The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the Budget Act) establishes a requirement for Congress to adopt a budget resolution each year. The budget resolution represents an agreement between the House and Senate on a budgetary plan for the upcoming fiscal year (and several out years). The budget resolution does not become law; therefore no money is spent or collected as a result of its adoption. Instead, the outline is designed to establish parameters within which Congress will consider subsequent budgetary legislation that will fulfill the budgetary plan. Once the budget resolution has been agreed to by both chambers, certain levels contained in it are enforceable through points of order. This means that if subsequent legislation was being considered on the House or Senate floor that would violate certain levels established by the budget resolution, a Member could raise a point of order against the consideration of that legislation. Generally, such points of order can be waived in the House by a simple majority of Members and in the Senate by three-fifths of all Senators. The idea of a "traditional" budget resolution means a budget resolution as defined by the Budget Act, which specifies the way that a budget resolution shall be developed and considered and what components it must include. Specifically, it states that House and Senate Budget Committees shall develop the budget resolution, and in doing this, the Committees must hold hearings and receive testimony from Members of Congress and "such appropriate representatives of Federal departments and agencies, the general public, and national organizations as the committee deems desirable." Further, it states that the budget committees will receive input from their congressional colleagues in at least two ways: (1) through "consultation" with committees during the preparation of the budget resolution (the act applies only to the House Budget Committee) and 2) through the review of "Views and Estimates," which are required to be submitted by committees to the Budget Committee and reflect information on the desired levels of spending and revenue within the relevant committee's jurisdiction. The act also specifies how the budget resolution shall be considered by the House and Senate. For example, the Budget Act specifies that the budget resolution be debated for up to 50 hours in the Senate, with amendments permitted, and not subject to filibuster. The Budget Act requires that the budget resolution include the budgetary levels noted below either in the text of the budget resolution on in the accompanying report. It should be noted that while the Budget Act requires the inclusion of all of these levels, not all of these levels are enforceable by points of order. Some levels in the budget resolution are, therefore, included only for informational purposes. Provisions below that are enforceable are marked with an asterisk. total spending for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years*; total revenues for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years*; the amount, if any, by which the aggregate level of revenues should be increased or decreased by legislation for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years; the surplus/deficit for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years; new spending for each major functional category for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years; the public debt for the upcoming fiscal year and at least four out years; (in the Senate only) Social Security spending and revenue levels*; and amounts of spending allocated among committees*. It is common for the budget resolution to include other optional components such as those listed below. Provisions triggering the reconciliation process . If Congress intends to use the reconciliation process, it must include reconciliation directives (also referred to as reconciliation instructions) in the budget resolution. These directives instruct individual committees to develop and report legislation that would change laws within their respective jurisdictions related to direct spending, revenue, or the debt limit. Such reconciliation legislation is then eligible to be considered under special expedited procedures in both the House and Senate. Procedural provisions . A budget resolution typically includes procedural provisions such as House and Senate budgetary rules (enforced by points of order) and direction on the budgetary treatment of certain activities (such as energy savings contracts). Reserve funds and adjustments . Congress frequently includes "reserve funds" and "adjustments" in the annual budget resolution. These provisions provide the chairs of the House or Senate Budget Committees with the authority to adjust the budgetary allocations, aggregates, and levels in the future if certain conditions are met. Generally, the goal of reserve funds or adjustment is to allow certain policies to be considered on the floor without triggering a point of order for violating levels in the budget resolution. Policy statements . The budget resolution sometimes includes policy provisions that typically apply only to the House. These statements express the underlying assumptions, preferences, or priorities of the budget resolution but are not binding. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (BBA 2018, P.L. 115-123), enacted February 9, 2018, amended the statutory discretionary spending limits for FY2018 and FY2019. BBA 2018 comprised several other components as well, one of which was related to a congressional budget resolution for FY2019. The budget resolution provisions included in the BBA 2018 require the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs to each file a statement of budgetary levels, which would have effect in the respective chamber as if they had been included in a budget resolution. These levels are required to be filed for publication in the Congressional R ecord between April 15, 2018, and May 15, 2018. The Budget Committee chairs are not given discretion to file any budgetary levels they wish. Instead, the BBA 2018 requires that (1) for discretionary spending, the filed levels be consistent with the statutory limits on discretionary spending (that were amended by the BBA 2018) and (2) for mandatory spending and revenue levels, the filed levels be consistent with the most recent baseline of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which was released on April 9, 2018. The baseline is a projection of federal spending and revenue that would occur if existing law were left unchanged . The BBA provisions also give the Budget Committee chairs the option of including in the filing some specified provisions of the FY2018 budget resolution ( H.Con.Res. 71 [115 th Congress]), which was agreed to by Congress in October 2017. The Senate-related section in the BBA 2018 states that when the Senate Budget Committee chair files the required levels, the filing may also include for FY2019 the deficit-neutral reserve funds contained in the FY2018 budget resolution. See Appendix B for a full listing of these provisions. Likewise, the House-related section in the BBA 2018 states that when the House Budget Committee chair files the required levels, the filing may also include for FY2019 specified provisions contained in the FY2018 budget resolution, which include adjustments as well as procedural provisions. See Appendix C for a full listing of these provisions. The existence of the BBA 2018 provisions, however, does not preclude Congress from acting on a traditional budget resolution for FY2019, so Congress still has the option to consider a budget resolution that differs from the levels and components included in the BBA 2018 budget resolution provisions. In fact, the BBA 2018 specifies that the budget resolution sections shall expire if a concurrent resolution on the budget for FY2019 is agreed to by both the Senate and the House. Below, Table 1 and Table 2 compare the components of the budget resolution provisions included in the BBA 2018 with the common components of a traditional budget resolution. As described above, the Budget Act requires Congress to include certain components in a budget resolution while also giving Congress the option of including other types of material. Again, not all of these levels are enforceable through points of order. In the absence of agreement on a budget resolution, Congress will often employ alternative legislative tools to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. These substitutes are typically referred to as "deeming resolutions," because they are deemed to serve in place of a budget resolution for the purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels for the upcoming fiscal year. Such mechanisms are not formally defined and have no specifically prescribed content. Instead, they simply represent the House and Senate, sometimes separately, using some alternative legislative procedures to deal with enforcement issues. Deeming resolutions can vary significantly in content and timing. Congress has included budget resolution provisions like the ones in the BBA 2018 in prior legislation related to the statutory discretionary spending limits. In each case noted below, the levels required to be filed were baseline levels of spending and revenue that would occur if existing law were left unchanged. The Budget Control Act of 2011 ( P.L. 112-25 ), which re-established statutory limits on discretionary spending, included a section requiring the Senate Budget Committee chair to file enforceable budgetary levels for FY2012 and for FY2013 in the absence of a traditional budget resolution in the Senate. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 (often referred to as the Murray-Ryan Agreement, P.L. 113-67 ), which increased discretionary spending limits for both defense and nondefense for FY2014 and FY2015, included sections designed to serve as substitutes for a traditional congressional budget resolution in both the House and Senate for each FY2014 and FY2015. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 ( P.L. 114-74 ), which increased discretionary spending limits for both defense and nondefense for FY2016 and FY2017, included a section requiring the Senate Budget Committee chair to file enforceable budgetary levels for FY2017 in the absence of a traditional budget resolution in the Senate. Appendix A. Relevant Text of the BBA 2018 Division C-Budgetary and Other Matters Title I- Budget Enforcement SEC. 30103. Authority for fiscal year 2019 budget resolution in the Senate. (a) Fiscal year 2019.—For purposes of enforcing the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 et seq.)