On or before June 30.... Action to be completed House completes action on annual appropriation bills. In the House, action on annual appropriation bills is to be completed in the House by June 30. The House is prohibited from considering a resolution providing for an Independence Day recess until it has approved all the annual appropriation bills for the coming fiscal year. In the past, action on appropriation bills has not always been completed by October 1, necessitating the passage of a "continuing resolution" to provide appropriations on a temporary basis until the regular appropriation bills are enacted. In the event of sharp revisions in revenues or spending estimates brought on by major changes in the economy, Congress may revise its budget resolution during the fiscal year, thereby altering the spending and revenue totals. While this may be done at any time during the fiscal year, the Congress in recent years has followed the practice of revising the budget plan for the current fiscal year as part of the budget resolution for the upcoming fiscal year. For example, the budget resolution for fiscal year 1986 also revised the budget totals for fiscal year 1985. Oct. 1 ..................... Fiscal year begins. The fiscal year begins on October 1. THE RECONCILIATION PROCESS (LEGISLATIVE SAVINGS AND REVENUE REFORM-SECTION 310) Section 310 of the Act provides for the inclusion of reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution and for the reporting and consideration of a reconciliation bill or resolution. In general, reconciliation language directs one or more committees of the Congress to submit legislation increasing or decreasing revenues, spending credit, or the limit on the public debt. The purpose of the reconciliation process is to require committees to implement the spending and tax policy decisions agreed to in the budget resolution. If the reconciliation directive involves more than one committee in each House, then all committees affected by the directive are to submit their recommendations to their respective Budget Committees which will assemble, without substantive revision, all the recommendations into one package for action by the House or Senate. Reconciliation language in a budget resolution deals only with total spending (including entitlement programs, and credit), and/or revenues, and not with specific program reductions or specific tax measures. Of course, language in the committee report may amplify the committee's intent with respect to programs and functions affected by the reconciliation process. Gramm-Rudman-Hollings codified reconciliation practices that had evolved since its first use in 1980. To the extent necessary to effectuate the budget resolution, the resolution shall direct committees to recommend legislation that achieves specified changes in the amounts of new budget authority, prior-year budget authority, new entitlement authority, credit authority, revenues, or the public debt limit level contained in laws within its jurisdiction. A committee which receives a reconciliation directive consisting of spending reductions and revenue increases is allowed to substitute up to 20 percent of its total amount of savings in spending reductions for revenue increases and vice versa. In the House, a new point of order is created against an amendment to a reconciliation bill or resolution if that amendment's net impact is to increase spending or to decrease revenues. A motion to strike provisions containing new budget authority or new entitlement authority may be in order. The House Committee on Rules may make in order amendments to reconciliation bills achieving deficit reduction for committees failing to submit recommended changes pursuant to reconciliation instructions. June 15 is established as the completion date for reconciliation and the House is prohibited from considering a resolution providing for the Independence Day district work period until the House has completed action on reconciliation legislation for the coming fiscal year. A new point of order prohibits consideration of a reconciliation bill, amendment thereto, or conference report thereon, which contains changes in Social Security benefits. For a full discussion of the reconciliation process and the history of its use, see A Review of the Reconciliation Process, Budget Process Task Force, Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives (Committee Print 1984). SPECIAL PROCEDURES FOR BACKDOOR SPENDING LEGISLATION (SECTIONS 401 AND 402) In addition to the budget timetable, sections 401 and 402 of the Budget Act provide controls over four forms of "backdoor" spending-entitlements, contract authority, borrowing authority, and credit authority. Under the Budget Act reforms, a bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report containing contract authority, borrowing authority, or credit authority is subject to a point of order unless it also provides that the authority is effective only to the extent provided in an appropriation act. In effect, the Budget Act closes the door to new contract authority, borrowing authority, or loans outside the appropriations process. Section 402(a) creates a new point of order prohibiting consideration of legislation providing new credit authority unless that legislation also limits the use of such authority to the extent provided in appropriation acts. The scope of this provision is limited to new credit authority considered after the date of enactment, including any increase in or addition to existing credit authority. With respect to entitlement legislation, the Budget Act provides two major constraints. First, any bill or resolution containing a new entitlement is subject to a point of order (section 401(b)(1)) unless the entitlement is to take effect on or after the first day of the fiscal year which begins in the calendar year in which the bill or resolution is reported. The point of order lies against the entire bill, not just the provision containing the entitlement. Second, any new entitlement which requires new budget authority in excess of the amounts allocated to committees for new entitlements must be referred to the Appropriations Committee for a period not to exceed 15 days (section 401(b)(2)). The Appropriations Committee may recommend an amendment to the entitlement bill in order to limit the total amount of new spending authority provided. The backdoor spending restrictions of section 401 do not apply to Social Security trust funds, 90 percent self-financed trust funds, general revenue sharing legislation (to the extent it is exempted in renewal legislation), and certain Government corporations (exempted by law from compliance with any or all of the provisions of the Government Corporation Control Act as of the date of enactment of Gramm-Rudman-Hollings; December 12, 1985). The congressional budget timetable, together with the new controls on backdoor spending, establishes a tightly woven yet flexible set of new procedures. Despite the relatively large number of statutory deadlines, the Act does not specify every important date-the reporting of the budget resolution in the House, for example. Much is left to be worked out on the basis of experience and the development of practical and flexible procedures. Yet, it was essential, in the view of the drafters of the Act, to set firm dates for key elements of the process. Certain parts of the budget process cannot move ahead unless other