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1 1 (April 26, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govzmx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Informing the leI lt dt ince11 S Updated April 26, 2019 Calculation and Use of the Disaster Relief Allowable Adjustment The Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25, hereinafter the BCA) established limits on federal spending, as well as mechanisms to adjust those limits to accommodate spending that has special priority. One of these mechanisms-a limited allowable adjustment to discretionary spending limits to pay for the congressionally designated costs of major disasters under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 100-707; hereinafter the Stafford Act)-represented a new approach to paying for disaster relief. In the past, while a portion of funding for disaster costs had been included in annual appropriations measures as part of the regular funding process, much of these costs had frequently been designated as an emergency requirement and included in supplemental appropriations measures on an ad hoc basis. This new disaster relief designation allowed a limited amount of additional appropriations for disaster costs into the annual appropriations process, instead of relying on emergency designations and supplemental appropriations bills. Calculating the Maximum Allowable Adjustment for Disaster Relief The maximum size of the allowable adjustment, as defined in 2 U.S.C. §901(b)(2)(D), is based on a modified 10-year rolling average of disaster relief appropriations calculated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Annually, through FY2018, OMB has reviewed the past 10 years of disaster relief appropriations. For FY20 11 and before, OMB identified appropriations associated with major disaster declarations for use in the calculation. For FY2012 and later years, OMB relied on explicit congressional designations of appropriations as disaster relief pursuant to the BCA. The top half of Figure 1 shows the appropriations amounts used for FY2001-FY2018 and the allowable adjustment calculated for FY2012-FY2018. The calculated average disregards the high and low funding years in the 10-year data set. If Congress does not fully exercise the allowable adjustment, the unused portion can be rolled forward into the next fiscal year-however, in calculations for FY2012-FY2018, this carryover expired if unused in the next fiscal year. The bottom half of Figure 1 shows how the adjustment for FY2018 was calculated. Annual disaster relief budget authority totals used to calculate the FY2018 allowable adjustment are darker. The Effect of One-Year Carryover A more detailed look at FY2012-FY2018 in Figure 2 shows the impact of this one-year carryover. While carryover allowed for slightly greater use of the allowable adjustment than the rolling average alone would have in FY2013 and FY2017, when roughly $12 billion in carryover was available in FY2015 and FY2016, it expired inised Figure I. Disaster Relief Data and Calculation of the Allowable Adjustment for FY20 I 8 (in billions of nominal dollars of budget authority) Disaster Relief Budget Authority --Allowable Adjustment BILLIONS $40 $20 So DESIGNATED (FY12-FY18) Allowable Adjustment is based on previous years' DRBA: Average of previous 10year DRBA after dropping the highest and lowest years $7.37 HiGHE01T - ~ ~ ~ _ N Ht0D C - * matt N C Source: CRS analysis of data from OMB sequestration reports. Notes: DRBA=Disaster Relief Budget Authority. Figure 2. The Effect of Carryover on the Disaster Relief Allowable Adjustment FY20 I 2-FY20 I 8 (in billions of nominal dollars of budget authority) BILLIONS + Carryover = $20 Allowable Adjustment $15 LUsed $10 $5 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18 Source: CRS analysis of data from OMB reports. $40 $20 So r, 00 M P, OMB CALCULATION https:/crsreports.congress.go,

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