Congressional Budget Resolutions: Historical Information
Released: 2015-11-16T00:00:00

Introduction

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L. 93-344 , as amended; 2 U.S.C. 601-688; hereafter referred to as the "Budget Act") provides for the annual adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget each year. The congressional budget resolution represents a budget plan for the upcoming fiscal year and at least the following four fiscal years. As a concurrent resolution, it is not presented to the President for his signature and thus does not become law. Instead, when adopted by Congress, the budget resolution serves as an agreement between the House and Senate on a congressional budget plan. As such, it provides the framework for subsequent legislative action on the annual appropriations bills, revenue measures, reconciliation legislation, and any other budgetary legislation. While the programmatic assumptions (i.e., the specific mix of revenue and spending policies that are assumed within the budget levels) are not binding, the totals and committee spending allocations may be enforced through points of order and through the budget reconciliation process (explained below).

This report provides current and historical information on the budget resolution. It provides a list of the budget resolutions adopted and rejected by Congress since implementation of the Budget Act, including the U.S. Statutes-at-Large citations and committee report numbers, and describes their formulation and content. The report provides a table of selected optional components, a list of the budget reconciliation measures developed pursuant to directives contained in budget resolutions, and information on the number of years covered by budget resolutions. It also provides information on the consideration and adoption of budget resolutions, including an identification of the House special rules that provided for consideration of budget resolutions, the amendments in the nature of a substitute to the budget resolution considered in the House, the number and disposition of House and Senate amendments to budget resolutions, and dates of House and Senate action on budget resolutions.

Congress has modified the congressional budget process several times since it was first established in 1974. The Appendix identifies laws, budget resolutions, and other resolutions that modified the procedures and requirements pertaining to the development, content, and consideration of the budget resolution.

As originally enacted, the Budget Act provided for the annual adoption of two budget resolutions for each year. The first budget resolution, adopted in the spring, set nonbinding "targets" to guide the consideration of budgetary legislation. The second budget resolution, adopted in the fall (about two weeks before the beginning of the fiscal year), was intended to provide Congress, after considering and possibly completing action on specific budgetary legislation, the opportunity to either reaffirm or revise the budget levels in the first budget resolution. Additional budget resolutions, or revisions to the previous one, could be (and still can be) adopted at any time.

The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Title II of P.L. 99-177 , 99 Stat. 1038-1101; hereafter referred to as the "Deficit Control Act") eliminated the requirement for a second budget resolution beginning in 1986 (for the FY1987 budget resolution). For several preceding years, for FY1983-FY1986, Congress did not adopt a second budget resolution but instead included a provision in the first budget resolution that made the spending and revenue totals in it binding automatically as of the beginning of the fiscal year.

During the 41 years under the Budget Act (1975 to the present), Congress has completed action on 40 budget resolutions, including in some years multiple budget resolutions for a single fiscal year. In 32 of the 41 years, Congress adopted at least one budget resolution for the fiscal year. Congress did not complete action on a budget resolution for nine fiscal years, most recently for FY2015. Congress also adopted a second budget resolution in seven of the 41 years. In 1977, Congress adopted a third budget resolution for FY1977, further revising the budget levels that fiscal year.

Table 1 lists all budget resolutions adopted by Congress, with the House and Senate votes on initial passage and adoption of the conference report. It also includes, in italics, budget resolutions reported or considered in one chamber but not the other for those fiscal years that Congress did not complete action on a budget resolution. The U.S. Statutes-at-Large citations for budget resolutions adopted by Congress are listed in Table 2 . (Although concurrent resolutions such as budget resolutions have no statutory authority, they are compiled in a special section of the U.S. Statutes-at-Large .) Table 3 lists the budget resolutions rejected in the House. No budget resolutions have been rejected in the Senate; however, the Senate rejected several motions to proceed to different budget resolutions in 2011 and 2012.

