Federal programs including— 
(A) two hundred nine Science, Technology, 
Engineering, and Mathematics education pro-
grams in 13 different Federal agencies at a cost 
of $3 billion annually; 
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(B) two hundred separate Department of 
Justice crime prevention and victim services 
grant programs with an annual cost of $3.9 bil-
lion in 2010; 
(C) twenty different Federal entities ad-
minister 160 housing programs and other forms 
of Federal assistance for housing with a total 
cost of $170 billion in 2010; 
(D) seventeen separate Homeland Security 
preparedness grant programs that spent $37 
billion between fiscal years 2011 and 2012; 
(E) fourteen grant and loan programs, and 
three tax benefits to reduce diesel emissions; 
(F) ninety-four different initiatives run by 
11 different agencies to encourage ‘‘green build-
ing’’ in the private sector; and 
(G) twenty-three agencies implemented ap-
proximately 670 renewable energy initiatives in 
fiscal year 2010 at a cost of nearly $15 billion. 
(4) The Federal Government spends more than 
$80 billion each year for approximately 1,400 infor-
mation technology investments. GAO has identified 
broad acquisition failures, waste, and unnecessary 
duplication in the Government’s information tech-
nology infrastructure. experts have estimated that 
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eliminating these problems could save 25 percent or 
$20 billion. 
(5) GAO has identified strategic sourcing as a 
potential source of spending reductions. In 2011 
GAO estimated that saving 10 percent of the total 
or all Federal procurement could generate more than 
$50 billion in savings annually. 
(6) Federal agencies reported an estimated 
$106 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 
2013. 
(7) Under clause 2 of rule XI of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, each standing com-
mittee must hold at least one hearing during each 
120 day period following its establishment on waste, 
fraud, abuse, or mismanagement in Government pro-
grams. 
(8) According to the Congressional Budget Of-
fice, by fiscal year 2015, 32 laws will expire, possibly 
resulting in $693 billion in unauthorized appropria-
tions. Timely reauthorizations of these laws would 
ensure assessments of program justification and ef-
fectiveness. 
(9) The findings resulting from congressional 
oversight of Federal Government programs should 
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result in programmatic changes in both authorizing 
statutes and program funding levels. 
(b) POLICY ON REDUCING UNNECESSARY, WASTE-
FUL, AND UNAUTHORIZED SPENDING.— 
(1) 
Each 
authorizing 
committee 
annually 
should include in its Views and Estimates letter re-
quired under section 301(d) of the Congressional 
Budget Act of 1974 recommendations to the Com-
mittee on the Budget of programs within the juris-
diction of such committee whose funding should be 
reduced or eliminated. 
(2) Committees of jurisdiction should review all 
unauthorized programs funded through annual ap-
propriations to determine if the programs are oper-
ating efficiently and effectively. 
(3) Committees should reauthorize those pro-
grams that in the committees’ judgment should con-
tinue to receive funding. 
(4) For those programs not reauthorized by 
committees, the House of Representatives should en-
force the limitations on funding such unauthorized 
programs in the House rules. If the strictures of the 
rules are deemed to be too rapid in prohibiting 
spending on unauthorized programs, then milder 
measures should be adopted and enforced until a re-
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turn to the full prohibition of clause 2(a)(1) of rule 
XXI of the Rules of the House. 
SEC. 816. POLICY STATEMENT ON DEFICIT REDUCTION 
THROUGH THE CANCELLATION OF UNOBLI-
GATED BALANCES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) According to the most recent estimate from 
the Office of Management and Budget, Federal 
agencies were expected to hold $844 billion in unob-
ligated balances at the close of fiscal year 2015. 
(2) These funds represent direct and discre-
tionary spending previously made available by Con-
gress that remains available for expenditure. 
(3) In some cases, agencies are granted funding 
and it remains available for obligation indefinitely. 
(4) The Congressional Budget and Impound-
ment Control Act of 1974 requires the Office of 
Management and Budget to make funds available to 
agencies for obligation and prohibits the Administra-
tion from withholding or cancelling unobligated 
funds unless approved by an Act of Congress. 
(5) Greater congressional oversight is required 
to review and identify potential savings from can-
celing unobligated balances of funds that are no 
longer needed. 
