The Budget Process-As It's Supposed to Work

Congress has established a process for how the budget process is supposed to work. However, this process has not been followed for years.

Below is a quick synopsis of the process.

• The President delivers his proposed budget between the last Monday in January and the first Monday in February.
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) scores the President's proposed, which estimates the projected revenues and expenditures and the CBO results are compared to the estimates prepared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• The House and Senate pass a Budget Resolution outlining the revenue and spending priorities of Congress. As a Congressional Resolution,  the President does not sign the Budget Resolution.
• Congress passes 12 separate Appropriations Bills authorizing the specific spending by the various Departments and Agencies of the U.S. government.

The last time Congress passed all 12 appropriations bills on time was in 1994. For the last 20+ years, they have consistently used omnibus spending bills and continuing resolutions, where they combine more than one appropriations bills (or all of them), into one piece of must-pass legislation, to fund the government. 

Is it possible there is a correlation between the departure from the established budget process and the increase in annual budget deficits?

The next post will provide a status overview of the Fiscal 2017 budget and appropriations bills.