Number: RS22277
Title: Savings in Mandatory Outlays in Selected Reconciliation Acts
Authors: Robert Keith, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: During the past 25 years, Congress has sent the President 21 measures under budget reconciliation procedures; 18 were signed into law and three were vetoed. In the 1980s and 1990s, such legislation often reflected Congress's most significant efforts to reduce the deficit through changes in revenue and mandatory spending laws. In recent years, however, reconciliation has been used mainly to reduce revenues. Most recently, in 2006, Congress and the President enacted reconciliation legislation reducing both mandatory spending and revenues, yielding a net increase in the deficit. Some Members have called for renewed deficit-reduction efforts in the 110th Congress using the reconciliation process. As background on past efforts in this regard, the role of savings in mandatory outlays in several major reconciliation acts enacted or vetoed in the 1990s and in 2006 is briefly summarized. Reductions in mandatory outlays were a significant element in changes made in selected reconciliation acts in recent years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, reconciliation acts reduced mandatory outlays over a five-year period by $75 billion (in 1990), $77 billion (in 1993), $107 billion (in 1997), and $39 billion (in 2006); $249 billion in such reductions were proposed by Congress in 1995, but the legislation was vetoed. Reductions in Medicare and Medicaid generally have accounted for the bulk of savings in mandatory outlays in the selected reconciliation acts.
Pages: 6
Date: December 29, 2006