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(b) POLICY ON DEFICIT REDUCTION THROUGH THE 
CANCELLATION OF UNOBLIGATED BALANCES.—Congres-
sional committees should through their oversight activities 
identify and achieve savings through the cancellation or 
rescission of unobligated balances that neither abrogate 
contractual obligations of the Government nor reduce or 
disrupt Federal commitments under programs such as So-
cial Security, veterans’ affairs, national security, and 
Treasury authority to finance the national debt. 
(c) DEFICIT REDUCTION.—Congress, with the assist-
ance of the Government Accountability Office, the Inspec-
tors General, and other appropriate agencies should con-
tinue to make it a high priority to review unobligated bal-
ances and identify savings for deficit reduction. 
SEC. 817. POLICY STATEMENT ON AGENCY FEES AND 
SPENDING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) A number of Federal agencies and organiza-
tions have permanent authority to collect fees and 
other offsetting collections and to spend these col-
lected funds. 
(2) The total amount of offsetting fees and off-
setting collections is estimated by the Office of Man-
agement and Budget to be $525 billion in fiscal year 
2016. 
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(3) Agency budget justifications are, in some 
cases, not fully transparent about the amount of 
program activity funded through offsetting collec-
tions or fees. This lack of transparency prevents ef-
fective and accountable government. 
(b) POLICY ON AGENCY FEES AND SPENDING.—It 
is the policy of this resolution that Congress must reassert 
its constitutional prerogative to control spending and con-
duct oversight. To do so, Congress should enact legislation 
requiring programs that are funded through fees, offset-
ting receipts, or offsetting collections to be allocated new 
budget authority annually. Such allocation may arise 
from— 
(1) legislation originating from the authorizing 
committee of jurisdiction for the agency or program; 
or 
(2) fee and account specific allocations included 
in annual appropriation Acts. 
SEC. 818. POLICY STATEMENT ON RESPONSIBLE STEWARD-
SHIP OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) The budget for the House of Representa-
tives is $188 million less than it was when Repub-
licans became the majority in 2011. 
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(2) The House of Representatives has achieved 
significant savings by consolidating operations and 
renegotiating contracts. 
(b) POLICY
ON RESPONSIBLE STEWARDSHIP
OF 
TAXPAYER DOLLARS.—It is the policy of this resolution 
that: 
(1) The House of Representatives must be a 
model for the responsible stewardship of taxpayer re-
sources and therefore must identify any savings that 
can be achieved through greater productivity and ef-
ficiency gains in the operation and maintenance of 
House services and resources like printing, con-
ferences, utilities, telecommunications, furniture, 
grounds maintenance, postage, and rent. This should 
include a review of policies and procedures for acqui-
sition of goods and services to eliminate any unnec-
essary spending. The Committee on House Adminis-
tration should review the policies pertaining to the 
services provided to Members and committees of the 
House, and should identify ways to reduce any sub-
sidies paid for the operation of the House gym, bar-
ber shop, salon, and the House dining room. 
(2) No taxpayer funds may be used to purchase 
first class airfare or to lease corporate jets for Mem-
bers of Congress. 
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(3) Retirement benefits for Members of Con-
gress should not include free, taxpayer-funded health 
care for life. 
SEC. 819. POLICY STATEMENT ON ‘‘NO BUDGET, NO PAY’’. 
It is the policy of this resolution that Congress should 
agree to a concurrent resolution on the budget every year 
pursuant to section 301 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974. If by April 15, a House of Congress has not 
agreed to a concurrent resolution on the budget, the pay-
roll administrator of that House should carry out this pol-
icy in the same manner as the provisions of Public Law 
113–3, the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013, and should 
place in an escrow account all compensation otherwise re-
quired to be made for Members of that House of Congress. 
Withheld compensation should be released to Members of 
that House of Congress the earlier of the day on which 
that House of Congress agrees to a concurrent resolution 
on the budget, pursuant to section 301 of the Congres-
sional Budget Act of 1974, or the last day of that Con-
gress. 
