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![handle is hein.crs/govegac0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ____
*.Research Service
The Budget Resolution and the Senate's
Automatic Discharge Process
Updated April 4, 2022
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (the Budget Act) provides for the annual adoption of a concurrent
resolution on the budget that establishes an agreement between the House and Senate on budgetary levels
for the upcoming fiscal year (and at least four additional years). The budget resolution assists Congress in
developing federal budget policy, and its adoption allows Congress to trigger the budget reconciliation
process.
Consideration of the budget resolution is guided by the Budget Act and Senate rules and precedents.
Section 300 of the Budget Act includes a timetable specifying dates by which Congress is to complete
certain budgetary actions. Under this timetable, the Senate Budget Committee is directed to report a
budget resolution (pertaining to the upcoming fiscal year beginning October 1) by April 1, and Congress
is directed to complete action on a budget resolution by April 15.
Since 1983, the Senate has interpreted this timetable in a manner that affects how budget resolutions are
referred to committee and placed on the Senate's Calendar of Business. If the Senate Budget Committee
has not reported a budget resolution by April 1, it is automatically discharged from the consideration of
any budget resolution that has been previously referred to it, as well as any budget resolution that is
subsequently introduced. Once the committee has been discharged from the consideration of a budget
resolution, it is placed on the Calendar.
For example, on March 29, 2012, a budget resolution for FY2013 (S.Con.Res. 37) was introduced and
referred to the Senate Budget Committee. Once April 1, 2012, passed without the Senate Budget
Committee reporting a budget resolution, the committee was automatically discharged from consideration
of S.Con.Res. 37, and the resolution was placed on the Calendar of Business. Similarly, on April 26,
2012, another budget resolution for FY2013 (S.Con.Res. 42) was introduced. Because April 1 had already
passed, the resolution was referred to the Senate Budget Committee, the committee was immediately
discharged, and the resolution was placed on the Calendar.
A memo attributed to the Senate Parliamentarian and linked in a recent press report stated that the
automatic discharge process is a creation of the Office of the Parliamentarian intended to provide an
incentive for committee compliance with the law and to provide a remedy when compliance with and
through the mandatory processes of the [Budget Act] have not been met. Generally, initial Senate
consideration of a budget resolution has been on a budget resolution reported by the Senate Budget
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports. congress.gov
IN11693
CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
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