SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-BUDGET YEAR TOTAL 2003

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-BUDGET YEAR TOTAL 2004

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-BUDGET YEAR TOTAL 2004-Continued

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-5-YEAR TOTAL: 2004-2008

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-10-YEAR TOTAL: 2004-2013

SENATE COMMITTEE BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OUTLAY ALLOCATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET ACT-10-YEAR TOTAL: 2004-2013-Continued

V: BUDGET RESOLUTIONS: ENFORCEMENT AND OTHER PROVISIONS

A budget resolution does not become law and cannot amend law. However, a budget resolution's miscellaneous provisions can affect the consideration of legislation to implement and enforce the underlying policy assumptions contained in such resolution. The Committee-reported resolution contains a number of provisions that implement policies assumed in this resolution.

Title I of the Committee-reported resolution contains a provision to focus attention on the levels of debt held by the public. Section 101(6) provides advisory debt held by the public levels.

Section 102(c) shows (for informational purposes only) the level of budget authority and outlays for Social Security administrative expenses. These expenses, as is the case with all expenditures from the Social Security trust funds are off-budget; however, for scoring purposes they are counted against the discretionary spending limits because they are provided annually in appropriations acts.

Title II of the Committee-reported resolution contains 14 sections that either modify budget procedures for consideration of legislation or authorize the Chairman of the Budget Committee to alter the levels in the budget resolution to accommodate Senate consideration of certain legislation.

Each of these sections are discussed in more detail below. Many of these sections make reference to the terms “on-budget” and “deficit." Congress, the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office generally distinguish between on-budget and off-budget activities in the federal budget. "On-budget” means the receipts and disbursements of all Federal government accounts, funds, and functions except the receipts and disbursements of the two Social Security trust funds and the Postal Service.

TITLE II: ENFORCEMENT

Subtitle A: General Enforcement

Section 201: Extension of supermajority enforcement

This section of the Committee-reported resolution extends the 60vote requirement for waivers and appeals with respect to those Budget Act points of order for which this requirement expired on

September 30, 2002 (and was temporarily extended through April 15, 2003 in S. Res. 304, 107th Congress) for 5 years (until September 30, 2008).

Section 202: Discretionary spending limits in the Senate

The Committee-reported resolution sets out congressional discretionary spending limits for the first two years covered by the budget resolution (FY 2004 and 2005) with respect to both budget authority and outlays. It also sets limits for FY 2003 because no FY 2003 budget resolution was ever adopted. Since the advent of statutory discretionary spending limits in 1990, a majority of budget resolution conference reports have included language dealing with "congressional caps".1

The Committee-reported resolution provides that the following amounts will be the discretionary spending limits:

For fiscal year 2003: $764.360 billion in new budget authority and $766.867 billion in outlays for the discretionary category; $31.264 billion in outlays for the highway category, and $1.436 billion in new budget authority and $6.551 billion in outlays for the transit category, for a total of $765.796 billion in new budget authority and $804.682 billion in outlays.

For fiscal year 2004: $782.794 billion in new budget authority and $795.542 billion in outlays for the discretionary category; $31.095 billion in outlays for the highway category, and $1.461 billion in new budget authority and $6.634 billion in outlays for the transit category, for a total of $784.255 billion in new budget authority and $833.271 billion in outlays.

For fiscal year 2005: $813.322 billion in new budget authority and $811.174 billion in outlays for the discretionary category; $32.034 billion in outlays for the highway category, and $1.488 billion in new budget authority and $6.726 billion in outlays for the transit category, for a total of $814.810 billion in new budget authority and $849.934 billion in outlays.

The Committee-reported resolution also provides for a number of so-called cap adjustments. The cap adjustments permit the Chairman of the Committee on the Budget to increase the spending limit, the section 302(a) allocations to the Committee on Appropriations, and any other appropriate levels in the resolution if an appropriations bill provides additional resources for the programs specified in the adjustment. The resolution provides that spending and allocations may be adjusted for: (1) emergency spending, (2) funding for Part B grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and (3) highway programs.

These discretionary spending limits are enforced by a 60-vote point of order on two fronts: (1) there will be a point of order against the FY 2005 budget resolution if it exceeds the limits set in this resolution (or against any revision to the FY 2004 resolution

1 See: section 12(b) of H. Con. Res. 64 (103rd Cong.) the FY 1994 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; section 24 of H. Con. Res. 218 (103rd Cong.) the FY 1995 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; Section 201 of H. Con. Res. 67 (104th Cong.) the FY 1996 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; Section 301 of H. Con. Res. 178 (104th Cong.) the FY 1997 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; Section 201 of H. Con. Res. 84 (105th Cong.) the FY 1998 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget (all establishing multiyear caps); Section 206 of H. Con. Res. 290 (106th Cong.) the FY 2001 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; Section 203 of H. Con. Res. 83 (107th Cong.) the FY 2002 Concurrent Resolution on the Budget (both providing a mechanism to accommodate an increase to the current year's statutory cap).

that does so) and (2) there will be a point of order against any appropriations bill that causes the discretionary limits to be exceeded. Section 203: Restriction on advance appropriations in the Senate

The Committee-reported resolution once again includes language limiting the use of advance appropriations. This restriction was first included in the FY 2001 budget resolution and was included and revised in the FY 2002 resolution as well. The Committee-reported resolution continues to limit advance appropriations to an annual limit of $23.158 billion with respect to both the FY 2004 and 2005 appropriations bills and to those programs, which are listed in the statement of managers accompanying the conference report on the budget resolution. The resolution also continues the exception for advances with respect to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The list of permissible advances is as follows:

Interior

ACCOUNTS IDENTIFIED FOR ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS

Elk Hills

Labor, HHS

Employment and Training Administration

Education for the Disadvantaged

School Improvement

Children and Family Services (Head Start)

Special Education

Vocational and Adult Education

Treasury, Postal

Payment to Postal Service

Veterans', HUD

Section 8 Renewals

Section 204: Emergency Legislation

With respect to emergency spending, the Committee-reported resolution addresses two issues: the ability to designate spending as an emergency and the restatement of the Senate point of order with respect to the use of that designation.

The authority to designate spending as an "emergency" existed as a part of the statutory discretionary spending limits and the pay-as-you-go rules set out in sections 251 and 252 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. The purpose of the designation was to create a "safety valve" for unexpected, emergency expenditures with respect to the sequestration mechanism which served as the underlying enforcement mechanism for the caps and PAYGO. With the expiration of section 251 on September 30, 2002 and the de facto expiration of section 252 by virtue of setting the scorecard to zero for all fiscal years, the Committee-reported resolution reestablishes the authority of Congress to designate spending and revenue changes as an emergency. In doing so, the resolution specifies the criteria used in the definition of an emergency and requires committee reports and statements of managers to justify the use of emergency designations vis a vis these criteria. The criteria are as follows: