![handle is hein.crs/crsabar0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code 98-814
Updated August 12, 2008
Budget Reconciliation Legislation:
Development and Consideration
Bill Heniff Jr.
Analyst on the Congress and Legislative Process
Government and Finance Division
Budget reconciliation is an optional two-step process, provided by the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344, 2 U.S.C. 601-688), as amended, that
Congress may use to assure compliance with the direct spending, revenue, and the debt-
limit levels set forth in a budget resolution agreed to by Congress.1 First, Congress
includes reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution directing one or more
committees to recommend changes in statute to achieve the levels of direct spending,
revenues, and the debt limit agreed to in the budget resolution. Second, the legislative
language recommended by committees is packaged without any substantive revision
into one or more reconciliation bills, as set forth in the budget resolution, by the House
and Senate Budget Committees. In some instances, a committee may be required to
report its legislative recommendations directly to its house. Once reported, reconciliation
legislation is considered under special procedures on the House and Senate floor. For
more information on the budget process, see the CRS Guides to Congressional Processes
at [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml].
Development of Reconciliation Legislation
The reconciliation process begins with the inclusion in a budget resolution of
directives to one or more committees, in each chamber, to change spending and revenue
laws. The directives typically indicate the committee(s) instructed to recommend changes
and a date by which each committee must report reconciliation legislation or submit
legislative recommendations to its respective Budget Committee. Reconciliation
directives may also specify the amount by which the statutory limit on the public debt is
to be changed and instruct the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance
Committee to recommend such a change.
The dollar amounts in reconciliation directives are based on assumptions about
existing policies and the budgetary impact of certain policy changes. In some instances,
the assumed changes in existing laws are printed in the committee or conference report
accompanying a budget resolution. Committees, however, are not bound by these
assumptions or suggestions.
1 For further information on the reconciliation process, see CRS Report RL33030, The Budget
Reconciliation Process: House and Senate Procedures, by Robert Keith and Bill Heniff Jr.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/crsabar0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most