Development and Content of the Budget Resolution

Development of the Budget Resolution

Following the submission of the President's budget in January or February, Congress begins developing its budget resolution. The House and Senate Budget Committees are responsible for developing and reporting the budget resolution.

Within six weeks after the President's budget submission, each House and Senate committee is required to submit its "views and estimates" relating to budget matters under its jurisdiction to its Budget Committee (Section 301(d) of the Budget Act). These views and estimates, often submitted in the form of a letter to the chair and ranking Member of the Budget Committee, typically include comments on the President's budget proposals and estimates of the budgetary impact of any legislation likely to be considered during the current session of Congress. The Budget Committees are not bound by these recommendations. The views and estimates often are printed in the committee report accompanying the resolution in the Senate or compiled in a separate committee print in the House.

The budget resolution was designed to provide a framework to make budget decisions, leaving specific program determinations to the Appropriations Committees and other committees with spending and revenue jurisdiction. In many instances, however, particular program changes are considered when formulating the budget resolution. Program assumptions sometimes are referred to in the reports of the Budget Committees or may be discussed during floor action. Although these program changes are not binding, committees may be strongly influenced by these recommendations when formulating appropriations bills, reconciliation measures, or other budgetary legislation.

Table 4 provides a list of the House, Senate, and conference reports to first budget resolutions reported or considered in either chamber.

Content of the Budget Resolution

Section 301(a) of the Budget Act requires that the budget resolution include the following matters for the upcoming fiscal year and at least the ensuing four fiscal years:

Aggregate levels of new budget authority, outlays, the budget surplus or deficit, and the public debt; Aggregate levels of federal revenues and the amount, if any, by which the aggregate levels of federal revenues should be increased or decreased by legislative action; Amounts of new budget authority and outlays for each of the major functional categories; and For purposes of Senate enforcement procedures, Social Security outlays and revenues (although these amounts are not included in the budget surplus or deficit totals due to their off-budget status).

Originally, the Budget Act mandated that budget resolutions cover only the upcoming fiscal year beginning on October 1 (referred to as the budget year). A desire to use the budget resolution as a tool for budget planning and other factors prompted Congress to expand this time frame to include the upcoming fiscal year as well as the two ensuing fiscal years. Congress used the authority provided by the elastic clause of the Budget Act to adopt three-year budget resolutions for the period covering the second budget resolution for FY1980 through the FY1986 budget resolution. The practice of including three fiscal years was formalized by the 1985 Deficit Control Act.

The Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990 (Title XIII of P.L. 101-508 , Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, 104 Stat. 1388-573-1388 through 630) temporarily extended to five fiscal years the period the budget resolution is required to cover. The 1990 BEA provision originally covered five-year periods beginning in FY1991 and continuing through FY1995; this provision was extended to cover the FY1996 through FY1998 budget resolutions in 1993 (Title XIV of P.L. 103-66 , Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, 107 Stat. 683-685). As an integral part of Congress's goal of achieving a balanced budget by FY2002, the FY1996 and FY1997 budget resolutions covered seven and six fiscal years, respectively. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (Title X of P.L. 105-33 , Balanced Budget Act of 1997, 111 Stat. 677-712) amended the Budget Act to require permanently that a budget resolution cover the budget year and at least the four ensuing fiscal years (for a minimum of five fiscal years).

Table 5 provides information regarding the number of years covered by the budget resolutions agreed to by Congress.

Congress also may revise budget levels for the current year in the budget resolution pursuant to Section 304 of the Budget Act. Congress has adopted 15 first budget resolutions that revised current-year budget levels.

In addition to the content required by the Budget Act, Section 301(b) lists several other matters that may be included in the budget resolution. Table 6 provides a table indicating selected components included in first budget resolutions for FY1976-FY2016 on which Congress completed action (i.e., the House and Senate agreed).

