As approved by the House Committee on Ways and Means on April 18, 2012
H. Con. Res. 112, the Concurrent Budget Resolution for fiscal year 2013, as passed by the House of Representatives on March 29, 2012, instructed several committees of the House to recommend legislative changes that would reduce deficits over the 2012-2022 period. As part of that reconciliation process, the House Committee on Ways and Means has approved three separate provisions as reconciliation recommendations. The following analysis presents estimated budgetary effects for one of those three provisions.
This legislation would repeal sections 2001 through 2007 of the Social Security Act, relating to the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) program, starting in fiscal year 2013. SSBG, which is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, supports a variety of programs, including child welfare services, day care for both children and adults, home-delivered meals, disabilities services, and transportation.
SSBG has a permanent authorization of $1.7 billion per year. Spending for this program is classified as direct spending; the program’s funding, however, is provided in annual appropriation acts.
As shown in the following table, enacting a repeal of the SSBG programs would reduce direct spending by nearly $1.4 billion in 2013 and by about $16.7 billion over the 2012-2022 period, relative to CBO's current baseline projections.
