Description:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reviewed H.R. 6684, the Spending Reduction Act of 2012, as posted on the Web site of the House Committee on Rules on December 19, 2012.
Assuming enactment around January 1, 2013, CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that enacting H.R. 6684 would yield net deficit reduction of $217.7 billion over the 2013-2022 period. That figure reflects changes in direct spending and revenues from provisions that would yield gross estimated budgetary savings of $314.5 billion through 2022, partially offset by a cost of $96.8 billion through 2022 for the sequester replacement provisions in title VII of the legislation.
Further, the legislation would specify a cap on total discretionary budget authority for 2013 that is $19.1 billon lower than the total funding level of $1,047 billion that could be provided under current law. However, because any effect of that adjustment would be subject to future appropriation actions, there would be no impact on direct spending from that change in the cap on 2013 funding.
The legislation posted by the Rules Committee is a modified version of legislation passed by the House on May 10, 2012, as H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act of 2012. (CBO provided an estimate of the effects of that legislation on May 9, 2012.)
