Peer replies should be a minimum of 160 words, include at least 1 direct question and add value to the discussion

STUDENT 1: Michael

A budget resolution is legislation produced by Congress, which establishes budget requirements for twenty categories, up to a decade.It has evolved into the primary platform that limits all spending.This legislation may drive changes in law, but is not a law itself.When addressing this budgeting legislation, compared to budgeting law, think that the legislation is the “meat and potatoes” behind law.It provides the fiscal framework, for Congress, to raise and spend money.The budget resolution moves similarly to a law, in that it must be approved by both the House and Senate, however the executive branch does not have an opportunity to veto this.Because resolutions have no statutory effect, their fiscal framework is not always followed.

From 1998-2006 Congress failed to achieve budget resolutions biennially.Although sometimes Congress fails to pass a budget resolution, it has also been the mechanism to drive political agendas.The budget resolution was a result of the budget evolution, which occurred in the Congressional Budget Act (CBA) in 1974.Prior to this, Congress would pass budgeting items and would aggregate the totals of items that were passed to define the budget.Between 1921 and 1974 each of these budgetary items were a derivative of the presidential budget proposal, and the president would coordinate the process.The corruption and conflict, in the Nixon administration, were primary reasons for the desire to emplace a budget resolution.In order to remove presidential political objectives from the mandatory spending in budgeting, budget resolutions remained in congressional hands.Additionally, congress needed to put a cap on all spending.A budget resolution acts as an all-inclusive coordinator and controller in the spending process.It is advisory, but the committees actually develop the laws for spending.

STUDENT 2: Sully

Why does Congress have a budget resolution? Is the budget resolution a law?

A Congressional Budget Resolution is a “blueprint” that guides fiscal decision-making in the Congress. It is passed by the House and the Senate, and it establishes the top-line levels for the budget by setting targets for revenues and upper limits for subsequent spending bills over a specific period. However, it is not presented to the president for signature, which means it is not a law. It is still a critically important document because it sets the terms of the budget debate. It defines congressional goals for federal spending, revenues, deficits and debt, and allocates budgetary resources among the major functions of government (I.E. national defense, transportation, health, veterans’ benefits, general government and income security). Another point to note is the budget resolution may act as a plan for the upcoming budget year, but does not provide budget authority, and therefore cannot trigger a sequester for violation of the discretionary spending limits (Driessen & Lynch, 2018).

Based on your reading, what is the role of scoring and scorekeeping on enforcing congressional budget rules?

CBO’s Scorekeeping system tracks pending legislation and helps the Budget Committees enforce the Budget Resolution. Scorekeeping rules were implemented through the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 and are updated occasionally upon agreement by the full group of scorekeepers (Penner, 2003). This group consists of members from the House and Senate Committees on the Budget, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Office of Management and Budget. The purpose of these rules is to ensure consistent treatment of spending authority, appropriations, and outlays across programs and over time.

The Budget Act of 1974 said that if you’re going to consider language that contains a congressional authorization, there should be a CBO score that accompanies it. Congress can waive the CBO score at any time and usually gets done differently in every circumstance.

Every bill reported out of committee must be scored – that is, its potential impact on government revenues and outlays estimated. The Joint Committee on Taxation considers bills that affect major revenue sources, while the CBO scores bills’ spending impact along with revenues from other sources like import tariffs.

An example scoring would be CBO receiving a bill and looking at any other bill with similar provisions. Historical evidence is the first thing they check for. They’ll also just talk to the states and ask, “Given this situation, what would you do? Would you apply for a waiver or not? What kinds of things would you pursue?” And then they reach some sort of judgment. CBO doesn’t ever do a state-by-state prediction, but they will say: “We think roughly a third or a quarter of states might be interested, and if so they might do something like this.” And they’ll describe, to the best of their ability, their judgment.

As the legislation is being developed, the staff on the Hill will be in contact with CBO describing what they’re going to do, so CBO has some notion of what’s coming their way. Congress will then provide them with some sort of outline of the bill, and CBO will short estimate of the implications. Then they’ll actually have to write the legislative language and send that to CBO. There will be several iterations on that. After the final draft is written CBO will write a formal cost estimate that describes the budgetary impact. An example for health legislation bills, provides some supplementary information on premiums and coverage implications of the bill.

References

Driessen, G. A., & Lynch, M. S. (2018, February 23). Budget Control Act: Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved from https://fas.org: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44874.pdf

Penner, R. G. (2003, September 01). The Dynamics of Scoring: A Congressional Tale. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publicat…