U.S. House Republicans continue to move forward on budget initiatives this week, including an effort by Lawrenceville Rep. Rob Woodall to tinker with Washington’s nonpartisan budget referee.
Woodall's Baseline Reform Act, among other changes, does not allow the Congressional Budget Office to assume discretionary spending will rise each year with inflation. Republicans argue this allows for phantom cuts, with Congress being able to say it's saved money against the deficit when government spending remains flat.
The move comes on the heels of a bill that passed last week by Rep. Tom Price, a Roswell Republican, to force CBO to take into account macroeconomic effects of big bills — designed to give more budgetary credit for cutting taxes. And Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., last week put out his annual budget, which balances in 10 years by cutting $5.1 trillion from future spending projections.
Democrats have been firmly opposed to the plans. Senate Democrats have said they will not put out a budget at all in 2014, because a budget deal Ryan and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., struck in December runs for two years.
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