Budget Quiz Flashcards
Budget Authority
- Legal authority to enter into obligations
- Provided through enactment of law
- Specified as to purpose, amount, and time
Obligation
-A legally binding commitment by the federal government that will result in a payment from the Treasury, immediately or in the future
Outlay
A payment from the Treasury to liquidate an obligation
Ideal Budget Timeline
-December of Previous Year
1. Federal Agencies submit their
Budget requests to the Office of
Management and Budget
- First Mon of Feb
2. President submits their Budget to Congress - April 15
3. Budget Resolution
-May-September
4. Congress sends the President all
12 Appropriations bills
5. The President has 10 days to reply
- Sep 30
6. Congress must have passed all Appropriations Bills or the government will shutdown
Executive Branch
- In early fall before the next fiscal year, federal agencies submit their preliminary budgets to OMB.
- In November, OMB resubmits its budget review back to the agencies.
- In December agencies submit their final budget request to OMB, who send it to the President.
President’s Budget
-The President’s Budget is due on the First Monday of February each year.
- Congress only uses this budget as a comparison
- In the modern era, Congress has never taken the President’s Budget at face value
- Knowing this, the President’s Budget can often be political
- It includes policy initiatives favored by the President
Budget Resolution
- The House of Representatives and Senate each create their own budget after receiving the President’s budget
- The Budget does not have the force of law.
- The budget sets the 302(a) allocation
- The total amount of discretionary spending for the fiscal year.
-This can be a political document
- What is the Appropriations Committee doing during this time?
- Hearings with Federal Agencies
- Reviewing Congressional Budget Justifications
- Soliciting requests from Member of Congress
Reconciliation
- Budgets can include Reconciliation instructions
- These are changes to mandatory spending programs.
- Reconciliation bills are special vehicles that don’t abide by the normal rules of Congress
- The Senate can pass via majority but the bill must be overseen by a parliamentarian to ensure the entirety of the bill is germane to the budget (Byrd Rule)
-Reconciliation has been used to pass major legislation like the Affordable Care Act
Authorization vs Appropriation
- An authorization bill comes from an Authorizing Committee
- An authorization normally creates a bucket for appropriators to fill (discretionary)
- Some authorizations are mandatory, which means the bucket is prefilled
- An appropriations bill comes from the Appropriations Committee
- An appropriation is the set amount of money put into a program (bucket)
- Appropriations can only influence discretionary accounts (Empty buckets)
Mandatory vs Discretionary Funding
- Mandatory
- Mandatory funds describe money spent regardless of the budget process
- Includes Medicare, Medicaid, and Interest on the Debt
- To change the amount of funds, Congress needs to pass a specific Authorizing Bill
- Discretionary
- Discretionary funds are subject to change with every fiscal year.
- The budget sets the total amount of money committees can allocate (302a), which is divided into the 12 subcommittees (302b)
- Can include grants, contracts, military funding, medical research, etc.
Sub allocations (302b)
- There are 12 subcommittees on the Appropriations Committee and each gets a portion of the set budget, but the portions aren’t all equal.
- How interested parties define these categories can alter perceptions on funding
Language vs Programmatic Requests
- Appropriations bills pass each subcommittee with two documents.
- A base bill that prescribes dollar amounts to programs.
- A Committee Report which explains the funding decisions in plain language.
- Members of Congress can lobby the Appropriations Committee to:
- Increase or Decrease funds to a program.
- Insert language into the report that instructs a federal agency on how to spend the money provided.
“None of the Funds”
Common appropriations tool to prevent any funds from being used by an agency for a prescribed action
“Change in Mandatory Program Spending” CHIMPS
A creative use of none of the funds to decrease mandatory program funding and increase the committees 302b allocation
Rescission
The permanent cancelation of budget authority (Providing $0 to an account)
