[2] Twice a year—generally in January and August—CBO prepares baseline projections of federal revenues, outlays, and the surplus or deficit.

They are not forecasts of actual budget outcomes, since the Congress will undoubtedly enact legislation that will change revenues and outlays.

[5] Rep. Paul Ryan argued in favor of that bill, saying that "let's not err on the side of assuming every government agency automatically needs a spending increase one year to the next.

[7] The bill would include estimates for direct spending in the baseline calculation formula for the budget year and each outyear.

[7] The bill would revise 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.

[1] The legislation would change the way in which discretionary appropriations for individual accounts are projected in CBO’s baseline.

[1] The Baseline Reform Act of 2013 was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on May 8, 2013 by Rep.

[8] Republicans argued that the bill would improve Congress' ability to balance the federal budget.

"[10] Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), one of the bill's main sponsors, said that "conservatives have advocated for years that there should be no automatic spending increases in any federal department's budget... that has been a trap so when we simply slow the rate of increase, we are accused of making draconian cuts.

[10] Columnist Bruce Bartlett strongly criticized the bill, calling it an example of "Republican duplicity.

"[11] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Government.