CHIMPs (changes in mandatory programs)

Changes in Mandatory Programs

Federal spending can be divided into three general budget categories — discretionary spending, mandatory spending (including entitlements and other direct spending), and net interest.
Discretionary spending is determined by annual funding decisions set forth in 12 annual appropriations bills — drafted by the Appropriations Committees and enacted by Congress.
Discretionary spending is controlled by statutory spending caps on total defense and total non-defense discretionary spending; the caps are are enforced by the Office of Management and Budget through sequestration.
A mechanism that is sometimes used to allow additional spending while remaining within the spending caps is called “CHIMPs” or Changes in Mandatory Programs.
CHIMPs are provisions that cancel or delay spending in mandatory spending programs and score as budget savings (or in technical terms, negative budget authority).
Under federal budgetary scorekeeping guidelines, the negative budget score allows Congress to appropriate additional discretionary funds while remaining within the statutory caps.
CHIMPs sometimes draw opposition from: authorizing committees who don’t like the Appropriations Committees making changes to mandatory spending programs; and fiscal hawks who argue that some CHIMPs do not reflect bona fide budget savings. This has led to limits on the use of CHIMPs.
LIMITS ON CHIMPs: Section 402 of the FY 2018 Congressional Budget Resolution (H.Con.Res. 71) places limits on CHIMPs as follows:
- for fiscal year 2018, $17,000,000,000;
- for fiscal year 2019, $15,000,000,000; and
- for fiscal year 2020, $15,000,000,000.

CHIMPs (changes in mandatory programs)

Changes in Mandatory Programs

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