ANALYSIS
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AN INTRODUCTION TO FEDERAL BUDGETING
The textbook federal budget process follows a fairly regular pattern, but in the last decade Congress and the Administration haven’t always followed the script.
This section of the Campaign’s Web site is meant to provide the reader with a general overview of the budget process and explain some of the hitches that have come up in recent years.
FIRST STOP, THE WHITE HOUSE
In the late summer and fall of any given year, the various agencies and departments of the federal government begin to send the White House their proposed funding levels for the upcoming budget year. The President’s budget office, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), amends and consolidates all of these requests into the Administration’s “Budget Request to Congress.” Political considerations, election year promises and political party platforms are all added to the mix.
The President’s request is sent to Capitol Hill in early February. The unveiling of the President’s budget coincides with the President’s State of the Union address. During this televised address to Congress, the President outlines his budget priorities and uses the “bully pulpit” of the Presidency to make the case for his proposals. The President’s address is normally followed by a week or two of travel by the President. On this tour he usually visits key parts of the country and discusses his agenda for the upcoming year.
CONGRESS TAKES OVER – THE BUDGET COMMITTEES
The spotlight then shifts to the Budget Committees of the House and Senate. These Committees are under no constitutional obligation to follow the President’s request, but because of the Administration’s veto power, the President’s budget is generally used as a starting point for budget debates. Whether or not the White House and Congress are controlled by the same political party also plays a role here, as budget debates tend to be good opportunities to highlight what your colleagues are, or are not, funding. With the House and Senate currently under the control of the Democrats, the President’s priorities may not be a top concern of leaders in Congress.
The Budget Committee’s main objective is to set the overall funding levels for each area of the federal budget. Once the funding caps for Health, Defense, National Security, Transportation, etc., are set by the Budget Committee, the Appropriations Committees in both the House and Senate begin the task of drafting legislative language that falls within these funding limits. This ensures that the final product at the year’s end does not overshoot fiscal constraints.
THE CARDINALS OF CONGRESS
By May of each year, general funding debates are generally wrapped up and the various House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin drafting, debating and passing the separate appropriations bills that fund the government. Chairmen of these funding committees are political powerhouses in Congress as they hold the purse strings for federal projects and programs which can be directly allocated, in some cases, to specific member’s districts.
If everything goes according to plan, most appropriations bills should have passed both the full House and Senate prior to the August recess, when most members of Congress spend a month outside of Washington. Upon their return, “conferees” are appointed for each of the funding bills. The conferee’s job is to negotiate a final draft of each spending measure by working out any differences between the House and Senate-passed bills. These final “conferenced” appropriations bills are then sent back to both the House and Senate for one last up or down vote. Once conferenced bills are passed by Congress, they are sent to the White House to be signed into law by the President.
THE VETO PEN and GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNS
If the President doesn’t like the contents of an appropriations bill, he can veto the entire spending bill and send it back to Congress. Some argue the President should be able to veto only some lines of a bill, and not be forced to reject the entire package, but the Supreme Court has turned down earlier efforts to enact this idea.
If Congress cannot override the veto with a two-thirds vote, they must negotiate and rework the bill until it can be signed into law. If debate drags on past the end of the federal fiscal year, Presidents have forced the issue by refusing to sign spending bills they don't like– thus shutting down the parts of the federal government that would have been funded by the bill.
GLITCHES IN RECENT HISTORY
According to the text books, all spending bills should be passed before October 1st, when the new federal fiscal year begins. If any spending measure has not passed by this date, Congress must use “continuing resolutions” to continue funding the affected agencies or departments until the spending bill is passed. Like most laws passed by Congress, continuing resolutions must be signed by the President to become law.
The appropriations process has become less predictable in recent years, particularly during election periods. It has become more difficult for legislators to come to agreements on spending measures. Contentious spending bills - like the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill (the bill that funds the CDC and other health agencies) are increasingly difficult to pass because they include controversial programs. On several occasions appropriations bills have been passed by Congress and sent to the President in November and even in December.
FY 2007 MAKES HISTORY
Funding debates became so entangled towards the end of FY06, that the Republican leadership in the House and Senate returned from the 2006 midterm elections and worked to pass a continuing resolution until February 2007.
On December 11, 2006, the incoming Democratic Chairmen of both the House and Senate Appropriations committees released a joint statement declaring that they intended to continue funding the federal government on a Continuing Resolution for the remainder of the federal 2007 fiscal year. Read the full text of the statement here.
On February 14, 2007, Congress passed an extremely unusual Joint Continuing Resolution. This measure, on the whole, funds the government at FY06 levels for the remainder of FY07 – nearly 5 months into the FY07 fiscal year. Some minor provisions were included that altered the allocation of funds - providing more or less funding to several sections of the government than were allocated in FY06. Still, this extremely unusual turn of events only drives home the point that the textbook explanation of the federal budgeting process is not always how things play out in real life.
FY 2008
As of November 7, 2007, both the House and Senate have passed bipartisan Labor HHS funding bills that significantly increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Furthermore, these bills have been combined into a final conference report, which is making its way to the President. This conference report contains an increase in funding for the CDC of 6.6 percent over last year's funding level. CPH commends Chairman Harkin and Senator Specter as well as Chairman Obey and Ranking Member Walsh for their recognition of the importance of public health programs.
At the present time the fate of the conference report remains uncertain. While the House and Senate may pass this legislation with a nearly veto-proof margin, it is difficult to determine what will happen if in fact the President decides to veto this legislation as promised.
CPH has worked with a coalition of labor, health, and education organizations to support enactment of the final Labor HHS bill and is working with a number of groups to reach a veto proof vote on the bill. To view the ad created by CPH and the Committee for Education Funding, click here. 54 organizations helped support the effort to place this ad in a prominent Washington-based publication that is often read by members of Congress and their staff. The ad asks members to vote in support of the Labor HHS bill and directs readers to the Campaign's website, where a list of more than 1,000 organizations supporting the bill can be viewed.