The most important of the optional matters is arguably the inclusion of budget reconciliation directives provided by Section 310 of the Budget Act. Budget reconciliation is an optional two-step process Congress may use to bring direct spending, revenue, and debt limit levels into compliance with those set forth in budget resolutions. In order to accomplish this, Congress first includes budget reconciliation directives in a budget resolution directing one or more committees in each chamber to recommend changes in statute to achieve the levels of direct spending, revenues, debt limit, or a combination thereof agreed to in the budget resolution. The legislative language recommended by committees then is packaged "without any substantive revision" into one or more budget 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 chamber.

Once the Budget Committees (or individual committees if so directed) report budget reconciliation legislation to their respective chambers, consideration is governed by special procedures. These special rules serve to limit what may be included in budget reconciliation legislation, to prohibit certain amendments, and to encourage its completion in a timely fashion.

During the 41-year period since the congressional budget process was established, Congress has included budget reconciliation directives to House and Senate committees in 22 budget resolutions. Such directives have resulted in 24 budget reconciliation measures. On four occasions (in 1982, 1986, 1997, and 2006), Congress adopted two budget reconciliation measures in one year. Of the 24 budget reconciliation measures considered by Congress, 20 were signed into law and four were vetoed. Table 7 lists the budget resolutions that contained budget reconciliation directives and the associated reconciliation acts.

Beginning with the FY1981 budget resolution, Congress also included amounts for federal credit activities. The 1985 Balanced Budget Act permanently required the inclusion of aggregate and functional levels of direct loan obligations and primary loan guarantee commitments in budget resolutions. The inclusion of federal credit levels, however, was made optional by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (Title X of P.L. 105-33 ; 111 Stat. 677-712). Of the 31 first budget resolutions adopted by Congress, 18 included federal credit amounts.

Another optional component of budget resolutions has been the inclusion of reserve funds. The reserve fund provisions generally provide for the revision of budget resolution aggregates, functional allocations, and committee allocations if certain deficit-neutral legislation is enacted or some other condition is met. Over the last decade, Congress often has included several reserve funds in budget resolutions (as indicated in Table 6 ). For instance, the FY2016 budget resolution ( S.Con.Res. 11 , 114 th Congress) included 131 reserve funds.

As an indication of policy intent, Congress has often included declaratory statements in budget resolutions. These nonbinding statements express the sense of Congress, the sense of the House, or the sense of the Senate on various issues. As indicated in Table 6 , Congress has included an average of 21 declaratory statements in the last 14 budget resolutions (not including budget resolutions for fiscal years on which the House and Senate separately adopted but did not agree) but an average of only between two and three declaratory statements in the first 18 budget resolutions.

The annual budget resolution also may require a deferred enrollment procedure (see Section 301(b)(3) of the Budget Act), under which all or certain bills providing new budget authority or new entitlement authority for the upcoming fiscal year cannot be enrolled until Congress has completed action on a reconciliation measure (or, prior to FY1987, a reconciliation measure or the second budget resolution). Budget resolutions for FY1981, FY1982, FY1983, and FY1984 contained deferred enrollment provisions.

Lastly, Congress has included several other procedural provisions in budget resolutions. Under Section 301(b)(4) of the Budget Act, the so-called elastic clause , Congress may "set forth such other matters, and require such other procedures, relating to the budget, as may be appropriate to carry out the purposes of" the Budget Act in the budget resolution. The number of procedural provisions included in budget resolutions is listed in the last column of Table 6 . Some of these procedural provisions include deferred enrollment; automatic second budget resolutions; special budgetary treatment of certain activities, such as the sale of government assets; and more recently, enforcement of a pay-as-you-go requirement in the Senate and limits on advance appropriations.

Consideration and Adoption of the Budget Resolution

Floor consideration of the budget resolution differs in the House and Senate. Section 305 of the Budget Act sets forth special procedures for the consideration of the budget resolution, generally to expedite its consideration. The House, however, regularly adopts a special rule, a simple House resolution, setting forth the terms for consideration of the measure. In particular, special rules have been used for more than a decade to limit the offering of amendments to a few major substitutes. Table 8 lists the special rules that provided for the consideration of budget resolutions in the House.

