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I've uploaded the official Summary of the Chairman's Mark here. Particularly worth noticing is the degree to which Conrad's rhetoric echoes the Obama administration's preferred messaging -- the title is literally "Laying Foundation for Long-Term Economic Security With Investments in Energy, Education, and Health Care, Cutting Deficit in Half by 2012 and by Two-Thirds by 2014" -- and the final page, where he explains his decision to return to the five-year spending window.
As part of its effort to increase transparency, the Obama administration returned to the practice of presenting a 10-year budget this year. However, the economic volatility we are experiencing has significantly increased the level of uncertainty surrounding current economic forecasts. The Chairman’s Mark, therefore, follows the more common practice – and the statutory requirement – of presenting a five-year budget plan. The reality is we simply don’t know how long the current downturn will last and how severe it will be. And the uncertainty surrounding our near-term economic projections makes long-term projections even more uncertain than they normally are.That's not a crazy rationale. And Conrad's being usefully sneaky here. He's preserved the operational advantage of the 10-year window by building the paygo rules around an 11-year offset. That gives early investments time to mature and pay off. But he's cut out the downside of projecting the deficit over 10 years rather than five by simply deciding he wouldn't project it over 10. It basically sets up a situation where Congress can spend long-term but projects short-term. We're buying for 10 years but only seeing the price tag of five.
