FAIR Scoring Act
Bill: S.2723 | Sponsor: Sen. Warren, Elizabeth (D-MA)
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance

Summary:
Fiscal Analysis by Income and Race Scoring Act or the FAIR Scoring Act
This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO's) cost estimates for legislation to include a distributional analysis by race and income if the legislation will have a gross budgetary effect of at least 0.1% of gross domestic product in any fiscal year during the 10-year budget window.
CBO's analysis must show the transfers that would result by race and income level, and the effects must be shown both in dollars and as a percent change in after-tax-and-transfer-income.
The bill also requires CBO to report to Congress on methods for conducting such a distributional analysis by gender.

To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 
  by requiring a distribution analysis of a bill or resolution under 
             certain circumstances, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fiscal Analysis by Income and Race 
Scoring Act'' or the ``FAIR Scoring Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Wealth inequality is steadily rising in the United 
        States. As the disparities between the richest Americans and 
        the poorest Americans widen, White Americans have grown 
        disproportionately wealthier, while the median wealth of Black 
        Americans has stagnated.
            (2) In 1968, and with the amounts adjusted for inflation, 
        the median middle-class Black household had $6,674 in wealth, 
        while the median middle-class White household had $70,786 in 
        wealth. In 2016, the typical middle-class Black household had 
        $13,024 in wealth compared to $149,703 for the median White 
        household.
            (3) As of 2019, the typical White family has eight times 
        the wealth of the typical Black family and five times the 
        wealth of the typical Hispanic family.
            (4) As of 2019, White families have the highest level of 
        both median wealth: $188,200. Black families' median and mean 
        wealth is less than 15 percent that of White families, at 
        $24,100. Hispanic families' median and mean wealth is $36,100.
            (5) As of 2019, families who are Asian, American Indian, 
        Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander have lower 
        wealth than White families, but higher wealth than Black and 
        Hispanic families.
            (6) The family income gap between Black and White Americans 
        today remains at almost exactly the level it was in the 1960s.
            (7) In 2016, the median annual income for Asian American 
        adults was $51,288, compared with $47,958 for White Americans, 
        $31,082 for African Americans, and $30,400 for Hispanic 
        Americans.
            (8) As of the last quarter of 2019, the median White worker 
        made 28 percent more than the typical Black worker and more 
        than 35 percent more than the median Latinx worker.
            (9) On average, women are paid 82 cents for every dollar 
        paid to men. For every dollar paid to White men, Black women 
        are paid 63 cents, Native American women are paid 60 cents, and 
        Latinas are paid 55 cents.
            (10) Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) women make 
        85 cents for every dollar paid to White men, and different 
        groups within America's AAPI community have unique experiences 
        with economic discrimination. For example, between 2015 and 
        2019, Hmong women earned 60 cents for every dollar paid to 
        White men.
            (11) Disparities in wealth between genders are even more 
        stark. As of 2013, the average wealth for working single women 
        was $3,210, whereas the single working man had a median wealth 
        of $10,150. Single Black women had a median wealth of $200, and 
        single Hispanic women had a median wealth of $100: less than a 
        penny for every dollar of wealth owned by single White non-
        Hispanic men.
            (12) The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing 
        inequalities in America. Many longstanding economic conditions, 
        such as lower levels of income and wealth and higher levels of 
        housing and food insecurity, leave individuals of color, 
        particularly women of color and Black women, with less cushion, 
        making them more vulnerable during the COVID-19 economic 
        crisis.
            (13) Informed and well-designed policies are needed to curb 
        the growing inequality between Americans of different races and 
        income levels. In order to meet this need, Congress needs 
        access to standardized, reliable information about the 
        socioeconomic consequences of the legislation it enacts.

SEC. 3. DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS BY INCOME AND RACE.

    (a) CBO Estimates.--Section 402 of the Congressional Budget and 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 653) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and 
        inserting ``; and'';
            (3) by adding after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) for a bill or joint resolution that has a gross 
        budgetary effect of at least 0.1 percent of the gross domestic 
        product of the United States in any fiscal year within the 
        budget window--
                    ``(A) a distribution analysis by income showing the 
                transfers that would result in dollars and as a percent 
                change in after-tax-and-transfer income for as many 
                years in the budget as is necessary to illustrate the 
                anticipated effects; and
                    ``(B) a distribution analysis by race showing the 
                transfers that would result in dollars and as a percent 
                change in after-tax-and-transfer income for as many 
                years in the budget as is necessary to illustrate the 
                anticipated effects.''; and
            (4) in the text following paragraph (4) (as added by 
        paragraph (3) of this subsection) by striking ``and 
        description'' and inserting ``description, and analyses''.
    (b) JCT Estimates.--Section 201(f) of the Congressional Budget and 
Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 601(f)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(f) Revenue Legislation.--For the purposes of revenue legislation 
which is income, estate and gift, excise, and payroll taxes (i.e., 
Social Security), considered or enacted in any session of Congress, the 
Congressional Budget Office shall use exclusively during that session 
of Congress revenue estimates and distribution analyses provided to it 
by the Joint Committee on Taxation. During that session of Congress 
such revenue estimates and distribution analyses shall be transmitted 
by the Congressional Budget Office to any committee of the House of 
Representatives or the Senate requesting such estimates, and shall be 
used by such Committees in determining such estimates. The Budget 
Committees of the Senate and House shall determine all estimates with 
respect to scoring points of order and with respect to the execution of 
the purposes of this Act.''.

SEC. 4. REPORT ON DISTRIBUTION ANALYSIS BY GENDER.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Director of the Congressional Budget Office shall--
            (1) prepare a report describing methods appropriate for the 
        conduct of distribution analyses by gender for major 
        legislation, including strengths and weaknesses of different 
        approaches; and
            (2) submit such report to the chairs and ranking members of 
        the Committee on Finance of the Senate and the Committee on 
        Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.
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