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1 Rebecca Heller & Emma Kugelmass, CBO's Agreements to Access Data since September 30, 2024 1 (September 30, 2025)

handle is hein.congrec/cbosagmts0001 and id is 1 raw text is: To provide analysis to the Congress, the Congressional Budget Office requires access to a wide array of data from other federal agencies. CBO uses those data to produce baseline budget projections, economic projections, cost estimates, and reports. Some of those data are sensitive, and agencies that collect and house such data may require a data use agreement to share them with CBO. This report describes the process of drafting such agreements, the agreements that CBO has with other federal agencies, and the successes and challenges that CBO has experi- enced in accessing data over the past twelve months (since September 30, 2024). Some of the most salient challenges relate to agencies' responsiveness, and others relate to the legal authority to access particularly sensitive data. Background CBO has productive working relationships with many executive branch agencies and can often obtain informa- tion simply by asking for it. When it is lawful to do so, agencies can provide the requested information without further steps. Sometimes, however, formal arrangements are required. In those instances, three types of legal authority allow CBO to obtain information: general authority, which broadly requires agencies to share information with CBO; specific authority, which requires agencies to provide particular information to CBO; and other authority, which applies in particular circumstances, such as when the work also benefits those agencies. In 2024, lawmakers enacted two pieces of legislation to improve CBO's access to information: * The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (Public Law 118-89), which amended the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, and * The Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act (Public Law 118-104), which amended the Privacy Act of 1974. The Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (here- after, the Data Sharing Act) clarifies CBO's general author- ity to request and receive information from other federal agencies.' The law also highlights that CBO is obligated to protect data it receives and maintain the same level of confidentiality as the data's originating agencies.2 The law does not supersede disclosure rules that are outlined in statute for certain types of data.3 For example, data that are protected from disclosure under tide 13 or title 26 of the U.S. Code are still protected under those statutes. The Congressional Budget Office Data Access Act (hereafter, the Data Access Act) amended the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a) so that agencies may share Privacy Act-protected records with CBO when requested. The Privacy Act generally prohibits executive branch agencies from disclosing certain records without the prior written consent of the people to whom the records pertain, though it includes specific exceptions. The Data Access Act added an exception for disclosures to CBO because analyses requested by the Congress often require 1. Although the law refers to any department, agency, or establishment of the executive branch of Government or any regulatory agency or commission of the Government, such institutions are referred to as agencies throughout this report for simplicity. CBO also obtains information from nonfederal sources, including state governments and private institutions. Data use agreements with nonfederal entities are outside the scope of this report. 2. See 2 U.S.C. § 603(e). 3. Both the Senate and the President stated that the Data Sharing Act does not override those or other data protection laws. See CongressionalRecord-Senate, vol. 170, no. 140, 118th Cong., 2nd Sess. (September 10, 2024), pp. S5945-S5946, https:// tinyurl.com/5y89c43y; and Joseph R. Biden Jr., statement on signing the Congressional Budget Office Data Sharing Act (September 30, 2024), www.govinfo.gov/app/details/ DCPD-202400853.