Should Congress Raise Budget Caps for Defense & Non-Defense Spending the Next Two Years? (H.R. 2021)

What is H.R. 2021?

(Updated April 28, 2019)

This bill — the Investing for the People Act — would increase budget caps for defense and non-defense discretionary spending by equal amounts in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. It’d set the defense cap at $664 billion for 2020 and $680 billion for 2021, while the non-defense cap would be $631 billion for 2020 and $646 billion for 2021. Further, the budget cap for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) would be set at $8 billion for non-defense and $69 billion for defense in both 2020 and 2021. Without congressional action, budget caps for defense and non-defense would face a $125 billion cut from their FY2019 level.

This bill would also direct the chairman of the House budget committee to submit for publication in the Congressional Record appropriations levels broken down by category, aggregate spending levels, and aggregate revenue levels based on the caps this bill would establish. This legislation would require those spending allocations, aggregates, and levels to be treated as if they were included in a concurrent budget resolution.

Additionally, the bill would make two adjustments to spending caps: for Internal Revenue Service (IRS) enforcement activities in fiscal years 2020 and 2021; and to account for cyclical expenses in FY2020 associated with the 2020 Census.

Argument in favor

Congress needs to raise budget caps to prevent steep cuts to defense and non-defense discretionary spending this year. This bill would make needed investments across the board for the American people and bring certainty to the budgeting process for the next two years, setting the stage for a future spending deal that keeps government open through next year.

Argument opposed

Unlike past bipartisan efforts to raise spending caps, this bill will fail because it was written without input from Republicans and the White House. And this bill fails to satisfy the constitutional duty of Congress to adopt a budget because it merely references top-line budget caps and tells the Budget committee to come back later with specifics.

Impact

Congress; and the federal government.

Cost of H.R. 2021

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY) introduced this bill to set discretionary budget caps for the next two years:

“Congress owes the American people a government — and a budget — that works. The Investing for the People Act lays out a responsible framework for the country that ensures we make the needed investments for American families, our economy and our security. By moving this bill forward, we will bring responsible governing back to the budget process, avoid uncertainty and the unrelenting threats of a government shutdown, and meet our obligations to the American people.”

House Republicans opposed this bill in committee and offered the following dissent in the committee report:

“We are disappointed with Committee Democrats’ approval of H.R. 2021 and will oppose this bill moving forward. In lieu of drafting a budget resolution — the chief responsibility of the Budget Committee — House Democrats are taking a short cut, advancing legislation that fails to address — and, in fact, worsens — our nation’s grave fiscal challenges, threatens our national security, and has no chance of becoming law… All of our amendments were excluded from this bill. Beyond these significant policy concerns, H.R. 2021 is missing the key ingredients that past discretionary spending cap increases have had, including bipartisan input, White House participation, and a plan to offset spending. With a Republican-led Senate and White House, this proposal has no chance of being signed into law, wasting an opportunity to responsibly fund our priorities and protect the American people.”

The House Budget Committee passed this bill on a party-line vote of 19-17.

Media:

• House Budget Committee Press Release

• House Budget Committee Section-by-Section

• House Budget Committee Report