Revenue Provisions in Annual Appropriations Acts (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Nov. 23, 1998 |
| Report Number |
98-846 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Robert Keith, Government Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Under the standing rules and practices of the House of Representatives and the Senate,
legislation
affecting the revenues of the federal government usually is considered separately from legislation
providing annual appropriations to federal agencies. Coordination of revenue and spending
decisions occurs under the congressional budget process, in which the appropriate aggregate levels
of revenue and spending for a multi-year period are set forth in a concurrent resolution on the budget.
The revenue and spending legislation necessary to implement budget resolution policies, however,
usually is developed under separate and distinct procedures. Notwithstanding this general feature
of the legislative process, revenue provisions are included in annual appropriations acts from time
to time.
During the 1980s and 1990s, revenue provisions have been included in regular appropriations
acts on several occasions. For the most part, these provisions have been relatively minor in scope,
with modest budgetary impact. However, as discussed in this report, four measures enacted in the
late 1990s involved 5-year revenue losses in excess of $150 million. Nearly all legislative changes
affecting revenues during this period have occurred in revenue bills and reconciliation measures
considered under regular legislative procedures, with a multi-year revenue impact of hundreds of
billions of dollars. In some cases, provisions involving offsetting collections with a substantial
budgetary impact have been included in annual appropriations acts, but such transactions are not
counted as revenues.
On the basis of information provided by the Congressional Budget Office, six annual
appropriations acts enacted during FY1991-1999 included revenue provisions: (1) the Omnibus
Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act, FY1996 ( P.L. 104-134 ); (2) the VA-HUD
Appropriations Act, FY1997 ( P.L. 104-204 ); (3) the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act,
FY1997 ( P.L. 104-208 ); (4) the Treasury-Postal Appropriations Act, FY1998 ( P.L. 105-61 ); (5) the
VA-HUD Appropriations Act, FY1999 ( P.L. 105-276 ); and (6) the Omnibus Consolidated and
Supplemental Emergency Appropriations Act, FY1999 ( P.L. 105-277 ). Three of the six measures
were regular appropriations acts; the other three were omnibus appropriations acts. Two of the
measures involved revenue increases (ranging from $25 million to $967 million over 5 years); the
other four involved revenue losses (ranging from $55 million to $516 million over 5 years).
The revenue provisions included in these six acts dealt with such matters as the adjustment of
monetary penalties for inflation; the required use by federal agencies of electronic fund transfers;
newborns' and mothers' health protection; parity in certain mental health benefits; bank insurance
funds; a one-time open season so that federal employees in the Civil Service Retirement System
could choose to switch to the newer Federal Employees Retirement System; a change to the Freddie
Mac charter involving default loss protection (which subsequently was repealed); the extension of
expiring tax provisions; Medicare-related provisions; and revenue offsets.
