Glossary of Terms Used in the Budget Process

The Comptroller General of the United States, who heads the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has statutory responsibility for establishing budgetary and fiscal terms and classifications, in cooperation with OMB, CBO, and Treasury.^[1] GAO publishes the official terminology in A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, last updated in 2005.^[2] Readers wanting the current “official definition” should consult the GAO glossary. Following is a glossary of the most frequently used terms, with updates, edits, and clarifications from the publisher of this website, drawn from (1) the GAO Glossary; (2) a 2016 Congressional Budget Office glossary;^[3] and (3) major budget process laws.

A

Accounts:  An Appropriation Account is the basic unit of an appropriation generally reflecting each unnumbered paragraph in an appropriation act. An appropriation account typically encompasses a number of activities or projects. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in consultation with the Department of the Treasury, assigns account identification codes.

Advance Appropriations: Budget authority provided in an appropriation act that becomes available one or more fiscal years after the fiscal year for which the appropriation act was enacted. The amount of the advance appropriation is included in the budget totals for the year in which it will become available. For example, a FY 2023 appropriation could provide that the budget authority for a specified activity would not become available until FY 2024, or later. The budget authority would be recorded in FY 2024.

Advance Funding: Budget authority provided in an appropriation act to obligate and disburse, in the current fiscal year, funds from a succeeding year’s appropriation. Advance funding is a means to avoid making supplemental requests late in the fiscal year for entitlement programs in cases where the appropriations for the current year prove to be insufficient. When such budget authority is used (i.e., funds obligated), the budget records an increase in the budget authority for the fiscal year in which it is used and a reduction in the budget authority for the following fiscal year.

Allocation: For purposes of section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 633(a)), an allocation is the distribution of budget authority and outlays to relevant committees based on the levels contained in a concurrent resolution on the budget. For purposes of section 302(b) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 633(b)), an allocation is the distribution of budget authority and outlays to relevant Appropriation subcommittees. In the Executive Budget Process, an allocation is a subdivision of an apportionment.

Allotment: An authorization by either the agency head or another authorized employee to their subordinates to incur obligations within a specified amount. Each agency makes allotments pursuant to specific procedures it establishes within the apportionment requirements stated in OMB Circular No. A-11.

Allowance: As used by Congress in a budget resolution, an allowance represents a special functional classification designed to include an amount to cover possible requirements. An allowance remains undistributed until the contingency on which it is based occurs; then it is distributed to the appropriate functional classification. In the Executive Budget Process, an allowance is a subdivision of an allotment, as explained above.

Antideficiency Act: A federal law that prohibits expenditures or obligations in advance of an appropriation; prohibits obligations or expenditures in excess of amounts available in appropriations unless specifically authorized by law (31 U.S.C. § 1341(a)); prohibits the acceptance of voluntary or personal services unless authorized by law (31 U.S.C. § 1342); requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), via delegation from the President, to apportion appropriated funds and other budgetary resources for all executive branch agencies (31 U.S.C. § 1512); requires a system of administrative controls within each agency (see 31 U.S.C. § 1514); and specifies penalties for deficiencies. For background, see § 6.04, “Antideficiency Act and Government Shutdowns.”

Apportionment: The action by which the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) distributes amounts available for obligation in an appropriation or fund account. An apportionment divides amounts available for obligation by specific time periods (usually quarters), activities, projects, objects, or a combination.  An apportionment may be further subdivided by an agency into allotments, sub-allotments, and allocations. The apportionment process is intended to ensure that no obligations exceed congressional appropriations and to avoid a need for supplemental appropriations.

Appropriated Entitlement: The largest block of federal spending (about 62%) is called “direct spending” because the outlays flow directly from legal obligations of the federal government established in permanent law. Most direct spending is comprised of “entitlement programs” that legally obligate the United States to make formula-driven payments to eligible individuals or entities; however, funds must still be appropriated to permit disbursements from the Treasury as required by Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. Some entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, are permanently appropriated. Others, including Medicaid and certain veterans’ programs, are annually appropriated53—and are referred to as “appropriated entitlements.”^[4] Both permanently appropriated and annually appropriated entitlements share the common characteristic that the annual outlays of the program have been determined outside the discretionary appropriations process through the establishment of payment formulas, eligibility criteria, and a federal legal obligation set forth in permanent law.

Appropriation: “Any time the Congress specifies the manner in which a Federal entity shall be funded and makes such funds available for obligation and expenditure, that constitutes an appropriation, whether the language is found in an appropriation act or in other legislation.”^[5]  For example, Veterans healthcare is funded in an annual appropriations act under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, while Social Security benefits are funded by a permanent appropriation in the Social Security Act under the jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees.

