March 31, 2025
Ms. Tenney (for herself and Mr. Collins) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Rules, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
To amend the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 to provide that Congress may request estimates of legislation from reputable accounting firms for purposes of budget enforcement, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Replacing Exploitative Partisan Estimates with Alternatives by Liquidating Congressional Budget Office Requirements
or the REPEAL CBO Requirements Act
.
Sec. 2. Budget estimates by reputable accounting firms
(a) In general
Section 402 of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1985 (2 U.S.C. 653) is amended—
(1)
by striking The Director
and inserting (a) In general.—The Director
; and
(2)
by adding at the end the following:
(b) Estimate by accounting firms
(A) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the chair of any committee of the House of Representatives or the Senate (except the Committee on Appropriations of each House) may, instead of an estimate under subsection (a), obtain an estimate for any bill or resolution of a public character reported by such committee from a private reputable accounting firm.
(B) Application
(i) In general
Any estimate obtained under subparagraph (A) shall be used in lieu of an estimate prepared by the Congressional Budget Office under subsection (a) for budget enforcement with respect to the applicable bill or joint resolution, including for purposes of this Act, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, any concurrent resolution on the budget, the Rules of the House of Representatives, and the Standing Rules of the Senate (including for purposes of reconciliation).
(ii) CBO estimate not required
If an estimate is obtained under subparagraph (A), then the Office shall not prepare an estimate for the applicable measure under subsection (a).
(C) Definition of private reputable accounting firm
In this subsection, the term
private reputable accounting firmmeans any of the ten public accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board with the largest net revenue during the previous year.
(b) Conforming amendment
Section 312(a) of such Act is amended by adding at the end the following: The estimates by a private reputable accounting firm under section 402(b) may be used by either such Committee for purposes of carrying out this subsection.
.