Mr. President, I wish submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for June 2019. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts the Senate agreed to in the…
Mr. President, I wish submit to the Senate the budget scorekeeping report for June 2019. The report compares current-law levels of spending and revenues with the amounts the Senate agreed to in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 BBAl8. This information is necessary for the Senate Budget Committee to determine whether budgetary points of order lie against pending legislation. The Republican staff of the Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, prepared this report pursuant to section 308(b) of the Congressional Budget Act, CBA.
This is my fifth scorekeeping report this year. My last filing can be found in the Congressional Record for May 22, 2019. The information included in this report is current through June 24, 2019.
Since my last filing, Congress has cleared three pieces of legislation with significant budgetary effects. The first, the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act, 2019, P.L. 116-20, provided $19.1 billion in emergency discretionary appropriations to address recent natural disasters. The second, the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019, H.R. 299, increased compensation for certain veterans and modified veteran home loan programs. The final bill, the Taxpayer First Act, H.R. 3151, modified several rules that govern the organization of and operations at the Internal Revenue Service.
Budget Committee Republican staff prepared Tables A-C.
Table A gives the amount by which each Senate authorizing committee exceeds or is below its allocation for budget authority and outlays under the Fiscal Year 2019 enforceable levels filing required by BBA18. This information is used for enforcing committee allocations pursuant to section 302 of the CBA. For this reporting period, 9 of the 16 authorizing committees are not in compliance with their allocations. Over the current 10-year enforceable window, authorizing committees have increased outlays by a combined $3.6 billion. Of the bills clearing Congress this reporting period, H.R. 299 added to the Veterans' Affairs Committee's existing violations, including an increase in spending of $394 million over the 10-year window, while H.R. 3151 reduced spending scoreable to the Finance Committee by $201 million over the same time period.
Table B provides 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 sections 312 and 314 of the CBA. Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2019, displayed in this table, show that the Appropriations Committee is compliant with spending limits for the current fiscal year. Those limits for regular discretionary spending are $647 billion for accounts in the defense category and $597 billion for accounts in the nondefense category of spending.
The Fiscal Year 2018 budget resolution contained points of order limiting the use of changes in mandatory programs in appropriations bills, CHIMP. Table C, which tracks the CHIMP limit of $15 billion for Fiscal Year 2019, shows the Appropriations Committee has enacted $15 billion worth of full-year CHIMPs for this Fiscal Year.
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 Congress.
For Fiscal Year 2019, CBO estimates that current-law levels are $2.9 billion above and $3.3 billion below enforceable levels for budget authority and outlays, respectively. Revenues are $426 million below the level assumed in the budget resolution. These figures remain unchanged since the May Scorekeeping Report, as the appropriation provided in P.L. 116-20 was accompanied by a concurrent and equivalent increase in aggregate spending levels pursuant to section 314 of the CBA. This adjustment can be found in the Congressional Record for May 23, 2019. Further, Social Security revenues are at the levels assumed for Fiscal
Year 2019, while Social Security outlays are $4 million above assumed levels for the budget year.
CBO's report also provides information needed to enforce the Senate pay-as-you-go, PAYGO, rule. The PAYGO scorecard shows deficit increases in Fiscal Year 2019 of $1,957 million, $427 million revenue loss, $1,530 million outlay increase; over the Fiscal Year 2018-2023 period of $3,412 million, $907 million revenue loss, $2,505 million outlay increase; and over the Fiscal Year 2018-2028 period of $800 million, $798 million revenue loss, $2 million outlay increase. During this reporting period, H.R. 3151 had the effect of reducing deficits by $37 million over both the Fiscal Year 2018-2023 and Fiscal Year 2018-2028 periods, while H.R. 299 increased deficits by $76 million and $394 million over the same periods, respectively.
This submission also includes a table tracking the Senate's budget enforcement activity on the floor since the enforcement filing on May 7, 2018. Since my last report, no new budgetary points of order were raised. On May 23, 2019, however, a Senator made a preemptive motion to waive all applicable points of order against the supplemental appropriations bill that would become P.L. 116-20.
All years in the accompanying tables are fiscal years.
I ask unanimous consent that the accompanying tables be printed in the Record.
