Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 1285 - Higher Education Technical Amendments of 1991

(SENT 3/19/91)
(House)
(Ford (D) MI and 38 others)

The Administration supports House passage of H.R. 1285, but will seek modification of section 9 in the Senate. It appears that this well-intentioned effort to control defaults, a goal strongly supported by the Administration, might inadvertently permit some schools to deny loans to eligible students without sufficient cause. The Administration will work to devise an acceptable alternative.

Scoring for the Purpose of Pay-As-You-Go and Caps

H.R. 1285 would increase direct spending; therefore, it is subject to the pay-as-you-go requirement of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA). Although the bill more than offsets the increased direct spending in FYs 1991 and 1992, no offsets are provided for FYs 1993-1995. A budget point of order applies in the Senate against any bill that is not fully offset under CBO scoring. If, contrary to the Administration's recommendation, the Senate waives any such point of order that applies against H.R. 1285, enactment of this legislation would add to the amounts that must be offset to avoid a sequester in FYs 1993-1995.

OMB's preliminary scoring estimates for this bill are presented in the table below. Final scoring of this legislation may deviate from this estimate/ If H.R. 1285 were enacted, final OMB scoring estimates would be published five days after enactment as required under OBRA. The cumulative effect of all enacted legislation on the pay-as-you-go requirement will be issued in monthly reports transmitted to Congress.

Estimates for Pay-As-You-Go
Fiscal Years
(Outlays in millions)