The Congressional Budget Office has said it expects no
additional costs to the government if legislation (HR-185)
were enacted to put into law a requirement that the Office
of Management and Budget conduct every five years a review
of each federal program focusing on the purpose, design,
strategic plan, management, results, and other appropriate
measures. The measure recently cleared the House Government
Reform Committee.
Said CBO, “Most of the provisions of H.R. 185 would codify
and expand the current practices of OMB regarding federal
program assessments. OMB currently reviews program
performance through its Program Assessment Rating Tool
(PART) which was developed to assess and improve program
performance throughout the federal government. Based on
information from OMB, CBO estimates that implementing this
bill would not significantly increase the ongoing costs of
reviewing federal programs. To the extent that reviews
lead to improved program performance, subsequent legislation
could modify the budgets of federal program operations.”
Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or
revenues, would impose no intergovernmental or
private-sector mandates and would not affect the budgets
of state, local, or tribal governments, CBO said.
A CBO cost estimate often is an important factor in a
bill’s chances for enactment, the policy provisions at
issue aside.
