The Congressional Budget Office has completed the enclosed estimate of the direct spending and revenue effects of H.R. 4350, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, as ordered reported by the House Committee on Armed Services on September 2, 2021. This estimate is based on the Committee Print 117-13 that was posted to the website of the House Committee on Rules on September 7, 2021.
Enacting the bill would have an insignificant effect on net direct spending and revenues, CBO estimates. Our complete cost estimate of H.R. 4350, including a discussion of discretionary authorizations and mandates under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, will be provided shortly.
Four provisions of the bill would significantly affect both direct spending and revenues. However, those effects would offset overall so that the net effect on the deficit would be insignificant over the 2022-2031 period (see Table 1).
Section 713 would allow the Department of Defense (DoD) to levy fines on providers in the military health system who commit fraud and abuse and would allow DoD to retain and spend those amounts without further appropriation. Fines are classified in the budget as revenues, and the spending of those amounts would constitute direct spending.
Section 703(a) would require DoD to waive beneficiary cost sharing for telehealth services during public health emergencies, which would increase direct spending.
