Increasing Baseline Updates Act

Increasing Baseline Updates Act

This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to submit to Congress at least two updates to its annual baseline unless CBO is otherwise directed by the chairs of the congressional budget committees. At least one of the updates must include the economic data used by CBO to calculate the update.

(A baseline is a projection of federal spending and receipts during a fiscal year under current law. Under current law, CBO is required to publish the baseline by February 15 of each year. While there is no statutory requirement for specific updates, CBO generally provides an update with its analysis of the President's annual budget request. It has also provided some updates during the summer, depending on the timing of the President's budget request.)

The bill also requires the President to submit technical budget data to Congress on or before February 1 of each year to the extent this is practicable. Currently, federal agencies provide the data to Congress as part of the President's budget request.