Budget Act Enforcement Details

Floor Speech

Ms. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, which Congress passed last month, provides relief to families and the economy from the harmful effects of sequestration, more than offsetting the costs of providing that relief with savings elsewhere in the Federal budget. In addition to those changes, the Bipartisan Budget Act also establishes a congressional budget for 2014 and, if necessary, for 2015, authorizing the Chairmen of the Senate and House Budget Committees to file allocations, aggregates, and levels in the Senate and the House for budget year 2014.

Specifically, to provide for continued enforcement in the Senate, section 111 requires the chairman of the Budget Committee to file: No. 1, an allocation for fiscal year 2014 for the Committee on Appropriations; No. 2, allocations for fiscal years 2014, 2014 through 2018, and 2014 through 2023 for committees other than the Committee on Appropriations; No. 3, aggregate spending levels for fiscal year 2014; No. 4, aggregate revenue levels for fiscal years 2014, 2014 through 2018, and 2014 through 2023; and No. 5, aggregate levels of outlays and revenue for fiscal years 2014, 2014 through 2018, and 2014 through 2023 for Social Security.

In the case of the Committee on Appropriations for 2014, the allocation shall be set consistent with the discretionary spending limits set forth in the Bipartisan Budget Act, which imposes limits on the amount of budget authority that can be provided under both the revised security category and the revised nonsecurity category.

Both the discretionary spending limits and the allocation to the Committee on Appropriations can be revised for certain adjustments specifically authorized under the Budget Control Act of 2011. H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, which the Senate will soon consider, includes several such adjustments. Consistent with the funding levels included in H.R. 3547, I am incorporating into the allocation to the Committee on Appropriations adjustments for overseas contingency operations and the global war on terrorism, disaster funding, and the program integrity initiative in the area of continuing disability reviews. I am also adjusting for a change in outlays previously designated as an emergency requirement. These adjustments are authorized by section 251 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as modified by section 101 of the Budget Control Act, and by section 314(a) of the Congressional Budget Act.

In the case of allocations for committees other than the Committee on Appropriations and for the revenue and Social Security aggregates, the levels shall be set consistent with the Congressional Budget Office's May 2013 baseline, adjusted to account for the budgetary effects of the Bipartisan Budget Act and other legislation enacted since the release of the May 2013 baseline. In other words, in these instances, the new allocations and levels are set equal to the updated May baseline.

In the case of the spending aggregates for 2014, the levels shall be set in accordance with the allocation for the Committee on Appropriations and the allocations for committees other than the Committee on Appropriations, as described previously.

Section 114 directs the chairman of the Budget Committee also to reset the Senate pay-as-you-go scorecard to zero for all fiscal years. Pursuant to section 114, those revisions occurred immediately upon enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act. I am now notifying the Senate and including the revised scorecard as part of the submission on revised enforcement for budget year 2014.

Finally, section 112 of the Bipartisan Budget Act establishes a point of order in the Senate against appropriations bills that provide advance appropriations. That act includes limited exceptions to this prohibition including up to $28.852 billion in advance appropriations for programs, projects, activities, or accounts included in a statement submitted by the chairman of the Budget Committee in the Congressional Record. Pursuant to section 112, the list of allowable advance appropriations subject to the limit is as follows.

Accounts Identified for Advance Appropriations. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education: Employment and Training Administration; Job Corps; education for the disadvantaged; school improvement; special education; and career, technical, and adult education. Financial Services and General Government: payment to Postal Service. Transportation, Housing and Urban Development: tenant-based rental assistance and project-based rental assistance.

My counterpart, the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Congressman RYAN, similarly is filing allocations, aggregates, and levels in the House. The two filings will allow the House and the Senate to extend budget enforcement measures for 2014, an important principle of the bipartisan deal that Chairman RYAN and I agreed to last month.

I ask unanimous consent that the following tables detailing enforcement in the Senate for budget year 2014, including new committee allocations, budgetary and Social Security aggregates, as well as adjustments to those levels, and the pay-as-you-go scorecard, be printed in the RECORD.

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