Increasing Baseline Updates Act

Summary#

This bill changes two budget laws to increase the flow of budget numbers to Congress. First, it amends the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act to require the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide at least two updates each year to the budget baseline report, unless the chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees tell the Director not to. At least one of those updates must include the economic data the CBO used to make the update. The bill also says the CBO Director may provide additional updates beyond the required two.

Second, it amends a section of title 31, United States Code, to ask the President to send Congress technical budget data by February 1 each year for the upcoming fiscal year. That data should include up-to-date estimates for the current and prior years and credit reestimates that are in the Federal credit supplement.

What it means for you#

• Members and staff on budget committees would receive at least two official baseline updates from the CBO each year, with one update showing the economic data behind the numbers.
• The President would be asked to provide technical budget data for the next fiscal year by February 1, including updated year-to-date numbers and credit estimates.
• The CBO may still provide other updates beyond the two required ones.

Expenses#

No publicly available information on the bill's estimated costs or budgetary impact is included in the text provided.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information on sponsors' or supporters' stated reasons is included in the text provided.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information on opponents' stated reasons is included in the text provided.