House Republicans Move Toward Macroeconomic Scoring of Major Legislation
House Republicans may change how major legislation is scored in the 114th Congress ahead of possible big-ticket telecom items slated for consideration for coming sessions. GOP lawmakers released a draft version Tuesday of a resolution that would establish rules for…
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the next Congress. Cost estimates for legislation deemed major would have to “incorporate macroeconomic effects,” it said: “An estimate provided by the Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 for any major legislation shall, to the extent practicable, incorporate the budgetary effects of changes in economic output, employment, capital stock, and other macroeconomic variables resulting from such legislation.” Lawmakers in the next Congress have said they want to overhaul the 1996 Telecom Act and may also seek to address net neutrality through legislation. Incoming Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., released several documents Tuesday defending macroeconomic scoring, a concept that was controversial when raised in the past. “The rule defines ‘major legislation’ as any revenue or direct-spending bill that causes a gross increase or decrease in revenues, outlays, or deficits of more than 0.25 percent of GDP in any year covered by the budget resolution,” Ryan said in one section. “The chair of the House Budget Committee and, for purely revenue legislation, the highest-ranking House member on the Joint Committee on Taxation (either chair or vice chair) can designate legislation as 'major' for purposes of this rule if a bill is likely to have a significant economic impact, but does not meet the numerical threshold.” Based on 2014 data, the threshold would have been $43 billion, likely to grow over time, Ryan said. It does not apply to appropriations bills, and in the 113th Congress, only three pieces of legislation would have been subject: the Jobs for America Act (HR-4); the Permanent Bonus Depreciation Act (HR-4718), which addressed a tax issue that the telecom and media industry heavily lobbied on; and the Tax Increase Prevention Act (HR-5771). Macroeconomic scoring will “give members of Congress a better understanding of how their decisions affect the economy,” Ryan said in a document backing such scoring.