CBO estimates that implementing S. 310 would have no significant effect on the federal budget. The legislation would amend federal law to prohibit the use of federal funds to pay for official painted portraits of any officer or employee of the federal government, including the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, and Members of Congress. The legislation would not apply to the judicial branch.
Appropriation laws prohibited the use of federal funds for such portraits in fiscal years 2014 and 2015. CBO is unaware of any comprehensive information on spending for official portraits before 2014, but we expect that most portraits about federal officials are for those in the line of succession to the presidency, members of the legislative branch, and military service personnel. The cost of such portraits appears to be about $25,000 per portrait, based on contract awards for a few federal portraits.
CBO estimates that any savings from implementing S. 310 would total less than $500,000 annually because we expect that fewer than 20 portraits would be purchased in most years. Enacting S. 310 could affect direct spending by some agencies (such as the Tennessee Valley Authority) because they are authorized to use receipts from the sale of goods, fees, and other collections to cover their operating costs. Therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures apply. Because most of those agencies can make adjustments to the amounts they collect as operating costs change, CBO estimates that any net changes in direct spending by those agencies would be negligible. Enacting the bill would not affect revenues.
S. 310 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.