SEC. 820. POLICY STATEMENT ON NATIONAL SECURITY 
FUNDING. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The House finds the following: 
(1) Russian aggression, the growing threats of 
the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in the Mid-
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dle East, North Korean and Iranian nuclear and 
missile programs, and continued Chinese invest-
ments in high-end military capabilities and cyber 
warfare shape the parameters of an increasingly 
complex and challenging security environment. 
(2) All four current service chiefs testified that 
the National Military Strategy could not be executed 
at sequestration levels. 
(3) The independent and bipartisan National 
Defense Panel conducted risk assessments of force 
structure changes triggered by the Budget Control 
Act of 2011 (BCA) and concluded that in addition 
to previous cuts to defense dating back to 2009, the 
sequestration of defense discretionary spending has 
‘‘caused significant shortfalls in U.S. military readi-
ness and both present and future capabilities’’. 
(4) The President’s fiscal year 2016 budget ir-
responsibly ignores current law and requests a de-
fense budget $38 billion above the caps for rhetor-
ical gain. By creating an expectation of spending 
without a plan to avoid the BCA’s guaranteed se-
quester upon breaching of its caps, the White 
House’s proposal compounds the fiscal uncertainty 
that has affected the military’s ability to adequately 
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plan for future contingencies and make investments 
crucial for the Nation’s defense. 
(5) The President’s budget proposes $1.8 tril-
lion in tax increases, in addition to the $1.7 trillion 
in tax hikes the Administration has already imposed. 
The President’s tax increases would further burden 
economic growth and is not a realistic source for off-
sets to fund defense sequester replacement. 
(b) POLICY ON FISCAL YEAR 2016 NATIONAL DE-
FENSE FUNDING.—In fiscal year 2015, the House-passed 
budget resolution anticipated $566 billion for national de-
fense in the discretionary base budget for fiscal year 2016. 
With no necessary statutory change yet provided by Con-
gress, the BCA statute would require limiting national de-
fense discretionary base funding to $523 billion in fiscal 
year 2016. However, in total with $90 billion, the House 
Budget estimate for Overseas Contingency Operations 
funding for the Department of Defense, the fiscal year 
2016 budget provides over $613 billion total for defense 
spending that is higher than the President’s budget re-
quest for the fiscal year. This concurrent resolution pro-
vides $22 billion above the President’s Five Year Defense 
Plan and $151 billion above the 10-year totals. This would 
also be $387 billion above the 10-year total for current 
levels. 
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(c) DEFENSE
READINESS
AND
MODERNIZATION 
FUND.—(1) The budget resolution recognizes the need to 
ensure robust funding for national defense while maintain-
ing overall fiscal discipline. The budget resolution 
prioritizes our national defense and the needs of the 
warfighter by providing needed dollars through the cre-
ation of the ‘‘Defense Readiness and Modernization 
Fund’’. 
(2) The Defense Readiness and Modernization Fund 
provides the mechanism for Congress to responsibly allo-
cate in a deficit-neutral way the resources the military 
needs to secure the safety and liberty of United States 
citizens from threats at home and abroad. The Defense 
Readiness and Modernization Fund will provide the chair 
of the Committee on the Budget of the House the ability 
to increase allocations to support legislation that would 
provide for the Department of Defense warfighting capa-
bilities, modernization, a temporary increase in end 
strength, training and maintenance associated with com-
bat readiness, activities to reach full auditability of the 
Department of Defense’s financial statements, and imple-
mentation of military and compensation reforms. 
(d) SEQUESTER REPLACEMENT FOR NATIONAL DE-
FENSE.—This concurrent resolution encourages an imme-
diate reevaluation of Federal Government priorities to 
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maintain the strength of America’s national security pos-
ture. In identifying policies to restructure and stabilize the 
Government’s major entitlement programs which, along 
with net interest, will consume all Federal revenue in less 
than 20 years. The budget also charts a course that can 
ensure the availability of needed national security re-
sources. 
Passed the House of Representatives March 25, 
2015. 
Attest: 
KAREN L. HAAS, 
Clerk. 
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Calendar No. 34 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 27 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Establishing the budget for the United States Gov-
ernment for fiscal year 2016 and setting forth 
appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2017 
through 2025. 
APRIL 13, 2015 
Received and placed on the calendar 
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