Baseline Reform Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-185
Sponsor: Sen. Ayotte, Kelly [R-NH]
Introduced: 2013-01-30 in the Senate
Policy area: Economics and Public Finance
Subjects: Appropriations
Budget deficits and national debt
Budget process
Health care costs and insurance
Health programs administration and funding
Inflation and prices

Summary:
action_date: 2013-01-30
text: 
Baseline Reform Act of 2013 - Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to eliminate sequential and cumulative adjustments for inflation from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) baseline projections for discretionary appropriations with respect to: (1) expiring housing contracts and social insurance administrative expenses, (2) offset pay absorption and pay annualization, (3) inflation, and (4) any accounting for changes required by law in the level of agency payments for personnel benefits other than pay.
 
Excludes from the requirement that budgetary resources (other than unobligated balances) be at the level available in the current year any resources designated as an emergency requirement or provided in supplemental appropriations laws.
 
Prohibits adjustments for inflation or any other factor.
 
Requires the President's annual budget submission to Congress to include: (1) estimated expenditures and appropriations for the current year, as well as (2) the percentage change from the current year to the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted for estimated expenditures and appropriations.
 
Amends the Congressional Budget Act (CBA) to require the basis of deliberations in the congressional budget committee hearings in developing the joint (currently, concurrent) budget resolution to be the estimated budgetary levels for the preceding fiscal year.
 
Requires the report accompanying the budget resolution to include a comparison of levels for the current fiscal year with proposed spending and revenue levels for the subsequent fiscal years along with the proposed increase or decrease of spending in percentage terms for each function.
 
Amends the CBA to require the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) annual fiscal policy report to congressional budget committees to compare to comparable levels for the current fiscal year: (1) alternative levels of total revenues, total new budget authority, and total outlays (including related surpluses and deficits); and (2) the levels of tax expenditures under existing law.
 
Requires that report also to include a table on sources of spending growth in total direct spending, revenue, deficit, and debt for the budget year and the ensuing four fiscal years, which shall include changes in outlays attributable to: (1) cost-of-living adjustments; (2) changes in the number of program recipients; (3) increases in medical care prices, utilization, and intensity of medical care; and (4) residual factors.
 
Requires any congressional committee, when reporting legislation providing new budget authority or an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures, to include in the accompanying report the CBO projection of how the measure will affect the levels of budget authority, budget outlays, revenues, or tax expenditures under existing law for such fiscal year (or fiscal years) and each of the four ensuing fiscal years in comparison with comparable levels for the current fiscal year.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2013-01-30
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
action_date: 2013-01-30
text: Introduced in Senate