Congressional Budget Resolutions: Reporting Deadline in the Senate

Order Code RS20541

Updated April 23, 2008

Congressional Budget Resolutions:

Reporting Deadline in the Senate

Robert Keith

Specialist in American National Government

Government and Finance Division

Summary

The House and Senate are required under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974

to complete action each year on a budget resolution before spending, revenue, and debtlimit legislation can be considered. In order to facilitate timeliness in the congressional

budget process, Section 300 of the 1974 act establishes a timetable that requires the

Senate Budget Committee to report a budget resolution by April 1 and the House and

Senate to reach final agreement on a budget resolution by April 15. (Prior to FY1987,

the deadline for reporting the budget resolution was April 15 and the deadline for its

final adoption was May 15.)

During the 34 years that the congressional budget process has been in effect, the

Senate Budget Committee has reported 32 budget resolutions subject to the April

deadline. (The budget resolutions for FY1991 and FY2002 were discharged from the

committee.) On average, the 32 budget resolutions were reported about on the

applicable deadline (e.g., within a fraction of a day late). Twenty of the 32 budget

resolutions were reported in a timely manner, about 12.6 days before the deadline, on

average. The remaining 12 budget resolutions were reported after the deadline, by about

21.3 days, on average. This report will be updated as developments warrant.

Under the congressional budget process established by the Congressional Budget Act

of 1974 (P.L. 93-344, as amended), the House and Senate are required to adopt a budget

resolution each year before spending, revenue, and debt-limit legislation can be

considered, unless a waiver or exception applies. The budget resolution serves as a

framework that constrains action on subsequent budgetary legislation.1 The congressional

budget process has been in effect for 34 years, covering FY1976-FY2009.

1

The congressional budget process is discussed in more detail in CRS Report 98-721,

Introduction to the Federal Budget Process, by Robert Keith. See also CRS Report RL30297,

Congressional Budget Resolutions: Selected Statistics and Information Guide, by Bill Heniff Jr.

and Justin Murray.

CRS-2

The 1974 Congressional Budget Act originally required the House and Senate to

adopt two budget resolutions each year, a “first” budget resolution in the spring and a

“second” one in the fall, just before the beginning of the fiscal year. The first budget

resolution set advisory targets that guided action on budgetary measures while the second

budget resolution set binding limits. Congress abandoned the practice of adopting a

second budget resolution after the FY1982 budget cycle and formally repealed the

requirement as part of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985

(Title II of P.L. 99-177, as amended).

In order to promote timely action in the congressional budget process, the 1974

Congressional Budget Act set forth a timetable in Section 300. Under the original

timetable, the House and Senate were required to reach final agreement on the budget

resolution by May 15. In furtherance of this objective, the House and Senate Budget

Committees were required to report the first budget resolution by April 15 each year.

The congressional budget process timetable was revised by the 1985 Balanced

Budget Act. In an effort to spur more timely action, the deadline for adoption of the

budget resolution was advanced from May 15 to April 15. Further, the Senate Budget

Committee was required to report the budget resolution by April 1. (The reporting

deadline for the House Budget Committee was eliminated instead of being revised.)2

These changes first took effect in 1986 for the FY1987 budget cycle.

Table 1 indicates, for each fiscal year from FY1976-FY2009, the number of the first

budget resolution reported in the Senate, the Senate report number, and the date the

budget resolution was reported. Thirty-two budget resolutions were reported during the

34-year period.

In two instances (FY1991 and FY2002), the Senate Budget Committee was

discharged from the further consideration of the budget resolution. The FY1991 budget

resolution, S.Con.Res. 110, was discharged on Monday, April 2, 1990, and subsequently

considered by the Senate. The committee reported another budget resolution, S.Con.Res.

129, the following month, but it was not considered and is not counted for purposes of

Table 1. For FY2002, the Senate Budget Committee did not mark up or report a budget

resolution. Instead, the House-passed budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 83), which had been

referred to the Senate Budget Committee on March 28, 2001, was discharged on Monday,

April 2 and later considered by the Senate.

In nine instances (FY1988, FY1993, FY1998, and FY2004-FY2009), the Senate

Budget Committee did not submit a written report to accompany the budget resolution.

For FY2004-FY2009, the Senate Budget Committee issued a committee print in lieu of

a written report.

2

The change was made in Section 201(b) of the 1985 act; see 99 Stat. 1040.

CRS-3

Table 1. First Budget Resolutions Reported by

the Senate Budget Committee: FY1976-FY2009

Fiscal

Year

Budget

Resolution

(S.Con.Res.)

