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The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 amended the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to add new enforcement procedures for discretionary spending, direct (mandatory) spending, and receipts for fiscal years 1991 through 1995. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 extended the application of those procedures through 1998. The law requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) each year to issue a sequestration preview report five days before the President submits a budget in January or February, a sequestration update report on August 15, and a final sequestration report 10 days after a session of Congress ends. The final sequestration report must contain estimates of the following items:

• The current discretionary spending limits and any adjustments to them;
  
  
• The amount of discretionary new budget authority and total outlays and the amount of any required discretionary sequestration; and
  
  
• The amount by which legislation enacted since the Budget Enforcement Act that affects direct spending or receipts has increased or decreased the deficit, and the amount of any required pay-as-you-go sequestration.

This report to the Congress and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides the required information for legislation presented to the President through the end of the first session of the 104th Congress. Because enacted appropriations have not exceeded the spending limits for fiscal years 1995 and 1996, and because direct spending and receipt legislation has not increased the total deficit for those two years, CBO estimates that neither a discretionary spending nor a pay-as-you-go sequestration will be required in 1996.

This document is available in its entirety in PDF.