PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Feb 14, 2025
Fair-Value Accounting and Budget Act
This bill requires the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to provide certain fair-value estimates of federal loan and loan guarantee programs. Under the bill, the fair value is the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Fair-value estimates generally use private-market interest rates to estimate the cost of a loan program rather than rates based on Treasury securities.
The bill requires CBO to include fair-value estimates in (1) any estimate prepared for a measure that establishes or modifies a loan or loan guarantee program, and (2) its publication titled The Budget and Economic Outlook. If CBO provides a fair-value estimate pursuant to this bill, the chairs of the congressional budget committees must use the estimate to determine compliance with budget enforcement requirements.
The bill also requires the Office of Management and Budget to submit an annual report to Congress on fair-value estimates of the costs of federal credit programs.
People & committees
Rep. Norman, Ralph [R-SC-5] · R–SC
Legislative record
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Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Sep 8, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-14 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
The proposed Fair-Value Accounting and Budget Act would change how Congress estimates costs for federal loans and loan guarantees, which back repayment of loans. It would require a cost-estimation approach called “fair value,” tied to a referenced accounting standard, and require congressional budget leaders to use those estimates when checking budget compliance. It would also require additional reporting by the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget.
This Act may be cited as the Fair-Value Accounting and Budget Act.
Any estimate prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office for a measure that establishes or modifies any program providing loans or loan guarantees shall provide a fair-value estimate of such loan or loan guarantee program.
the chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives or the Senate shall use such estimate to determine compliance with this Act and other budget enforcement requirements.
The Congressional Budget Office shall include estimates of loan and loan guarantee programs, on a fair-value and credit reform basis, as practicable, in the Office’s publication entitled The Budget and Economic Outlook (or any successor report).
the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit a report, to the Committees on the Budget of the House of Representatives and the Senate, on fair-value estimates of the cost of Federal credit programs.
shall use the definition of fair-value as set forth in the publication of the Government Accounting Standards Board, issued in February 2015, entitled Fair Value Measurement and Application.
When the Congressional Budget Office prepares an estimate for legislation creating or changing a loan or loan-guarantee program, the proposal would require that estimate to include a fair-value estimate of the program. This requirement is conditional on the office preparing an estimate.
Any estimate prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office for a measure that establishes or modifies any program providing loans or loan guarantees shall provide a fair-value estimate of such loan or loan guarantee program.
The Congressional Budget Office would have to include loan and loan-guarantee estimates using both fair-value and credit-reform accounting approaches in The Budget and Economic Outlook or its replacement, as practicable. The bill names these two approaches but does not explain how their calculations differ.
(b) Baseline estimates The Congressional Budget Office shall include estimates of loan and loan guarantee programs, on a fair-value and credit reform basis, as practicable, in the Office’s publication entitled The Budget and Economic Outlook (or any successor report).
If the Congressional Budget Office provides the required fair-value estimate for legislation, the House or Senate Budget Committee chair would have to use it to check compliance with the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act and other budget enforcement requirements.
Part A of title IV of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 is amended by adding at the end the following:
(c) Enforcement If the Director of the Congressional Budget Office provides an estimate pursuant to subsection (a), the chair of the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives or the Senate shall use such estimate to determine compliance with this Act and other budget enforcement requirements.
Starting in 2026 and every year afterward, the Office of Management and Budget director would have to report fair-value estimates of federal credit-program costs to both congressional Budget Committees. Each report would be due within 90 days after the President submits the budget to Congress. The reporting requirement specifies no final year.
(d) Annual report In 2026 and each year thereafter, not later than 90 days after the date the President submits to Congress a budget under section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall submit a report, to the Committees on the Budget of the House of Representatives and the Senate, on fair-value estimates of the cost of Federal credit programs.
Both agencies would have to use the fair-value definition in the February 2015 publication titled Fair Value Measurement and Application, attributed in the bill to the Government Accounting Standards Board. The bill incorporates that definition by reference rather than reproducing it.
(e) Definition of fair-Value In carrying out this section, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall use the definition of fair-value as set forth in the publication of the Government Accounting Standards Board, issued in February 2015, entitled Fair Value Measurement and Application.
The supplied action snapshot, updated September 8, 2026, records introduction in the House on February 14, 2025, and referral that day to the Budget and Rules Committees for consideration of provisions within their respective jurisdictions. These entries do not establish enactment or the bill’s subsequent status.
Source snapshot updated 2026-09-08T19:31:27Z.
2025-02-14: Introduced in House
2025-02-14: Referred to the Committee on the Budget, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-14. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version; the bundle does not establish formal earmark status through accompanying disclosures or reports.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow carve-out, special exemption, or preferential treatment was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion is limited to that version and does not establish absence in other versions or accompanying materials.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Sep 8, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI