Max Baucus: “under the Budget Act, the Budget Committee is the authority on scoring matters. Section 312(a) of the Budget Act…”

“under the Budget Act, the Budget Committee is the authority on scoring matters. Section 312(a) of the Budget Act provides in relevant part that ``the levels of . . . revenues for a fiscal year shall be determined on the basis of estimates made by the Committee on the Budget . . . the Senate, as applicable.'' In practice, this means that the Presiding Officer will turn to the chair of the Budget Committee for projections of dollars and cents effects of the legislation. In practice, the chair of the Budget Committee tends to rely on the Joint Committee on Taxation for revenue estimates. I have let the chairman of the Budget Committee know that I was going to propound this inquiry. I believe the chairman of the Budget Committee concurs that the Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that I have just cited are authoritative. I have a series of parliamentary inquiries. Is it not true that by virtue of section 313(b)(1)(E) of the Budget Act, section 313(b)(1)(E) of the act--part of the Byrd rule--applies to conference reports? The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.”