§933 Paygo Estimates and Paygo Scorecards

Summary

Bills or amendments that change taxes or direct spending must show how they affect the budget. The chair of the House or Senate Budget Committee can write a short statement called “Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation” and ask that it be printed in the Congressional Record before the chamber votes. If a bill includes a clear reference to that statement, the statement controls how the bill’s budget effects are counted for PAYGO rules. For conference reports or amendments between the Houses, the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs can submit a joint statement before the House acts first. The most recent statement printed before the vote replaces earlier ones and only counts if the bill is not changed afterward. In the Senate the Legislative Clerk will read the printed statement. If no valid statement is provided, OMB will estimate the bill’s budget effects when the law is enacted, using the scoring methods and the economic assumptions from the President’s most recent budget. Chairs who ask for special current-policy adjustments must explain those adjustments in their statements. The Congressional Budget Office or OMB must leave out (exclude) certain costs or savings for provisions that qualify under the current-policy rules in law, up to the maximum allowed for the applicable 10-year period, using CBO baseline numbers. CBO must show the excluded amounts separately and update totals of excluded costs. If an exclusion creates extra savings beyond a provision’s cost, those extra savings cannot be used to cover costs that are not eligible for exclusion, and may only offset other provisions that qualify under the same specific rule. OMB must keep and publish two PAYGO scorecards that show yearly effects over a 5-year and a 10-year window starting in the budget year, and an add-on list for items labeled as emergencies. Effects counted during a Congress are treated as if they happened in the budget year, and OMB averages the cumulative total across the 5 or 10 years (divide by 5 or 10 and put that number in each year). Net savings from any law called the “Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act” enacted or changed after February 12, 2010, are not counted. If a provision is labeled an emergency, CBO or OMB must leave it out of PAYGO estimates. In the Senate, a point of order can strike an emergency label, and waiving that point of order requires three-fifths of Senators.