No Bias in the Baseline Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8979 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 8979

     To clarify that the baseline is based on current laws and the 
     assumption of continuation of current levels of discretionary 
                appropriations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 10, 2024

 Mr. Cline (for himself and Mr. Norman) introduced the following bill; 
           which was referred to the Committee on the Budget

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To clarify that the baseline is based on current laws and the 
     assumption of continuation of current levels of discretionary 
                appropriations, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No Bias in the Baseline Act''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF BASELINE CALCULATION.

    (a) In General.--Section 257 of the Balanced Budget and Emergency 
Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 907) is amended--
            (1) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the following:
    ``(a) In General.--For any budget year, the baseline refers to a 
projection, based on current laws and the assumption of continuation of 
current levels of discretionary appropriations, of current-year levels 
of new budget authority, outlays, revenues, and the surplus or deficit 
into the budget year and the outyears based on laws enacted through the 
applicable date.'';
            (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(1) In general.--Laws providing or creating direct 
        spending and receipts are assumed to operate in the manner 
        specified in those laws for each such year.'';
                    (B) by striking paragraph (2); and
                    (C) by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph 
                (2); and
            (3) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the second sentence of paragraph (1), by 
                striking all that follows after ``current year,'' 
                through the period and inserting ``excluding resources 
                designated as an emergency requirement and any 
                resources provided in supplemental appropriation 
                laws.'';
                    (B) by striking paragraphs (2), (3), (4), and (5);
                    (C) by redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph 
                (2); and
                    (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the following:
            ``(3) No adjustment for inflation.--No adjustment shall be 
        made for inflation or for any other factor.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 202(e)(1) of the Congressional Budget Act of 
        1974 (2 U.S.C. 602(e)(1)) is amended--
                    (A) by inserting ``and'' before ``(B) the levels''; 
                and
                    (B) by striking ``, and (C)'' and all that follows 
                through ``1985''.
            (2) Section 403(a)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
        603(a)(3)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking subparagraph (G); and
                    (B) by redesignating subparagraph (H) as 
                subparagraph (G).
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