Republicans' New Deficit-Cutting Rules Include a Long List of Exemptions

Republicans' New Deficit-Cutting Rules Include a Long List of
Exemptions

January 4, 2011 - by Donny Shaw

The new House operating rules being proposed by the incoming
Republican majority would generally require all bills that add to the
federal deficit to be offset with new spending cuts. But they have
written in a pretty substantial loophole for themselves. Under the
rule, the "budgetary effects" of a whole slate of Republican
legislative priorities would be exempt from the new offsetting rule,
including their bill to repeal the deficit-reducing Affordable Care
Act.

Here, straight form the rule itself, is the actual legislative
language of all the budgeting exemptions the Republicans are giving
themselves.

(h) EXEMPTIONS.—Until the adoption of the concurrent resolution on the
budget for fiscal year 2012, during the One Hundred Twelfth Congress,
an estimate under clause 4 of rule XXIX may—

(1) exempt the budgetary effects of legislation extending the Economic
Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001;

(2) exempt the budgetary effects of legislation extending the Jobs and
Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003;

(3) exempt the budgetary effects of legislation repealing the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education
Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010; or for deficit-neutral
legislation that solely reforms the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability
Reconciliation Act of 2010 and the payment rates and related
parameters in accordance with subsections (d) and (f) of section 1848
of the Social Security Act (as scheduled on December 31, 2009, to be
in effect);

(4) exempt the budgetary effects of preventing a larger number of
taxpayers from becoming subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax as
compared with tax year 2008;

(5) Exempt the budgetary effects of extending the estate, gift, and
generation-skipping transfer tax provisions of title III of the Tax
Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act
of 2010;

(6) exempt the budgetary effects of legislation providing a 20 percent
deduction in gross income to small businesses; and

(7) exempt the budgetary effects of legislation implementing trade
agreements.

…In sum, the exemptions are for extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax
cuts, repealing Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. "Obamacare"), patching the
alternative minimum tax, extending the Bush-level estate tax rate,
cutting taxes for small businesses, and establishing foreign trade
deals.
Under the rule, these exemptions would apply until a legitimate budget
resolution has been agreed to. That means the Republicans will
probably have several months to hold votes on these issues without
having to consider spending-cut offsets or acknowledge that they are
being financed by adding to the deficit.