Senate

Report

Number

Date

Reported

Comment

April 15 Reporting Deadline

1976

32

94-77

04-15-75

—

1977

109

94-731

04-01-76

—

1978

19

95-90

04-12-77

—

1979

80

95-739

04-14-78

—

1980

22

96-68

04-12-79

—

1981

86

96-654

04-09-80

—

1982

19

97-49

05-01-81

—

1983

92

97-385

05-10-82

—

1984

27

98-63

04-24-83

—

1985

106

98-399

04-18-84

—

1986

32

99-15

03-20-85

—

April 1 Reporting Deadline

1987

120

99-264

03-24-86

—

1988

49

—

04-15-87

No written report.

1989

113

100-311

03-31-88

—

1990

30

101-20

04-27-89

—

1991

110

—

—

S.Con.Res. 110 was discharged from the

committee on 04-02-90 and placed on

the calendar.

Another budget

resolution,

S.Con.Res. 129, was

reported on 05-10-90 but not

considered.

1992

29

102-40

04-18-91

—

1993

106

—

04-03-92

No written report.

1994

18

103-19

03-12-93

—

1995

63

103-238

03-18-94

—

1996

13

104-82

05-15-95

—

1997

57

104-271

05-13-96

—

CRS-4

Fiscal

Year

Budget

Resolution

(S.Con.Res.)

Senate

Report

Number

Date

Reported

1998

27

—

05-19-97

No written report.

1999

86

105-170

03-20-98

—

2000

20

106-27

03-19-99

—

2001

101

106-251

03-31-00

—

2002

—

—

—

Committee did not mark up or report a

budget resolution. Instead, the Housepassed budget resolution, H.Con.Res.

83, was discharged from the Senate

Budget Committee on 04-02-01 and

placed on the calendar.

2003

100

107-141

04-11-02

—

2004

23

—

03-14-03

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 108-19, in lieu of

a written report.

2005

95

—

03-05-04

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 108-365, in lieu

of a written report.

2006

18

—

03-11-05

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 109-18, in lieu of

a written report.

2007

83

—

03-10-06

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 109-057, in lieu

of a written report.

2008

21

—

03-16-07

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 110-019, in lieu

of a written report.

2009

70

—

03-07-08

No written report. Committee issued a

committee print, S.Prt. 110-039, in lieu

of a written report.

Comment

Source: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service.

Figure 1 provides information on the reporting of the budget resolutions relative to

the deadline. The 32 budget resolutions were reported, on average, about on the deadline

(e.g., within a fraction of a day late). Twenty of the budget resolutions were reported in

a timely manner. The reporting date for these budget resolutions ranged from zero to 27

days before the deadline and averaged 12.6 days before the deadline. The remaining 12

budget resolutions were reported from two to 48 days after the deadline, averaging 21.3

days after the deadline.

CRS-5

Compliance with the original deadline of April 15 (in effect through FY1986) was

about the same as compliance with the revised deadline of April 1 (in effect beginning

with FY1987). Under both deadlines, the budget resolution was reported, on average,

about on the deadline (e.g., within a fraction of a day late). The minor difference between

the two averages obscures the significantly tardy reporting of the budget resolutions for

FY1996-FY1998, which were reported between 42 days and 48 days after the deadline.

Following these three years of tardy reporting of the budget resolution, the measure has

been reported on time in nine of 10 years.

CRS-6

Figure 1. Number of Days Budget Resolutions Were Reported by the

Senate Budget Committee Before or After the Reporting Deadline:

FY1976-FY2009

Number of Days Before (-) or After (+) Deadline

-40

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

0

-14

-3

-1

-3

-6

16

25

9

3

-26

-8

14

-1

26

17

2

-20

-14

44

42

48

-12

-13

-1

10

-18

-27

-21

-22

-16

-25

Source: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service.

Note: The reporting deadline was April 15 for FY1976-FY1986 and April 1 for FY1987 and

thereafter. The Senate Budget Committee did not report a budget resolution for FY1991 or

FY2002. For FY1991, the Senate Budget Committee was discharged from the further

consideration of the budget resolution (S.Con.Res. 110), which was placed on the calendar on

Monday, April 2, 1990, and considered by the Senate. (The committee reported another budget

resolution, S.Con.Res. 129, the following month, but it was not considered and is not counted for

purposes of Figure 1.) For FY2002, the Senate Budget Committee did not mark up a budget

resolution. Instead, the House-passed budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 83), which had been

referred to the Senate Budget Committee on March 28, 2001, was discharged on Monday April

2 and later considered by the Senate.