Statement for the Record Regarding CBO’s Appropriation Request for Fiscal Year 2017
Report
CBO Director Keith Hall provided a statement on CBO’s appropriation request for fiscal year 2017 to the Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives.
CBO is asking for appropriations of $47.6 million for fiscal year 2017. That amount represents an increase of $1.1 million, or 2.4 percent, from the $46.5 million provided to CBO for 2016.
About one-third of the requested increase, $391,000, would fund three new full-time-equivalent positions (FTEs), which would boost the agency’s staffing from 235 to 238. The additional FTEs would be devoted to analyzing health care issues and the economic effects of federal tax and spending policies (including the “dynamic analysis” of certain legislation, as required by the budget resolution). Interest in modifying or replacing the Affordable Care Act and considering changes to Medicare or Medicaid remains high, and CBO expects to devote considerable attention to further developing its capacity to conduct dynamic analysis in the coming year. Additional resources to address those needs would be helpful in producing, documenting, and explaining CBO’s work in those areas.
The remaining $746,000 (accounting for an increase of 1.6 percent) would fund ongoing operations, covering an increase of $807,000 in pay and benefits partly offset by a decrease of about $61,000 in nonpay expenditures. The proposed increase in pay and benefits reflects small
increases in average pay and rising costs of benefits. The decrease in nonpay expenditures derives mostly from holding spending on information technology (IT) to the same amount that has been provided in 2016.
Of the requested funding for 2017, 91 percent would support pay and benefits, 6 percent would be for IT, and 3 percent would go toward purchases of data, training, office supplies, and other items.
