The Congressional Budget Office has said sequestration is not required because appropriations for both defense and nondefense programs for fiscal year 2016 do not exceed the caps on discretionary budget authority.CBO said in the August 2016 report that FY 2016 appropriations for defense and nondefense initiatives based on Office of Management and Budget estimates are respectively equivalent to the $606.9 billion and $543 billion adjusted caps for 2016.
CBO said adjustments to discretionary budget limits for 2016 reached a total of $83.3 billion and those adjustments to the cap include overseas contingency operations, disaster relief and program integrity initiatives such as Supplemental Security Income, disability insurance, Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicare and Medicaid programs.
The report noted that caps set in the Budget Control Act of 2011 for both defense and nondefense programs will climb from $1.16 trillion in fiscal 2018 to $1.23 trillion in fiscal 2021.
The agency also predicts the overall cap on discretionary budget authority will decrease from $1.07 trillion in FY 2017 to approximately $1.064 trillion in FY 2018, and then grow to approximately $1.14 billion by FY 2021.
