CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS 2011 NARFE LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE March

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS 2011 NARFE LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE March 2011 – Alan Lopatin and Julie Tagen

PRESIDENT SUBMITS BUDGET On or before the first Monday in February the president submits to Congress a detailed budget request for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1 st. Legislators have less control over MANDATORY spending which is devoted to entitlement spending is subject to annual approval by Congress

ON TO CONGRESS ü Once the President lays out his proposal, the House and Senate budget committees can begin writing their budget resolutions. ü The budget resolution sets targets for spending and tax revenue and identifies any policies that will need to move through reconciliation. ü The resolutions are sent to the floor for a vote, and differences are resolved in conference. ü These are Concurrent Resolutions which will not be signed by the President. They are blueprints that are enforced by House and Senate Rules.

CONGRESS TAKES THE BALL HOUSE FLOOR VOTE SENATE FLOOR VOTE

FOLLOWING TWO TRACKS ü The appropriations committees decide how the discretionary allocation will be spent. ü The authorizing committees grapple with the spending that occurs through entitlement programs and make decisions about appropriate levels of federal revenues.

FOLLOWING TWO TRACKS HOUSE SENATE FLOOR VOTE MANDATORY Authorizing Committee DISCRETIONARY Appropriations Committee MANDATORY Authorizing Committee

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE ü The appropriations committees divide the aggregate discretionary spending total provided by the budget resolution among each of their subcommittees. DIVIDING THE TOTAL ü Each Subcommittee conductions hearings on the programs under their jurisdiction and votes out a bill. The full appropriations committee marks up the bill and sends it to the floor. Both chambers pass their bills and iron out the difference in conference.

FOLLOWING TWO TRACKS HOUSE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE 12 VOTES 12 CONFERENCE COMMITTEES

FINAL BILL GOES TO THE PRESIDENT ü The House and Senate vote again, and the conference report is sent to the president for signature or veto. ü All of the appropriations bills are supposed to be signed by the president by October 1, but that rarely happens. ü To avoid a government shutdown, a series of continuing resolutions are approved to continue funding the agencies at their current levels.

HOUSE SENATE 12 CONFERENCE COMMITTEES FLOOR VOTE

RECONCILIATION AND OMNIBUS LEGISLATION ü Reconciliation occurs if Congress needs to legislate policy changes in MANDATORY spending or tax laws to meet annual targets laid out in the budget resolution. ü The resolution requires the relevant authorizing committees to come up with a plan and report back to the budget committees. ü The budget committees combine all of the authorizing plans into an omnibus package and send it to the floor for a vote. ü The House and Senate work out differences in conference, vote again and send the final version to the president for signature or veto.

RECONCILATION LEGISLATION HOUSE SENATE AUTHORIZING COMMITTEES BUDGET COMMITTEE FLOOR VOTE Conference Committee

DEBT LIMIT 2011

ü The deficit is the fiscal year difference between what the government takes in from taxes and other revenues, called receipts, and the amount of money the government spends, called outlays. ü You can think of the total debt as accumulated deficits. Deficit spending requires the U. S. Treasury to borrow money to raise cash needed to keep the government operating. The Treasury borrows money by selling securities like treasury bills, notes, bonds and savings bonds to the public. ü The treasury securities issued to the public and to the government trust funds (like the Civil Service Retirement & Disability Trust Fund) then becomes part of the total debt.