Issue Position: Budget-The House Budget Committee

Issue Position

Brief History

Established during an era of unprecedented institutional reform in Congress, the Committee on the Budget's function derives from the constitutional mandate that fixes control of the nation's purse in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Although Congress has always possessed the legal authority to exercise power over federal appropriations, a formal institutional mechanism to manage taxes and spending did not exist until 1974.

Three developments precipitated the need for a formal mechanism: increasing conflicts between Congress and the President over the federal budget; the challenge of managing long-term programs such as Social Security and Medicare; and budget deficits in the latter 20th century.

The Budget Resolution

The Congressional Budget Act provides for the annual adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget. The annual 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 provides the framework for subsequent legislative action on the annual appropriations bills, revenue measures, debt-limit legislation, reconciliation legislation, and any other budgetary legislation. Specific program determinations are left to the Appropriations Committees and other committees with spending and revenue jurisdiction.

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