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1 Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2018 1 (April 2018)

handle is hein.congrec/cbomaye0001 and id is 1 raw text is: APRIL 2018 Final Sequestration Report for Fiscal Year 2018 In general, after a session of Congress ends, the Congressional Budget Office is required to issue a report that provides estimates of the limits (often called caps) on discretionary budget authority that are in effect for each fiscal year through 2021.1 CBO also must report whether, according to its estimates, enacted legislation for the current fiscal year has exceeded those caps. If so, a sequestration (that is, a cancellation of budgetary resources) would be required. Normally, CBO's final sequestration report would be issued 10 days after the end of a session of Congress. However, because the appropriations for fiscal year 2018 were not final at the end of the first session of the 115th Congress on December 29, 2017, the dead- line was extended until 10 days after the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (Public Law 115-141), was signed into law on March 23, 2018.2 In CBO's estimation, a sequestration will not be required for 2018. However, the authority to determine whether a sequestration is required and, if so, exactly how to make the necessary cuts in budget authority, rests with the Administration's Office of Management and Budget 1. Budget authority is the authority provided by law to incur financial obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays of federal funds. Discretionary budget authority is provided and controlled by appropriation acts. 2. Section 1001 of the Further Additional Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (Division A of P.L. 115-96), delayed the publication date until 10 days after the date of expiration of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 (Division D of P.L. 115-56). That authority was subsequently extended by several laws, most recently the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123) until March 23, 2018, the same date that the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, was enacted. (OMB). Those determinations are based on OMB's own estimates of federal spending. Limits on Discretionary Budget Authority for 2018 The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123) modified the caps on defense and nondefense funding for fiscal year 2018 that were originally established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (PL. 112-25). P.L. 115-123 reset those limits to total $1,208 billion-$629 billion for defense programs and $579 billion for nondefense programs. By law, however, the caps are adjusted upward when appropriations are provided for certain purposes. Specifically, budget authority that is designated as an emergency requirement or provided for overseas contingency operations, such as military activities in Afghanistan, leads to an increase in the caps, as does budget authority provided for some types of disaster relief (as explained below) or for certain program integrity initiatives.3 To date, CBO estimates, such adjustments to the caps on discretionary budget authority for 2018 have totaled $213.0 billion (see Table 1). Most of that amount, $119.8 billion, is an increase to the nondefense cap to account for budget authority provided for emergency requirements. Additional adjustments to the non- defense cap total an estimated $12.0 billion for over- seas contingency operations, $7.4 billion for disaster relief, and $1.9 billion for program integrity initiatives 3. Program integrity initiatives seek to identify and reduce overpayments in benefit programs, such as Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Note: All years referred to are federal fiscal years, which run from October 1 to September 30 and are designated by the calendar year in which they end. Numbers may not sum to totals because of rounding.

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