H.R. 3578: Baseline Reform Act of 2012

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H.R. 3578: Baseline Reform Act of 2012

112th Congress · introduced 2011-12-07 · Economics and Public Finance · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.

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Official title

Baseline Reform Act of 2012

Plain summary

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on January 30, 2012. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Baseline Reform Act of 2012 - (Sec. 2) Amends the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act) to revise the formula for establishing the budget baseline. Revises the annual baseline, for any fiscal year, to mean a projection of current-year levels of new budget authority (as under current law), outlays (as under current law), or receipts (instead of revenues) and the surplus or deficit (as under current law) for the current year, the budget year, and the ensuing nine outyears based on laws enacted through the applicable date. Includes estimates for direct spending in the baseline calculation formula for the budget year and each outyear. Revises the formula for calculating the baseline for discretionary spending for the budget year and each outyear to eliminate adjustments for: (1) expiring multiyear subsidized housing contracts; (2) administrative expenses of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund, the Unemployment Trust Fund, and the Railroad Retirement account; (3) offsets to federal employees' annual pay; and (4) certain inflators used to adjust budgetary resources in the Act. (Sec. 3) Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to require the Director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), after the President's budget submission and in addition to the baseline projections, to report a supplemental projection to the congressional budget committees, assuming extension of current tax policy for the fiscal year commencing on October 1 of that year, with a supplemental projection for the 10-fiscal year period beginning with that fiscal year, again assuming the extension of current tax policy. Defines "current tax policy" as the tax policy in statute as of December 31 of the current year, assuming: (1) the budgetary effects of measures extending the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003; (2) the continued application of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) as in effect for taxable years beginning in 2011, with a specified assumption for taxable years beginning after 2011; and (3) the budgetary effects of extending the estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax provisions of title III of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Requires CBO to report to such committees, on or before July 1 of each year, the Long-Term Budget Outlook for: (1) the fiscal year commencing on October 1 of that year, and (2) at least the ensuing 40 fiscal years.

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Woodall, Rob [R-GA-7] · 22 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Todd Young (R-IN), James Lankford (R-OK), Marlin A. Stutzman (R-IN), Tom McClintock (R-CA)

Recorded votes

• House roll call 31 (2012): On Motion to Recommit with Instructions, HR3578 (2012-02-03): Failed
• House roll call 32 (2012): On Passage, HR3578 (2012-02-03): Passed

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House amended)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-112hr3578.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/112/hr>

Record fed-us-cong112-hr3578 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong112 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong112