July 5, 2001
Honorable Jim Nussle
Chairman
Committee on the Budget
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
At the hearing on June 27, I mentioned the need for a new budget concepts
commission. Enclosed is a list of potential topics for a new commission.
It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of topics, but it gives you
some idea of the kinds of fundamental conceptual issues that should be
addressed.
I would be happy to work with you to draft legislation to establish
a new budget concepts commission.
Sincerely,
Dan L. Crippen
Enclosure
Identical letter sent to Honorable John M. Spratt, Jr.
Potential Topics For A New Budget Concepts Commission
- Budget Coverage: What should be included?
- Is part ownership by government sufficient to make an entity Federal and
to include it in the budget? (Example: mixed public/private ownership of
military housing.)
- Is Federal control of an entity--including control exercised through Federal
regulations--sufficient to cause it to be included in the budget? (Examples:
some kinds of personal retirement accounts and agricultural marketing organizations).
- Are privately-owned assets under long-term leases to the Federal government
effectively purchased by the government during the lease period?
- Should there be an "off-budget" section of the budget?
- Spending vs Receipts: Where do we draw the line?
- Do the total costs of refundable tax credits belong on the spending side
of the budget?
- Should Federal Reserve earnings be reported as receipts or offsetting collections (negative spending) in the net interest portion of the budget?
- What is a "user fee" and under what circumstances is it properly an offset to spending or a governmental receipt?
- Trust Funds: What uses do they have?
- Do trust fund balances provide misleading information? Do they add clarity
or confusion to the budget process?
- Do we need nearly 200 trust funds?
- Is earmarking effective?
- Are there better ways than trust fund accounting to identify long-term
liabilities? Should focus be shifted away from trust fund "solvency"?
- Accrual Budgetary Accounting: Should it be applied more widely?
- Should it be adopted for
- Federal Retirement?
- Federal insurance?
- Social Security and other entitlements?
- Are off-budget accounts suitable for capturing accruals in the budget?
- Federal Credit Programs: Should the 1990 Credit Reform Act be modified?
- Should administrative costs be included in the calculation of credit subsidies?
- Should subsidy costs include a charge for the cost of risk?
- How should reestimates of subsidy costs be financed? (Permanent and indefinite authority or through some alternative?)
- Special Cases: What is the appropriate budgetary treatment of:
- Purchases and sales of financial assets, including equities, bonds, and
foreign currencies?
- Emergency spending?
- The cost of holding fixed assets (cost of capital)?
- Sales of physical assets?
- Seigniorage on coins and currency?
- Policy changes with strong but indirect feedback effects on revenues and
other aggregates?
- Policies that are one-sided bets on economic events (probabilistic scoring)?
- Quota subscriptions and the cost of participating in the IMF?