1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress INSIGHTINSIGHTi i Discretionary Spending Levels Under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 Grant A. Driessen Analyst in Public Finance Marc Labonte Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy February 15, 2018 On February 9, 2018, the Bipartisan Budget
2、 Act of 2018 (BBA 2018) was signed into law as P.L. 115-123. Among other things, it raised the discretionary spending caps for fiscal years 2018 and 2019 originally implemented by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25). BBA 2018 reverses $80 billion of the $97 billion of discretionary spe
3、nding cuts enacted by the BCA as amended for FY2018. The BCA and Discretionary Spending The BCA affected discretionary spending in two ways: (1) caps on discretionary budget authority, divided between defense and nondefense programs, which went into effect in FY2012 and (2) $1.2 trillion in automati
4、c spending reductions beginning in FY2013 that included annual downward reductions to those discretionary caps. The caps essentially limit the amount of spending through the annual appropriations process for that time period, with adjustments permitted for certain purposes. Cap levels are enforced t