Federal Budget and Appropriations 101

The federal budget determines the amount of federal money that will be spent on programs that serve women in transition, including education, job training and child care. Throughout the federal budget process, it is important that Congress hear from you on the needs and priorities in your communities. Stay tuned for future Insiders and Action Works! alerts for steps you can take to impact the process. 

What is the budget process?
The appropriations process is the process of creating the budget for the United States government. It takes about a year to complete. Through this mechanism, federal funds are allocated for the next fiscal year. The federal budget process takes several steps

The President's Budget: First, the President submits a proposed federal budget to Congress. Next, Congress holds hearings and reviews the President's budget.

Congressional Budget Resolution: Then, oftentimes, but not always using the President's budget as a starting point, the House and the Senate Budget Committees each draft a budget resolution. Once both chambers pass a resolution, members of the Senate and the House draft a conference report in order to resolve any differences between the two versions. Finally, the conference report is adopted, finalizing the budget resolution. This budget resolution sets budget targets for appropriations committees to follow later in the year during the appropriations process.

However, no money has actually been appropriated at this point. This is because unlike most measures passed by Congress, the budget resolution is a concurrent resolution and not a law. Instead, the budget resolution is used as a blueprint which guides Committees in making spending or revenue decisions.

Appropriations Bills: Based on the spending levels agreed to in the budget resolution, the Appropriations Committees in the House and Senate allocate specific funding levels among the Appropriations subcommittees in each chamber. Those subcommittees are responsible for drafting appropriations bills for programs within their jurisdiction; there are ten appropriations bills in total. Most funding decisions about programs that help women and families are included in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill, which is drafted by the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education subcommittee in the House and Senate.

Once a subcommittee in the House passes an appropriations bill, the full House must vote on the bill – and likewise in the Senate. Once both chambers have passed their respective appropriations bills, a joint House-Senate conference committee will meet to work out any differences between the two bills. The conference committee drafts a compromise bill known as a “conference report.” This measure is sent back to the House and Senate and must be approved by the House and Senate before being forwarded to the President for approval or veto. Once approved, funding levels are signed into law for the coming fiscal year.

Timetable for the federal budget process
The federal budget and appropriations process take about a year to complete. The federal fiscal year begins on October 1 and ends on September 30 of the next year. 

Key terms

Appropriation is the legislative designation of money for certain uses in the context of the federal budget.

Appropriations Act is a kind of legislation that provides funds for federal programs and agencies.

Appropriations Committees are in charge of setting the expenditures of money by the US government. Both the House and the Senate have an Appropriations Committee. These committees are further divided into Appropriations Subcommittees which set funding levels for particular areas. For example, the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee drafts the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bills which sets funding levels for education, job training, child care and many other programs that affect women's economic security.

Budget Resolution is an internal budget management tool or blueprint for establishing budget priorities for federal spending and taxation each year. The budget resolution sets targets for committees to meet in setting federal spending. The budget resolution does not hold the force of law and does not go to the President for signature. It must be approved by each chamber and then agreed to by a joint House-Senate conference committee.

Continuing Resolution must be passed and signed into law if, at the end of a fiscal year, there are appropriations bills that have not been enacted yet. A continuing resolution “continues” or extends deferral spending for a limited period of time until the regular appropriations bills can be completed. In the absence of a continuing resolution, federal funding for programs in appropriations bills that have not yet been enacted would stop. In essence, this means that there is a government shut-down for affected agencies. (The government shut down three times in 1995 when Congress was unable to pass a CR in a timely manner.)

Discretionary spending is s pending for programs that require Congress to appropriate funding each year. For example, Perkins Career and Technical Education grants to States are a discretionary program that requires an annual appropriation.

Fiscal year is the accounting period for the federal government which begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 began on October 1, 2005 and ended on September 30, 2006. Congress passes appropriations legislation to fund the government for every fiscal year.

Mandatory spending is s pending controlled by laws other than annual appropriations acts. Funds are not appropriated annually, but rather are set in legislation authorized for a period of several years. For example, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) is mandatory spending. TANF spending is be set for a five-year period in an authorization bill.

OMB is the White House Office of Management and Budget and the largest office within the Executive Office of the President. OMB gives expert advice to senior White House officials on topics relating to legislative and budgetary issues.

Additional Resources
To learn more about the federal budget and appropriations process, you may find these links helpful.

• Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Introduction to the Federal Budget Process. http://www.cbpp.org/3-7-03bud.htm

• General resources related to the federal budget process.
http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/federalbudgetprocess/Federal_Budget_Process.htm

• The Coalition on Human Needs, Budget Training Materials.
http://www.chn.org/budgettraining.html

• A free, searchable database of federal government spending.
http://Fedspending.org

Created by Women Work! 2007