Republican Leaders Revise Budget Control Act

The Republican House leadership has moved quickly to update their proposed Budget Control Act of 2011. An earlier report from the Congressional Budget Office stated that the original draft would not in reality cut spending more than it would increase the debt limit, as had been promised by the Republicans. Now….

The bill has been revised to increase outlay savings, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Budget Control Act caps budget authority each of the fiscal years from 2012 to 2021. Budget authority – the authority Congress provides to agencies to spend each year – is set at a fixed level for the next decade under the Budget Control Act. Budget authority eventually results in the actual spending of money, which are recorded as outlays. Outlays are recorded when agencies spend out the money they’ve been provided through budget authority.

The updated legislation makes no changes to the annual budget authority caps, but removes a limitation on outlay calculations that was included in the first version of the bill. This adjustment allows the Congressional Budget Office to provide a more accurate measure of the likely rate of spending. In their new analysis of the Budget Control Act, the CBO estimates that the bill will reduce the deficit by $22 billion in FY 2012, and by $917 billion between 2012 and 2021. Under the bill, the President is given authority to increase the debt, under certain conditions, by up to $900 billion. Based on CBO estimates, the spending savings exceed the amount of this debt increase

And the beat goes on.