Glenn Grothman: “There are several things that we ought to be commenting on here. Earlier this week, the House passed the Senate…”

“There are several things that we ought to be commenting on here. Earlier this week, the House passed the Senate companion to my legislation, the Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act. This important piece of legislation will improve the ability of the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, to carry out its responsibilities to the legislative branch and, by extension, to the American people. Under current law, the Budget Act authorized the CBO to collect information and data directly from Federal agencies. This data is critical as it allows the CBO to perform accurate and timely analysis and propose legislation, including calculating the cost of bills and assessing their long-term fiscal impact on our Federal budget. CBO's role in providing this budgetary and economic analysis is fundamental to informed decisionmaking in Congress, particularly as we tackle the challenges of fiscal discipline and responsible spending that the Congressman spoke about from this dais about one-half hour ago. However, despite the statutory authorization for CBO to access agency data, we have seen far too many instances were Federal agencies delay or restrict the CBO's access to the information necessary to perform its duties. Such delays and limitations can significantly hamper the CBO's ability to produce accurate cost estimates or deliver reports in a timely manner.…”