Summary of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013
December 10, 2013
BUDGET ENFORCEMENT
| The budget proposal authorizes an increase in discretionary spending for fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2015. The revisions for defense discretionary and non-defense discretionary spending are shown in Table 1. Table 1. Caps on Discretionary Budget Authority | ||||||||
| Defense Discretionary Spending | Non-Defense Discretionary Spending | |||||||
| 2014 | 2015 | 2014 | 2015 | |||||
| Current Law | $498,082,000,000 | $512,046,000,000 | $469,391,000,000 | $483,130,000,000 | ||||
| Proposed Cap | $520,464,000,000 | $521,372,000,000 | $491,773,000,000 | $492,456,000,000 | ||||
The budget proposal saves $28 billion over ten years by requiring the President to sequester the same percentage of mandatory budgetary resources in 2022 and 2023 as will be sequestered in 2021 under current law.
PREVENTION OF WASTE, FRAUD, AND ABUSE
Improving the collection of unemployment insurance overpayments
This provision expands the use of the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) to all states so they can recover certain unemployment-insurance (UI) debts, such as overpayments because of fraud or failure to report earnings.
Strengthening Medicaid third-party liability
This provision reinforces Medicaid’s standing as the payer of last resort by letting states delay paying for certain claims—to the extent that it doesn’t harm the beneficiary’s access to care—to ensure payment. It allows states to collect medical child support in cases where health insurance is available from a non-custodial parent. And it lets Medicaid recuperate costs from beneficiary-liability settlements.
Restriction on access to the Death Master File
This provision creates a program under which the Secretary of Commerce restricts access to information contained on the Death Master File (a list of deceased individuals and their Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and dates of death, maintained by the Social Security Administration) for a three-year period beginning on the date of an individual’s death—except to persons who are certified under the program to access such information sooner. A penalty of $1,000 is imposed for each improper disclosure or misuse of information obtained from the DMF, up to a maximum of $250,000 per person per calendar year. The Secretary is required to establish and collect user fees sufficient to recover all costs associated with the certification program.
Identification of inmates requesting or receiving improper payments
This provision gives Treasury the legal authority to obtain Prisoner Update Processing System (PUPS) data and make it available for those programs in which prisoners are ineligible for benefits.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Ultra-deepwater and unconventional natural gas and other petroleum resources
This provision repeals the Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Research Program—a research and development program created in 2005—and rescinds the program’s remaining funds.
Amendment to the Mineral Leasing Act
This provision makes permanent a requirement that states receiving mineral revenue payments help defray the costs of managing the mineral leases that generate the revenue. It saves $415 million over ten years.
Approval of agreement with Mexico and Amendment to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
This provision approves the U.S.–Mexico Transboundary Agreement, which will set up a framework to explore, develop, and share revenue from hydrocarbon resources that lie in waters beyond each country’s exclusive economic zones. Another provision gives the Secretary of Interior the authority to implement the U.S.–Mexico agreement and any future transboundary hydrocarbon reservoir agreements entered into by the President and approved by Congress.
Federal oil and gas royalty prepayment cap
This provision limits the amount of interest payable to lessees on royalty overpayments to up to 110 percent of the amount due.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve
This provision rescinds all available funds in the “SPR Petroleum Account.” This provision permanently repeals the Strategic Petroleum Reserve’s authority to accept oil from Interior’s royalty-in-kind program.
FEDERAL CIVILIAN AND MILITARY RETIREMENT
Federal Employees’ Retirement System
These sections increase federal-employee contributions to their retirement programs by 1.3 percentage points. The proposal affects new employees in the Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) hired after January 1, 2014 with less than five years of service.
Annual adjustment of retired pay and retainer pay amounts for retired members of the Armed Forces under age 62
This provision modifies the annual cost-of-living adjustment for working-age military retirees by making the adjustments equal to inflation minus one percent. This change would be gradually phased in, with no change for the current year, a 0.25 percent decrease in December 2014, and a 0.5 percent decrease in December 2015. This would not affect service members who retired because of disability or injury. Service members would never see a reduction in benefits from one year to the next.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Default Reduction Program
This provision reduces the compensation guaranty agencies receive for rehabilitating a loan from the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) program, beginning July 1, 2014.
Elimination of nonprofit servicing contracts
This provision eliminates the mandatory spending for payments to non-profit student-loan servicers, and instead ensures they will be paid with discretionary funds in the same manner as other student-loan servicers.
TRANSPORATION
Aviation security service fees
This provision increases Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fees and simplifies how the fees are assessed.
Transportation cost reimbursement
Under current law, the Maritime Administration must reimburse other federal agencies for the extra costs associated with shipping food aid on U.S. ships. This proposal repeals that requirement.
Sterile areas at airports
This provision requires TSA to continue monitoring exits from the sterile area at the 155 airports that currently receive this service. The section has no effect on approximately two-thirds of airports.
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Extension of customs user fees
This provision allows the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to continue collecting user fees through FY 2023.
Limitation on allowable government contractor compensation costs
This provision limits how much a contractor could charge the federal government for an employee’s compensation to $487,000.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation premium rate increases
This provision raises the premiums that private companies pay the federal government to guarantee their pension benefits.
Cancellation of unobligated balances
Department of Justice Assets Forfeiture Fund
This provision permanently cancels a portion of the unobligated balances in the Department of Justice’s Assets Forfeiture Fund.
Treasury Forfeiture Fund
This provision will permanently cancels a portion of the unobligated balances in the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.
Conservation planning technical assistance user fees
This provision allows the National Resources Conservation Service to charge a fee for providing technical and financial assistance on the development of individualized, site-specific conservation plans.
Self plus one coverage
This provision allows the Office of Personnel Management to offer a self-plus-one option in the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
