The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act Passes the House
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 7032, the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act, by voice vote. This is the second time this year that legislation with sole House Budget Committee jurisdiction was considered and passed by the House.
Chairman Arrington and Ranking Member Boyle Statements on Passage:
Chairman Arrington lauded the passage of the CBO Data Sharing Act:
“The first step to getting our fiscal house in order is to have timely and accurate cost-benefit analysis regarding legislation.
The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act will cut through the bureaucratic baloney and get the necessary information from the executive branch to provide Congress and taxpayers with accurate and timely cost scores for legislation.
I thank my friend and House Budget Committee Ranking Member, Brendan Boyle, for fixing this part of the broken budget process and leading on this commonsense, bipartisan reform.”
Ranking Member Boyle further praised passage of H.R. 7032:
“For half a century the Congressional Budget Office has provided critical support to lawmakers and committees in Congress, providing us with information on the costs of new legislation and our nation’s fiscal health. And just as they help us, we need to help them by ensuring they have access to the data they need to issue reports and analyses in a timely manner. That’s why I introduced the CBO Data Sharing Act and that’s why I’m proud to see it pass today in a unanimous, bipartisan vote. I want to thank Chairman Arrington again for his support in this effort, and I urge my Senate colleagues to swiftly send this commonsense legislation to the President’s desk.”
Background:
A primary responsibility of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is to provide Congress with budgetary analyses on the impact of legislation it considers. There is a desperate need for reform, as numerous active data-use agreements and shifting legal and regulatory frameworks can hinder CBO’s ability to access executive agency information.
The Issues:
Despite the data access authority granted to the CBO under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the CBO encounters ongoing challenges in accessing necessary data from executive branch agencies promptly and without restrictions.
These constraints delay critically important, comprehensive budget analyses and economic forecasts, hindering lawmakers’ ability to make informed decisions regarding the fiscal impact of prospective legislation.
The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act:
- Maintains confidentiality. expanding access to data, this bill protects sensitive information by maintaining legal confidentiality protections.
- Clarifies CBO’s authority. Amends existing law to clarify and expand the CBO Director’s authority to request and receive data from executive branch agencies.
- Safeguards legislative intent. Includes a provision that prevents future laws from limiting or modifying CBO’s enhanced data acquisition authority unless explicitly stated.
- Implements new reporting requirement. Mandates that CBO submits a report to the House and Senate Budget Committees that details requests made under this new authority and any challenges encountered within a year of the bill's enactment.
The CBO Data Sharing Act passed the House Budget Committee unanimously on February 6, 2024.
A fact sheet on the CBO Data Sharing Act can be found HERE.
Full text of the CBO Data Sharing Act can be found HERE.
