HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.
![handle is hein.crs/crsmthaahkh0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Order Code 98-815 GOV
Updated November 22, 2006
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Budget Resolution Enforcement
Bill Heniff Jr.
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
The annual budget resolution sets forth Congress's budget plan for a period of at
least five fiscal years. It includes total levels of new budget authority, outlays, revenues,
the deficit, and the public debt for each of the fiscal years covered. While the budget
resolution does not become law, the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of
P.L. 93-344, 88 Stat. 297-332), as amended, provides for the enforcement of its provisions
as they are implemented in subsequent annual appropriations bills, revenue measures, and
other budgetary legislation. For more information on the budget process, see
[http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml].
Once a budget resolution is adopted, Congress may enforce its provisions, through
points of order, at several levels: the total levels of spending and revenues, the level of
resources allocated to committees, and the level of resources allocated to the
appropriations subcommittees. Congress also may use reconciliation legislation to
enforce the direct spending and revenue provisions of a budget resolution (see CRS
Report 98-814, Budget Reconciliation Legislation: Development and Consideration).
At the aggregate level, Section 31 l(a) of the Budget Act prohibits the House and
Senate from considering any measure that would cause the spending or revenue totals for
the first fiscal year, or the revenue totals for the full period, covered by the budget
resolution to be breached. In the House, however, any measure that would not also cause
the relevant committee allocation to be exceeded is exempt from this point of order by
Section 3 1 (c) of the Budget Act.
Although Congress sets budget priorities by allocating spending among each major
functional category in a budget resolution, these amounts are not binding or enforceable
in subsequent budgetary legislation. The functional category amounts instead are
translated into allocations to the relevant House and Senate committees with jurisdiction
over spending under Section 302(a) of the Budget Act. It is these committee spending
allocations, commonly referred to as 302(a) allocations and published in the joint
explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on a budget resolution, that
are enforceable by a point of order on the floor of each chamber. Section 302(f) of the
Budget Act prohibits the consideration of any measure, including any amendment, that
would cause a committee's 302(a) allocation to be exceeded.
Congressional Research Service + The Library of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/crsmthaahkh0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)