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Answers to Questions for the Record following a Hearing on the Congressional Budget Office's 2015 Appropriation Request Conducted by the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Senate Committee on Appropriations 1 (May 15, 2014)

handle is hein.congrec/cbo1632 and id is 1 raw text is: MAY 15, 2014 Answers to Questions for the Record Following a Hearing on the Congressional Budget Office's 2015 Appropriation Request Conducted by the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Senate Committee on Appropriations On March 11, 2014, the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch of the Senate Committee on Appropriations convened a hearing at which Douglas W Elmendorf, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, testified about CBO's appropriation request for fiscal year 2015. Some Members of the Subcommittee submitted further questionsfor the record, and this documentprovides the agency s answers. Chairwoman Shaheen Question: Does CBO routinely look back at previous cost estimates and compare those to actual outcomes? Answer: Yes, CBO routinely monitors the budgetary effects of enacted legislation to help improve projections of spending and receipts under current law, as well as to improve cost estimates for new legislative proposals. However, it is often difficult or impossible to determine, even in retrospect, the incremental impact on the budget of a particular piece of legislation. CBO regularly prepares cost estimates for legislation when bills are reported by committees of the House of Representatives or the Senate. In some cases, such legislation is changed before enactment. Although CBO often provides updated cost estimates (especially for direct spending provisions) prior to the enactment of legislation, proposals are sometimes amended after cost estimates are prepared. Moreover, in many cases the actual costs or savings resulting from enacting legislation cannot be identified; they may be a small part of a large budget account or revenue stream, and there may be no way to know for certain what would have happened if the legislation was not enacted. In fact, most of the cost estimates that CBO completes are for legislative proposals that are not enacted, so it is not possible to determine their accuracy. Nonetheless, CBO attempts to look back at previous estimates to discern as much as possible how such estimates compare with actual outcomes after legislation is enacted. A description of the agency's process and a few specific examples are provided below. A Regular Review Process.

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