The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated the impact on the deficit of the Budget Control Act of 2011, as proposed in the Senate on July 25, 2011. The legislation would: Establish caps on discretionary spending through 2021, including separate caps on new funding for war-related activities,
Allow for certain amounts of additional spending for "program integrity" initiatives aimed at reducing the amount of improper benefit payments and enhancing compliance with tax laws,
Extend and expand authority to auction licenses for parts of the electromagnetic spectrum,
Make changes to the Pell Grant and student loan programs,
Reduce certain payments to agricultural producers,
Increase the debt limit by $2.7 trillion,
Reinstate and modify certain budget process rules, and
Create a joint Congressional committee to propose further deficit reduction.
In total, if appropriations in the next 10 years are equal to the caps on discretionary spending and the maximum amount of funding is provided for the program integrity initiatives, CBO estimates that the legislation would reduce budget deficits by about $2.2 trillion between 2012 and 2021 relative to CBO's March 2011 baseline adjusted for subsequent appropriation action.
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