The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (commonly referred to as the “budget act”) charged Congress with passing an annual budget resolution by April 15.* This year, it did not pass one at all. The resolution is an outline of Congress’s spending priorities for the coming fiscal year. It doesn’t have the force of law and does not actually appropriate money, but it does give limits that must be adhered to in the coming appropriations bills.
The House and Senate Budget committees each write their own version of the resolution*, typically using the President’s budget as a starting point. The committees hear testimony from Administration and agency officials and other expert witnesses before writing the document.
After each committee has passed its budget, the full chamber will vote on their respective resolution. Once the each chamber has passed its individual resolution, a “conference committee” will meet to negotiate the differences between the two documents and combine it into one, called a “conference report on the budget.” That final document will then have to be voted on by each chamber.
As the President does not sign the budget resolution, it does not have the force of law,
*Note: while the House and Senate have failed several times to pass a conference report on the budget, this year – for the first time since the budget act was implemented – the House failed even to pass a budget out of the Budget Committee, let alone pass the resolution in the chamber.
