YesterdayCBO released a brief that analyzes intergovernmental issues in the context of The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA). UMRA focuses attention on federal requirements imposed on state, local, and tribal governments and the private sector that are not conditions for receiving federal aid. The law specifies which types of requirements should or should not be considered mandates, establishes procedures that govern Congressional consideration of such mandates, and directs CBO to estimate the costs of mandates.
July 2009
CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) worked together to produce a preliminary analysis of the major provisions related to health insurance coverage that are contained in draft legislation called the Americas Affordable Health Choices Act, which was released today by several House committees.
Today CBO delivered a letter to Representative Paul Ryan that responded to his request for an analysis of H.R. 2920, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2009. H.R. 2920 is virtually identical to the proposal recently advanced by the Administration. It would establish a new statutory form of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budget enforcementwhich is generally intended to ensure that laws affecting direct (mandatory) spending or revenues are, in total, budget neutral.
Today CBO released a brief that analyzes the effects of changes in the health insurance system on the U.S. labor market. In 2009, about three out of every five nonelderly American are expected to have health insurance that is provided through an employer or other job-related arrangement, such as a plan offered through a labor union.
Today CBO released a letter describing studies by two teams of expertsone affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and one affiliated with Resources for the Future (RFF)that estimated regional differences in the effects of policies that would increase the prices of fossil fuels in rough proportion to the carbon dioxide emitted when they are combusted, as would occur under a cap-and-trade program.
The federal budget deficit was $1.1 trillion for the first nine months of fiscal year 2009, CBO estimates in today's Monthly Budget Review, more than $800 billion greater than the deficit recorded through June 2008. Outlays are 21 percent higher than they were in the first three quarters of 2008, but revenues have fallen by 18 percent.
In response to several requests, CBO has considered the likely effects on federal spending and health insurance coverage of adding a substantial expansion of eligibility for Medicaid to the Affordable Health Choices Act, a draft of which was recently released by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP). (CBOs preliminary analysis of that draft legislation was released on July 2.)
Yesterday CBO released a letter in response to a request for additional information regarding our analysis of provisions of the Affordable Health Choices Act that would establish a federal insurance program for long-term care. Those provisions are called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (the CLASS Act) and are currently under consideration by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
The American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), recently passed by the House of Representatives, would establish two cap-and-trade programs for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. One small program would apply only to hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) while a much larger program would apply to other types of GHG emissionspractically all emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels plus a fraction of other emissions from industrial and agricultural sources.
CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have completed a preliminary analysis of the provisions of title I of draft legislation called the Affordable Health Choices Act, which has been posted on the Web site of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.