Budget

No Budget. No Priorities. No Restraints.

On June 22, 2010, House Democratic leaders announced they will not produce or pass a budget for Fiscal Year 2010.  This will be the first time since the passage of the current budget rules of 1974 that the House will fail to pass a budget. 

Without a budget there is no mechanism to restrain Washington’s spending.  The Congressional majority has no budget priorities and no guidance for the future.

As Congressman Paul Ryan says, “No Budget.  No priorities. No Restraints.”

Click here to read the letter I sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging her to allow the House to consider a federal budget.

The Budget Process

President

The President is required to annually prepare and submit a comprehensive federal budget to Congress for the fiscal year that begins on October 1 (31 U.S.C. 1105).

Generally, the President's budget includes estimates of expenditures, revenues, borrowing, and debt in the forthcoming fiscal year and four subsequent fiscal years; policy and legislative recommendations; information on activities and functions of the federal government; and any other information supporting his budget proposal.

The estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations for the legislative and judicial branches of government are submitted to the President by October 15 of each year and included in the President's budget without revision. In addition, under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-62), the President's budget must include an annual government-wide performance plan that reflects the budget and management decisions made throughout the process of formulating the budget.

Click here to view President Obama’s proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget.

Congress

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, as amended; 2 U.S.C. 601-688) provides for the annual adoption of a budget. The congressional budget resolution is an agreement between the House and Senate on a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year and at least the following four fiscal years. As a concurrent resolution, it is not presented to the President for his signature and thus does not become law. The budget resolution, however, provides Congress a framework for subsequent legislative action on budget matters during each congressional session.

The Budget Act specifies that Congressional Action on reconciliation legislation should be completed by June 15.

Responsible Budgeting

Even though the House Democratic majority has refused to produce a budget for Fiscal Year 2011, Republicans have offered for consideration a responsible budget that seeks to limit spending, set priorities, and rein in debt.

Highlights of the Republican Budget Proposal (H.Con.Res. 281):

·        Makes permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) patch; 

·        Proposes that overall discretionary spending return to FY 2008 levels until the budget is balanced in 2019;

·        Provides spending increases for Medicare and Medicaid equivalent to economic growth rates;

·        Requires each House committee to find savings equal to 1% of total mandatory spending under its jurisdiction;

·        Repeals the Wall Street Bank Bailouts, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); and

·        Repeals the health care reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act.

 

Click here to read more about the Republican budget proposal. 

The Looming Fiscal Crisis

Click here to learn more about the spending and debt crisis. 

 

 

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