December 10, 2024

Wyden Reintroduces CBO FAIR Scoring Act

Members of Congress would be able to formally consider how bills affect people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, while designing policies that better advance racial and economic equity

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Ron Wyden said today he has joined colleagues to reintroduce legislation that would provide policymakers with standardized data about the effects of their policies across race and income groups.

“With the wealth gap in America only growing wider across race and income, it is imperative that lawmakers understand the  true impacts of new policies,” Wyden said. “This bill will ensure that lawmakers have the data needed to help create a more just and equitable future for Oregonians and people nationwide.”

The law requires the Congressional Budget Office to produce a formal cost estimate – describing how a legislative proposal would affect the federal budget over a 10-year window – for nearly every bill approved by a full committee in the House or Senate. While these cost estimates provide insight into a bill's fiscal impact, lawmakers have limited information about the impacts across racial and income groups. The lack of reliable information about the potential socioeconomic effects of legislation inhibits the understanding of how policies would worsen or improve income gaps and racial disparities. It also undermines lawmakers’ ability to design effective policies that address racial and income inequality and support vulnerable communities.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Fiscal Analysis by Income and Race (FAIR) Scoring Act would:

  • Require the CBO to estimate impacts by race and income – in dollar terms and as a percent change in after-tax-and-transfer-income – for bills that have a gross budgetary effect of at least 0.1% of GDP in any fiscal year within the 10-year budget window;

  • Require the CBO to provide such scores to relevant congressional committees before the bills are reported to the floor, to the extent possible;

  • Require the CBO to prepare a report describing possible methods for conducting analyses by gender to strengthen CBO’s capacity to conduct analyses of the interaction between race and gender.

The CBO FAIR Scoring Act has been endorsed by The Washington Center for Equitable Growth, Our Revolution, Indivisible, Coalition on Human Needs.

In addition to Wyden, Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., along with Representatives Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., reintroduced the legislation. 

The text of the bill is here.