In contrast, floor consideration in the Senate is governed by the procedures set forth in the Budget Act. The procedures generally limit debate and prohibit certain amendments and motions.

Amendments to the Budget Resolution

Amendments in the House

The House has considered an average of almost seven amendments per budget resolution. The largest number of amendments considered was 45 in 1979; the largest number agreed to was 11 also in 1979. (The first FY1983 budget resolution also was amended 11 times, but it subsequently was rejected.) Table 9 identifies the number of accepted and rejected amendments to budget resolutions considered in the House. The amending activity in the House during the last few decades is in marked contrast to the early years under the Budget Act. During the first eight years, the House considered an average of 16 amendments per budget resolution, agreeing to an average of four of them. In contrast, during the past 33 years, the House has considered very few amendments to budget resolutions, averaging between two and three per budget resolution and agreeing to even fewer of these. Of the 121 amendments considered by the House during this time period, 5 have been adopted.

Contributing to this trend, the House special rule typically has allowed for consideration of only amendments in the nature of a substitute to the budget resolution. For example, between 1983 and 2015 (for the FY1984-FY2016 budget resolutions), 117 of the 121 amendments to the budget resolution made in order by the special rule were amendments in the nature of a substitute. Only two of these 117 amendments in the nature of a substitute were agreed to; those two contained the budget resolution text recommended by the House Budget Committee offered by its chair at the time, Representative William H. Gray III and Representative Tom Price, respectively. Table 10 lists the amendments in the nature of a substitute to the budget resolution made in order by the special rule.

Amendments in the Senate

In the Senate, the terms of debate and the consideration of amendments are not structured by a special rule, as in the House, but instead are governed by the procedures set forth in Section 305(b) of the Budget Act. Typically, the Senate considers many amendments to the budget resolution, most addressing specific issues instead of proposing a complete substitute as in the House.

During the period between 1975 and 2015, the Senate considered an average of almost 54 amendments per budget resolution, agreeing to an average of 31 of these. The largest number of amendments considered was 254 in 2015; the largest number agreed to was 146, also in 2015. Table 11 identifies the number of amendments adopted, rejected, ruled out-of-order, and withdrawn during Senate consideration of budget resolutions. In contrast to the House, the number of amendments considered by the Senate has increased over the last two decades or so. For the last 18 budget resolutions considered on the floor, for example, the Senate considered an average of almost 90 amendments per budget resolution, agreeing to an average of over 56 of these. Amendments have been agreed to in the Senate at a much higher rate compared to the House as well. For instance, in 13 of the past 18 years in which a budget resolution was considered on the floor, the success rate for amendments has equaled or exceeded 60%.

Timing of Action on the Budget Resolution

The Budget Act sets April 15 as a target date for completing action on the annual budget resolution. Table 12 lists the dates of final adoption of budget resolutions for FY1976-FY2015. During this period, Congress adopted the budget resolution by the target date only six times, most recently in 2003 with the FY2004 budget resolution. Under the original timetable (prior to 1986, the deadline was May 15), Congress adopted the annual budget resolution by the target date twice: in 1975 and 1976. After the target date was changed to April 15 by the 1985 Deficit Control Act, Congress has completed action on the budget resolution by the target date four times: in 1993, 1999, 2000, and 2003. Further, as noted above, Congress did not complete action on a budget resolution for nine fiscal years, most recently for FY2015.

In those years in which Congress has adopted a budget resolution (that is, not including FY1999, FY2003, FY2005, FY2007, and FY2011 through FY2015), it has adopted the budget resolution an average of 36 days after the target date. The FY1991 budget resolution was adopted the latest, on October 9, 1990, or 177 days after the target date. The earliest adoption of a budget resolution was for FY1994 on April 1, 1993, or 14 days before the target date. Table 13 and Table 14 provide a list of dates related to the consideration and adoption of the budget resolution in the House and the Senate, respectively.