actions are completed. For example, appropriations cannot be considered until after completion of a budget resolution or May 15. Thus, failure to complete a particular action on schedule affects later actions as well. In short, the four main phases of the budget process (authorizations, budget resolutions, spending measures, and reconciliation) must be completed by the dates assigned to them in the Act. THE PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT An amendment to the Standing Rules of the House, Public Law 96-78, enacted September 29, 1979, provides that the debt limit for a fiscal year will be the amount specified in the most recently approved conference report to accompany the budget resolution for such fiscal year. The procedure on the House side, first applied in the First Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 1981, integrates the public debt limit into the congressional budget process which, by setting the budget totals, will determine what amount of debt may be incurred and the total amount of debt outstanding. The level approved in the budget resolution then becomes the substance of a joint resolution that is "deemed to be passed" by the House and is sent to the Senate for its approval. In the Senate, the Senate Finance Committee retains jurisdiction over the initiation and consideration of this matter although the budget resolution reported from the Senate Budget Committee would continue to include, as one of the aggregates, the appropriate level of the public debt for a given fiscal year. Accordingly, the Senate Finance Committee and/or the Senate could amend the joint resolution and, therefore, require further action by the House. After final action by the Congress, the joint resolution is forwarded to the President for his signature. Notwithstanding this procedure for consideration of the public debt in the House, the Ways and Means Committee still retains general legislative jurisdiction over the debt and can undertake specific legislative action. ENROLLMENT OF SPENDING BILLS (SECTION 301 (b) (3)) AND MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS (SECTION 301 (b) (4)) Section 301(b)(3) of the Act provides as an option that all or certain spending bills, including both appropriation and entitlement bills shall not be enrolled until after Congress has completed action on any reconciliation measure required in the budget resolution for such fiscal year. This procedure was implemented for the first time in the First Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 1981. It was directed only at bills which exceeded their section 302(b) subdivisions. Its primary purpose was to bring spending measures under effective control of the budget process. Bills which were consistent with the first budget resolution allocations were sent to the President for signature immediately. Variations of the deferred enrollment procedure have been part of the First Budget Resolutions for Fiscal Years 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984. Section 301(b)(4) of the Act provides for the inclusion in budget resolutions of any other procedure which is considered appropriate to carry out the purposes of a resolution. Pursuant to this authority, budget resolutions have in the past included various matters such as aggregrate and functional targets for direct loan obligations and loan guarantee commitments (nonbinding prior to fiscal year 1986), outyear aggregate and functional totals, an automatic second budget resolution (consistent with the prior requirement for a first and second budget resolution for a fiscal year), and sense of the Congress language pertaining to various studies and budget process issues. BUDGET INFORMATION, PROGRAM EVALUATION, AND EFFECTIVE DATES Titles V through IX of the Act provide for a change in the fiscal year; make various improvements in budget terminology and matters to be included in the President's budget; provide for improved program review and evaluation procedures; and specify the effective dates for various provisions of the Act. Much of Titles V through VIII has been repealed since enactment of the Budget Act, with sections either executed or codified. A new fiscal year Title V of the Budget Act shifted the fiscal year from the July 1June 30 to October 1-September 30. The 3-month transitional period was accommodated between the Second Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 1976 and the First Budget Resolution for Fiscal Year 1977. The President's budget Title VI of the Act requires additional information to be contained in the President's budget: (1) the same matters required to be included in concurrent resolutions on the budget; (2) variances during the past fiscal year between actual and estimated revenues and between actual and estimated uncontrollable outlays; (3) cost information with respect to any program for which advance appropriations are proposed; (4) a presentation in terms of national needs, agency missions, and basic programs; and (5) a 5-year projection of various budget matters. The President's budget is to be updated twice annually-on April 10 and July 15 11-and accompanied by a statement of all amendments or revisions proposed after submission of the initial budget. In addition, the Act requires the Executive to submit no later than May 15 of the previous calendar year requests for authorizing legislation for the fiscal year following the immediately ensuing fiscal year. For example, authorizing legislation for programs to begin in fiscal year 1988 (October 1, 1987) must be submitted to the Congress no later than May 15, 1986. Title VI also provides for submission of the current services budget, the purpose and content of which was described in the context of the congressional budget timetable. Program review and evaluation Title VII of the Act authorizes House and Senate committees to conduct program testing or analytic activities or to require agencies to evaluate programs and report the results to them. It also expands the program review and evaluation authority of the General Accounting Office to enable it to provide additional assistance to the Congress. The results of improved program review and evaluation efforts will assure more informed congressional budget decisions. Studies Several provisions of the Act direct the undertaking of important studies of various aspects of the budget process: (1) the Budget Committees are directed to study additional budget reform proposals, improved information for program analysis and systematic evaluation, time limits on program authorizations, and techniques of human resource accounting; (2) the Budget Committees are to make continuing studies of off-budget agencies; (3) the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget are to jointly study, but separately report on, the feasibility and desirability of using advance appropriations for all or portions of the budget; 12 and (4) the Appropriations Committees are to make continuing studies of contract, borrowing, and entitlement authority enacted prior to January 1976, as well as studies of permanent budget authority (which becomes available annually without current action by the Congress), and to report periodically with recommendations to terminate or modify such authorities. 11 The President's budget updates have generally been submitted earlier in order to accommodate markup of budget resolutions. 12 Study competed and filed March 1977. |