Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Proposed Changes in Budget Rules
Overview • The "Pay-As-You-Go" Rule
Discretionary Spending Caps • Entitlement Caps • Other Budget Process Proposals

•	Problems With the Budget Enforcement Bill Coming to the House Floor, Revised 6/24/04
•	Key Issues and Threats in the House Budget Process Debate, Revised 6/7/04
•	House Budget Committee Process Proposal Would Not Restrain Those Areas of the Budget that Have Contributed Most to the Deficits, 3/18/04

The "Pay-As-You-Go" Rule

•	House Budget Committee Pay-As-You-Go Proposal Would Exempt All Tax Cuts and Make a Mockery of Efforts to Restore Fiscal Discipline, Revised 6/23/04
•	Too Good To Be True: Tax Cuts Do Not Pay For Themselves, Revised 3/22/04
•	Joint Statement In Support Of Restoring Pay-As-You-Go Budget Enforcement For Tax Cuts And Entitlements, 4/20/04 This statement was issued jointly by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Concord Coalition, The Committee for Economic Development, and The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Proposed Caps on Annually Appropriated (or Discretionary) Programs

•	House Budget Committee's Discretionary Spending Cap Proposal Represents Unsound Policy, Revised 3/25/04
•	House Budget Committee Adopts Severe Five-Year Caps On Discretionary Programs, Revised 3/24/04
•	Capping Appropriations: Administration's Proposal Regarding Discretionary Caps Likely to Prove Inequitable and Ineffective, 3/1/04

Proposed Caps on for Entitlement Programs

•	Hensarling Entitlement Cap Amendment Would Require Deep Cuts In Entitlement Programs , 6/24/04

•	Entitlement Cap Proposal Would Require Cuts of $1.8 Trillion Over the Next Ten Years, 3/16/04
•	Claims That Proposed Entitlement Cap Would Shield Medicare And Not Cause Massive Cuts Are Incorrect, 6/9/04
•	How Automatic Cuts Would Be Implemented Under Entitlement Cap Proposals The House May Consider Next Week, 6/9/04

Other Budget Process Proposals

•	Hensarling Substitute Would Mandate Massive Domestic Program Cuts, While Sanctioning Unlimited Tax Cuts, 6/24/04

•	Kirk Amendment To Budget Bill Would Require Large Domestic Program Cuts While Exempting Tax Cuts From Fiscal Discipline, Revised 6/23/04

•	A Lockbox For Savings From Cuts In Appropriations and Entitlement Bills Would Be Likely To Do More Harm Than Good, Revised 6/24/04
•	"Joint Budget Resolution" Could Lead to Gridlock on Appropriations and Shift Power to the Executive Branch, Revised 6/24/04
•	Proposal for Automatic Continuing Resolutions Would Likely Make it Harder to Pass Regular Appropriations Bills, Revised 6/24/04
•	Proposal For a "One-Page Budget Resolution" Poses Significant Problems, Revised 6/24/04
•	Redefining the Debt Ceiling Poses Unnecessary Risks, 6/22/04
•	Proposal Would Require CBO To Lower the Baseline For Discretionary Programs By $1 Trillion Over the Next Ten Years, 6/22/04
•	75-Year Pay-As-You-Go Proposal Could Adversely Affect Social Security, Medicare, SSI, Veterans' Disability, and Other Programs, 6/11/04

Updated June 24, 2004

Current Issue in Depth: Tax FAQ


	Putting Social Security Reform Into Context
	How Federal Policies Affect State Budgets
	State Tax and Expenditure Limits
	Housing Voucher Program


	Tax Returns: Assessing Bush's Record
	Passing Down the Deficit
	Mid-Term and Long-Term Deficit Projections