What’s PAYGO; And, First Cracks In Budget Deal Kumbaya

For those afflicted individuals like me who actually read legislation, one may have stumbled upon some intriguing language in the “Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019” (P.L. 116-37): Effective on the date of the enactment of this Act, the balances on the PAYGO scorecards established pursuant to paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 4(d) of the … Continue reading What’s PAYGO; And, First Cracks In Budget Deal Kumbaya →

Appropriators Have Work To Do

Now that Congress and the White House have agreed on the FY 2020 top line numbers for defense and non-defense discretionary spending, both the House and Senate need to adjust the numbers they have put forth as their working caps. The House did not pass a budget resolution and instead passed a deeming resolution (H.J.Res. … Continue reading Appropriators Have Work To Do →

Budget Deal Reached; Battle Over FY 2020 Appropriations Continues

As has been widely reported in the media, Congress and the White House agreed on a deal to raise the FY 2020 and 2021 budget caps and suspend the debt ceiling until July 2021. Ostensibly, this clears the way for Congress to send appropriations bills to the White House in September when the two chambers … Continue reading Budget Deal Reached; Battle Over FY 2020 Appropriations Continues →

Possible Preview of Federal Data Security Regulations?

If privacy legislation gets passed by the Congress this year or next (although recent reports suggest a number of impasses between Republicans and Democrats), it might also contain language on data security standards. Such legislation would also likely direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to conduct an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) rulemaking to promulgate regulations … Continue reading Possible Preview of Federal Data Security Regulations? →

House Democrats Surrender on Border Supplemental

This week saw the struggle over and then enactment of supplemental appropriations for the current fiscal year to address the inflow of migrants on the U.S.-Mexico border. Yesterday, the Congress sent the $4.5 billion “Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Humanitarian Assistance and Security at the Southern Border Act, 2019” (H.R. 3401) to the White House. It … Continue reading House Democrats Surrender on Border Supplemental →

FY 2020 Appropriations Starting

It’s a been a while. In any event, it’s a big week. The House Appropriations Committee begins work on FY 2020 appropriations bills even though top-line numbers haven’t entirely been decided in the Democratic Caucus, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) releases its revised baseline on this coming Thursday, May 2. This week’s House Appropriations … Continue reading FY 2020 Appropriations Starting →

Budget Day, Part II

Too bad the budget wasn’t released in February this year, then Groundhog Day jokes would be a natural since the Administration will be released the substance of the budget request today a week after making a splash with its summary and other limited materials. Check here for the Appendix, Analytical Perspectives, Historical Tables, Supplemental materials … Continue reading Budget Day, Part II →

Administration Delivers Another Budget Request Congress Will Largely Ignore

This week, the Trump White House released a summary of their FY 2020 budget request, and, to date, has not yet released the meat of any President’s budget: the agencies’ budget documents and OMB’s materials. Nonetheless, what we can discern from the budget request is that it’s largely the same as the previous two budget … Continue reading Administration Delivers Another Budget Request Congress Will Largely Ignore →

BCA Spending Caps and FY 2020 and 2021

With the Congress and the President having finally agreed on funding for FY 2019, many policymakers in the legislative and executive branches have turned their thoughts to the caps on discretionary spending for the next two fiscal years, especially now that the President’s budget was submitted today. First, it must be noted that these will … Continue reading BCA Spending Caps and FY 2020 and 2021 →