Modifications to the Procedures and Requirements Pertaining to the Development, Content, and Consideration of the Budget Resolution

Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act of 1978 ("Humphrey-Hawkins Act"; P.L. 95-523 ; 92 Stat. 1887-1908; October 27, 1978)

Called for a period of up to four hours for debate on economic goals and priorities following the presentation of opening floor statements on the budget resolution.

Temporary Increase in the Public Debt Limit ( P.L. 96-5 ; 93 Stat. 8; April 2, 1979)

Mandated that the President's budget and the Budget Committees' reported budget resolution for FY1981 and FY1982 be in balance. (Provision was repealed in 1982.)

Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Title II of P.L. 99-177 ; 99 Stat. 1038-1101; December 12, 1985)

Required Congress to complete action on a budget resolution by April 15 of each year (deadline moved from May 15). Eliminated the requirement that Congress adopt a second budget resolution annually by September 15. Formalized the practice of adopting a three-year budget resolution, with the second and third fiscal years non-binding. (Current law requires budget resolutions to cover at least five fiscal years.) Called for off-budget entities, except Social Security, to be included in the budget resolution and the President's budget. Formalized the practice of including credit authority (direct and guaranteed loans) in the budget resolution. Mandated that neither chamber may consider a budget resolution, amendment to a budget resolution, or conference report on a budget resolution that recommends a deficit amount greater than the applicable maximum deficit amount established in the 1985 Balanced Budget Act. Excluded Social Security from budget totals, except for purposes of calculating the deficit in order to determine if sequestration is required. The budget resolution may contain two deficit totals: one with Social Security and one without.

Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990 (Title XIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990; P.L. 101-508 ; 104 Stat. 1388-573 through 630; November 5, 1990)

Added language to the Budget Act allowing the option to include pay-as-you-go procedures for the Senate and House in the budget resolution (Sections 301(b)(7) and 301(b)(8)). Required that the budget resolutions for FY1991-FY1995 cover five fiscal years. (Current law permanently requires at least five fiscal years; see BEA of 1997 below.) In the Senate, prohibited the consideration of a reported budget resolution calling for a reduction in Social Security surpluses. Changed deadline for submitting views and estimates reports from "on or before February 25 of each year" to "within 6 weeks after the President submits a budget." Added language to the Budget Act allowing the option of including Social Security outlays and revenues in the budget resolution for purposes of Senate enforcement. In the Senate, created a point of order that prohibits the consideration of any budget resolution that would exceed any of the discretionary spending limits. (Initially, this point of order was added to the Budget Act as a temporary Section (601(b)); the BEA of 1997 permanently added this point of order to the Budget Act as Section 312(b) and applied the point of order to any legislation.)

Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Title XIV of P.L. 103-66 ; 107 Stat. 683-685; August 10, 1993)

Extended through FY1998 the BEA requirement that budget resolutions cover five fiscal years.

Budget Resolution for FY1995 ( H.Con.Res. 218 ; 103 rd Congress; May 12, 1994)

Made permanent a temporary modification found in the budget resolutions for FY1993 and FY1994, which applied Section 301(i) to a budget resolution at any stage of consideration. Section 301(i) of the Budget Act prohibits the Senate from considering any reported budget resolution that would decrease the excess of Social Security revenues over Social Security outlays for any of the fiscal years covered by the resolution, subject to a three-fifths waiver requirement. This creates a "firewall" to protect Social Security balances.

Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (Title X of P.L. 105-33 ; 111 Stat. 677-712; August 5, 1997)

Permanently required the budget resolution to cover at least five fiscal years. Made optional rather than mandatory the inclusion of total direct loan obligation and total primary loan guarantee commitment levels in the budget resolution and the accompanying report. Modified the optional contents of the budget resolution to include special pay-as-you-go procedures in the Senate pertaining to the use of reserve funds. Allowed the Budget Committees to set an alternative deadline for committees to submit their views and estimates instead of the usual deadline of within six weeks after the President submits a budget. Applied the Senate point of order against a budget resolution recommending a decrease in the projected surplus in the Social Security trust funds to all its legislative stages.

Budget Resolution for FY2000 ( H.Con.Res. 68 ; 106 th Congress; April 15, 1999)

Created a point of order that prohibited consideration of a revised FY2000 or a FY2001 budget resolution setting forth an on-budget deficit for any fiscal year (i.e., excluding any surplus resulting from the Social Security trust fund). The provision did not apply if the deficit for a fiscal year resulted solely from legislation that made structural programmatic reforms to enhance retirement security.

Budget Resolution for FY2001 ( H.Con.Res. 290 ; 106 th Congress; April 13, 2000)

Applied the point of order against budget resolutions setting forth an on-budget deficit for any fiscal year (see FY2000 budget resolution) to a revised FY2001 or a FY2002 budget resolution. The provision would not apply if the economy experienced low growth in two consecutive quarters or if a declaration of war was in effect. Specified that amendments that contain predominately "precatory" language, such as sense-of-the-Senate amendments, are not germane, effectively prohibiting such amendments to budget resolutions and reconciliation legislation.

Budget Resolution for FY2004 ( H.Con.Res. 95 ; 108 th Congress; April 11, 2003)

Extended through September 30, 2008, the three-fifths vote requirement in the Senate to waive and to sustain an appeal of a ruling of the chair on certain points of order specified in Sections 904(c)(2) and 904(d)(3) of the Budget Act.

Budget Resolution for FY2006 ( H.Con.Res. 95 ; 109 th Congress; April 28, 2005)

Extended through September 30, 2010, the three-fifths vote requirement in the Senate to waive and to sustain an appeal of a ruling of the chair on certain points of order specified in Sections 904(c)(2) and 904(d)(3) of the Budget Act.

House Rule XXI, Clause 7 ( H.Res. 6 ; 110 th Congress; January 5, 2007)

Created a point of order against the consideration of a budget resolution containing budget reconciliation directives having a net effect of reducing the surplus or increasing the deficit. (Clause was modified at the beginning of the 112 th Congress; see below.)

Budget Resolution for FY2008 ( S.Con.Res. 21 ; 110 th Congress; May 17, 2007)

Extended through September 30, 2017, the three-fifths vote requirement in the Senate to waive and to sustain an appeal of a ruling of the chair on certain points of order specified in Sections 904(c)(2) and 904(d)(3) of the Budget Act.

House Rule XXI, Clause 7 ( H.Res. 5 ; 112 th Congress; January 5, 2011)

Modified the rule to prohibit the consideration of a budget resolution containing reconciliation directives that would result in budget reconciliation legislation that would cause a net increase in direct spending (i.e., mandatory spending) over the period of the budget resolution.

Separate Order in House for 113 th Congress (Section 3(e) of H.Res. 5 ; 113 th Congress; January 3, 2013)

Created a requirement that the budget resolution (as well as any amendments thereto and any conference report thereon) include for means-tested direct spending and non-means-tested direct spending the following information: (1) the average growth rate (in terms of outlays) for the 10 years preceding the budget year; (2) estimates under current law for the period covered by the budget resolution; and (3) information on proposed reforms. (This requirement was extended to the 114 th Congress by Section 3(h) of H.Res. 5, 114 th Congress, January 6, 2015.)

Budget Resolution for FY2016 ( S.Con.Res. 1 1 ; 11 4 th Congress; May 5, 2015 )

Extended through September 30, 2025, the three-fifths vote requirement in the Senate to waive and to sustain an appeal of a ruling of the chair on certain points of order specified in Sections 904(c)(2) and 904(d)(3) of the Budget Act.