Fact Sheet: The Federal Budget Process

The Congressional Budget season is upon us in earnest. The federal budget process begins on the first Monday in February when the President submits to Congress a detailed budget request for the coming federal fiscal year, which begins on October 1.

After receiving the President's budget request, Congress generally holds hearings to question Administration officials about their requests and then develops its own budget resolution. This work is done by the House and Senate Budget Committees, whose sole function is to draft the budget resolution. Once the committees are done, the budget resolution goes to the House and Senate floor, where it is debated and can be amended (by a majority vote).

Once the House and Senate complete their work on the budget, it goes to a House-Senate conference to resolve any differences, and a conference report is passed by both houses. The budget resolution is a "concurrent" congressional resolution, not an ordinary bill, and therefore does not go to the President for his signature or veto. It also requires only a majority vote to pass, and is one of the few pieces of legislation that cannot be filibustered in the Senate.

Finally, once the Congress has a budget to work from, the Budget Committee turns the budget over to the Appropriators. The report that accompanies the budget resolution includes a table called the "302(a) allocation."

The House and Senate Appropriations Committee each receive a single 302(a) allocation for all of the federally funded programs. The committees then decide how to divide this funding among the many subcommittees, into what are known as 302(b) sub-allocations.

When the Appropriations subcommittees receive their individual sub-allocations, they are able to begin the difficult work of funding the program under their jurisdiction, as long as the total does not exceed the 302(b) amount.