The proposed House Rules package includes a number of interim budget measures until Congress adopts a budget for the Federal government. The proposal would give the Chairman of the Budget Committee the authority to file temporary enforceable budget limits. This authority has been granted in the past. The House granted this same authority to the House Budget Committee Chairman in the late 1990s.

Congress bases its budget levels on Congressional Budget Office estimates and projections. We will not get CBO’s revised baseline projections until the end of January. When we get those projections, as outlined in the House Republicans’ Pledge to America, I plan to file a discretionary spending limit that would take non-security spending back to its pre-bailout, pre-stimulus spending levels. Other Federal spending and revenue levels will be established as outlined in the Congressional Budget Office’s forthcoming baseline, with the adjustments provided in the Rules package to prevent taxes from rising and to make possible a repeal of the costly health care overhaul.