Mr. President, I wish to submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for February 2018. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts the Senate agreed to…
Mr. President, I wish to submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for February 2018. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts the Senate agreed to in the budget resolution for fiscal year 2018, H. Con. Res. 71. This information is necessary for the Senate Budget Committee to determine whether budget points of order lie against pending legislation. The Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, prepared this report pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act, CBA.
The enforceable levels included in this report reflect all of the numerical adjustments made to the resolution since its passage. The information contained in this report captures legislative activity from the passage of the budget resolution through February 26, 2018.
Republican Budget Committee staff prepared tables 1-4 of this report.
Table 1 gives the amount by which each Senate authorizing committee exceeds or is below its allocation for budget authority and outlays under the most recently adopted budget resolution. This information is used for enforcing committee allocations pursuant to section 302 of the CBA. For this reporting period, 11 of the 16 authorizing committees are in compliance with their allocations. As previously reported, the Senate Veterans' Affairs, Energy and Natural Resources, and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committees remain in breach of their allocations. Since my last report on January 18, 2018, both the Finance and Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committees have increased spending beyond allowable levels. Through the enactment of both the fourth continuing resolution, H.R. 195, P.L. 115-120, and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, BBA18, H.R. 1892, P.L. 115-123, which contained packages of healthcare extenders, the Finance Committee breached its allocation by $76.9 billion in budget authority and $7.8 billion in outlays over 10 years. Enactment of the BBA18 also produced the Agriculture Committee breach. That law changed the treatment of seed cotton, dairy, and livestock under Federal farm programs, increasing both budget authority and outlays by $1.2 billion over the 2018-2027 period.
Table 2 gives the amount by which the Senate Committee on Appropriations is below or exceeds the statutory spending limits. This information is used to determine points of order related to the spending caps found in section 312 and section 314 of the CBA. While no full-year appropriations bills have been enacted for fiscal year 2018, subcommittees are charged with permanent and advanced appropriations that first become available in that year and any full-year standalone provisions included in continuing resolutions. This table reflects one change from my January report. The continuing resolution portion of the BBA18 included full-year authority for the Secretary of Energy to draw down and sell oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, reducing budget authority and outlays by $315 million in 2018.
The budget resolution contains two points of order limiting the use of changes in mandatory programs in appropriations bills, CHIMPS. Tables 3 and 4 show compliance with fiscal year 2018 limits for overall CHIMPS and the Crime Victims Fund CHIMP, respectively. This information is used for determining points of order under sections 4102 and 4103 of H. Con. Res. 71, respectively. Notably, there have not been any full- year bills enacted thus far for fiscal year 2018 that include CHIMPS.
In addition to the tables provided by Budget Committee Republican staff, I am submitting CBO tables, which I will use to enforce budget totals approved by the Congress.
CBO provided a spending and revenue report for fiscal year 2018, which helps enforce aggregate spending levels in budget resolutions under CBA section 311. In its report, CBO annualizes the temporary effects of the latest continuing resolution, which provides funding through March 23, 2018. For the enforcement of budgetary aggregates, the Budget Committee excludes this temporary funding. As such, the committee views current-law levels as being $814.6 billion and $463.7 billion below budget resolution levels for budget authority and outlays, respectively. Details on fiscal year 2018 levels can be found in CBO's second table.
Current-law revenues continue to be in excess of the levels assumed by the budget resolution. On-budget revenue levels currently exceed assumed levels by $3.5 billion in fiscal year 2018, $41.9
billion over the fiscal year 2018-2022 period, and $98.4 billion over the fiscal year 2018-2027 period. Since my last filing both the fourth continuing resolution and BBA18 contained provisions that reduced revenues compared with current law. The fourth continuing resolution included $25.4 billion in on-budget revenue loss over 10 years related to delays in several health-related taxes. The BBA18 contained an $11.6 billion revenue loss largely as a consequence of a package of tax extenders. This BBA18 figure omits $1.8 billion in revenue increases attributable to language related to Federal Reserve Surplus Funds, which are required to be omitted under current scorekeeping rules.
Social Security outlay levels are consistent with the budget resolution's figures for all enforceable periods. Social Security revenues, however, are $446 million below levels assumed for fiscal year 2018, $1.9 billion greater over the next 5 years, and $28.8 billion greater than assumed over the next 10 years. These revenue effects are attributable to the tax provisions from the fourth continuing resolution, BBA18, and the tax reconciliation bill enacted in December 2017.
CBO's report also provides information needed to enforce the Senate pay-as-you-go, PAYGO, rule. The Senate's PAYGO scorecard currently shows deficit reduction of $24 million in fiscal year 2018, $14 million over the fiscal year 2017-2022, and $13 million over fiscal year 2017- 2027 periods. For fiscal year 2018, legislation has been enacted that would reduce outlays by $24 million. Over the fiscal year 2017-2022 period, legislation has been enacted that CBO estimates will decrease outlays by $13 million and increase revenues by $1 million. Over the fiscal year 2017-2027 period, legislation has been enacted that CBO estimates will decrease outlays by $11 million and increase revenues by $2 million. Notably absent from these amounts are the direct spending and revenue effects from the fourth continuing resolution and BBA18. This is due to provisions in those measures that mandated the exclusion of those budgetary effects both from the Senate and statutory PAYGO scorecards. The Senate's PAYGO rule is enforced by section 4106 of H. Con. Res. 71.
Also included in this submission is a table tracking the Senate's budget enforcement activity on the floor since Congress adopted the budget resolution. No points of order have been raised on the floor since my last filing.
All years in the accompanying tables are fiscal years.
I ask unanimous consent that the accompanying tables be printed in the Record.