REPEAL CBO Requirements Act

Summary · Congressional Research Service (nonpartisan)

This bill allows certain congressional committees to obtain cost estimates for legislation from private reputable accounting firms rather than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Under current law, CBO is generally required to produce cost estimates for most bills that are reported by congressional committees. This bill allows chairs of congressional committees (except the appropriations committees) to obtain estimates for reported legislation from a private reputable accounting firm instead of CBO. Under the bill, a private reputable accounting firm means any of the 10 public accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board with the largest net revenue during the previous year. If a committee chair obtains an estimate from a private accounting firm pursuant to this bill, (1) the estimate must be used for budget enforcement purposes, and (2) CBO may not prepare an estimate for the applicable measure.