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1 1 (2019)

handle is hein.congrec/aqdapp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ~MAY 29, 2019 Answers to Questions for the Record Following a Hearing on Discretionary Appropriations Under the Budget Control Act Conducted by the Senate Committee on the Budget On February 27, 2019, the Senate Committee on the Budget convened a hearing at which Theresa Gullo, the Congressional Budget Offices Assistant Director for Budget Analysis, testified.' After the hearing, Ranking Member Sanders and other members of the Committee submitted questions for the record. 7his document provides CBO's answers to those questions. It is available at www.cbo.gov/publication/55280. Ranking Member Sanders Question. Even with all the spending we do beyond the budget caps is it true that the long-term trend has been that non-defense discretionary spending has been falling relative to the size of the economy since the 1970s? Is it also true that if we do not raise the budget caps that non-defense discretionary spending will be at its lowest point on record next year, and will keep declining from then on? Answer. Nondefense discretionary spending has fallen relative to the size of the economy over the past 50 years. In 1969, such spending totaled 3.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). CBO projects that in 2019 the total will amount to 3.1 percent of GDP and will equal its lowest level as a share of the economy over that period. In 2020, under CBO's base- line assumptions (in which the nondefense discretionary cap for 2020 is not increased), such spending would equal 2.9 percent of GDP. In CBO's baseline projections, which incorporate the assumption that discretionary appropriations grow with inflation when not capped, nondefense discretionary spending continues to decline-to 2.5 percent of GDP in 2029. Question. Since the BCA came into effect, what share of spending due to cap adjustments has been for defense and what share has been for non-defense? Since the BCA came into effect, what share of non-defense cap adjustments has been to respond to emergencies and disasters, such as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2018? Answer. CBO estimates that since the enactment of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), which established caps on discretionary spending through 2021, $683 billion (or 69 percent) of the total adjustments to those caps has been provided for defense activities: $652 billion for overseas contingency operations, $13 billion for emergency requirements, and $18 billion for disaster relief. 1. See the testimony of Theresa Gullo, Assistant Director for Budget Analysis, Congressional Budget Office, before the Senate Committee on the Budget, Discretionary Appropriations Under the Budget ControlAct (February 27, 2019), www.cbo.gov/publication/54988.

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