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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-
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 
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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 
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 
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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-
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 
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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. 
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-
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fice and the public affected by Federal budgetary choices, 
adopt Governmentwide 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 
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 
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(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 
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, 
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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; 
(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 year 2011 and 2012; 
(E) fourteen grant and loan programs, and 
three tax benefits to reduce diesel emissions; 
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(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 
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 
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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 
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-
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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-
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. 
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