As Republicans assume full control of Congress in the new year, President Obama’s veto pen will make it difficult for them to enact sweeping domestic policy changes immediately. Even so, they will have an opportunity to make important changes to the way legislation is evaluated in Washington — which could pave the way for advancing longer-term policy reforms down the road.

Currently, any major piece of legislation making its way through Congress is evaluated by the Congressional Budget Office to determine how the federal government’s fiscal picture would change if that legislation became law. These CBO analyses, or scores, are extremely influential. A CBO score that shows a given piece of legislation would explode the deficit, for instance, could instantly kill its chances of passage.