Mr. Chair, this is again dealing with the issue of intrusions on the independence of the parliamentary budget office. I know and really welcome that there are government amendments that will deal with some of this, but the issue is on work plans confining what the PBO can do based on the approval of a work plan.
Amendment PV-6 proposes to eliminate the idea of a work plan.
This is consistent with what we've seen in countries around the world. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office doesn't have a work plan. We don't need to confine the parliamentary budget officer to a work plan. Events can emerge in a fluid fashion over the course of a fiscal year where you would want the parliamentary budget officer to have the capacity to respond to exigencies, such as a natural disaster. The parliamentary budget office brief itself refers to the risk of something unanticipated occurring. You can't anticipate everything in a work plan. You want your PBO to be able to respond and prepare for the House and the Senate the economic consequences of various things. They might be foreseeable, but they might not be the kinds of things you put in a work plan.
My amendment, if it passes, would eliminate the work plan altogether.