Draft bill would increase CBO's budget scoring window

A spokesperson said Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) plans to introduce within the next few weeks a bill that would allow the Congressional Budget Office to expand the time period over which it calculates the budgetary cost of legislation. A discussion draft of the bill -- which would allow CBO under "certain circumstances" to score bills over a 30-year period instead of a 10-year period -- is circulating in Washington. The bill would allow CBO to include future savings from preventive health services and products when scoring bills. The spokesperson said CBO has considered savings for some preventative health services in previous models of scored bills, but because the office currently uses a 10-year period to score bills, the upfront costs tend to outweigh any potential long-term savings. ...