Sponsors (2)
The bill speeds and supplements congressional budget scoring by allowing private cost estimates, trading potential efficiency and technical inputs for reduced nonpartisan oversight, greater politicization and fragmentation of scoring, conflict-of-interest risks, and added administrative costs.
Congressional committee chairs (other than Appropriations) can obtain faster, alternative budget cost estimates from private accounting firms, potentially speeding legislative action and reducing duplicate work for the Congressional Budget Office.
Taxpayers and lawmakers may gain additional technical perspectives on complex financial effects because private firms can provide specialized expertise that complements existing public analysis.
Lawmakers and the public could lose nonpartisan, publicly available budget scoring and see budget scoring politicized or fragmented across committees if private estimates supplant or replace CBO scoring, reducing transparency and consistent enforcement.
Taxpayers and nonprofits may face conflicts of interest when private accounting firms that serve corporate clients produce estimates used for budget enforcement, raising risks of biased scoring.
Congressional committees or taxpayers could incur additional administrative costs to procure private estimates, shifting expenses onto committees, the legislative branch, or ultimately taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permits most House committee chairs to use cost estimates from one of the ten largest PCAOB-registered accounting firms instead of CBO estimates for budget enforcement and procedural rules.
Introduced March 31, 2025 by Claudia Tenney · Last progress March 31, 2025
Allows House committee chairs (except the Appropriations Committee) to hire one of the ten largest PCAOB-registered public accounting firms to produce budget cost estimates for bills or resolutions instead of using the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Those private-firm estimates would replace CBO estimates for budget enforcement across major budget laws, congressional budget resolutions, House and Senate rules (including reconciliation and PAYGO), and the CBO would not have to prepare a separate estimate when a private estimate is obtained. Also defines which private firms qualify (the ten accounting firms with the largest net revenue registered with the PCAOB) and makes a conforming change to allow either budget committee to use private-firm estimates for certain procedural purposes. The measure does not appropriate funds or create new programs; it changes who may produce official cost estimates used for budget rules and points of order.