Appropriations Act: A statute, under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, providing legal authority for federal agencies to enter into obligations that will result in outlays. The 12 appropriations subcommittees in each chamber draft an annual appropriations bill providing budget authority to the agencies and programs under their jurisdiction. The 12 annual bills are (1) Agriculture-Rural Development-FDA; (2) Commerce-Justice-Science; (3) Defense; (4) Energy-Water; (5) Financial Services and General Government; (6) Homeland Security; (7) Interior-Environment; (8) Labor-Health and Human Services-Education; (9) Legislative Branch; (10) Military Construction-Veterans Affairs; (11) State-Foreign Operations; and (12) Transportation-HUD. Following subcommittee and full committee action on the individual appropriation bills, several may be packaged into a “minibus” for Floor consideration, or all the bills may be packaged into an “omnibus” appropriation act.

An appropriation act fulfills the requirement of Article I, Section 9, of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that “no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” All federal expenditures must be appropriated, including entitlement authority and contract authority, which may be permanently appropriated or annually appropriated (see “Appropriated Entitlements”).

Major types of appropriation acts are regular, supplemental, and continuing. Regular appropriation acts are the 12 annual bills. Supplemental appropriations provide additional budget authority for the current fiscal year. When action on regular appropriation bills is not completed before the beginning of the new fiscal year, a continuing resolution (often referred to as a “CR”) may be enacted in a bill or joint resolution to continue funding—at a specified rate—for the relevant agencies up to a specified date or sometimes for the full fiscal year.

Appropriations Rider: Sometimes used to refer to (1) a provision that is not related to the appropriation bill to which it is attached, or (2) a limitation or requirement in an appropriation act.

Asset Sale: The sale of a physical or financial asset owned in whole or in part by the federal government to the public. Asset sales are typically large-dollar transactions ($50 million or more) for which advance notification must be provided to the Department of the Treasury. Revenue from the sale of assets is accounted for in the budget as offsetting receipts or collections.

Authorizing Committees / Authorizing Legislation: A standing committee of the House or Senate with legislative jurisdiction over the establishment, continuation, and operations of federal programs or agencies. The House and Senate each have 17 authorizing committees (see Table 4-1). The jurisdiction of such committees include authorization of appropriations legislation (which requests specified or general levels of funding from the Appropriations Committees), and also includes creation of direct spending authority—including entitlement programs and contract authority. Direct spending permits authorizing committees to “spend directly,” i.e., outside the annual appropriations process, by providing entitlement authority, contract authority, or other spending authority to agencies to enter into obligations that will result in federal outlays. Although direct spending legislation determines the amount of federal expenditures due to statutory entitlements or mandates, it must nevertheless be appropriated, either permanently, or annually in appropriated entitlements.

B

BA:  Abbreviation for “budget authority,” which is the legal authority enacted by Congress for agencies to enter into obligations that results in outlays. The most common form of budget authority is appropriation. Another type is contract authority enacted by an authorizing committee.

Backdoor Authority/Backdoor Spending: A colloquial phrase for federal spending determined outside the annual appropriations process, including entitlement authority, contract authority and borrowing authority.

Balanced Budget: A budget in which receipts equal outlays for a fiscal year.

Balanced Budget Act: Refers to a specific reconciliation bill, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, Pub. L. No. 105-33.

Baseline: The baseline is typically the projection of current-year levels of spending and revenues into future years, assuming the continuation of current laws and policies, and adjusting for inflation and other factors. It is used as a benchmark for estimating the budgetary effects of proposed legislation changing federal spending or revenues. The baseline is set forth in the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) annual report for the House and Senate Budget Committees, The Budget and Economic Outlook, which is typically published in January. In most years, the CBO baseline is revised in early spring in conjunction with CBO’s analysis of the President’s budget, and again during the summer. The “March” baseline is generally the benchmark for measuring the budgetary effects of proposed legislation under consideration by Congress.

BBA: Refers to one of four “Bipartisan Budget Act” statutes enacted in the 2010s to raise the statutory spending caps, paid for by extending the Budget Control Act mandatory sequester for additional years.

BBEDCA: Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985; also known as the “Deficit Control Act,” and colloquially known as Gramm-Rudman-Hollings for the law’s Senate sponsors, Senators Phil Gramm (R-TX), Warren Rudman (R-NH), and Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-SC). Among other changes to the budget process, the law established “maximum deficit amounts” and an automatic budget reduction (sequestration) procedure to reduce spending if those targets were exceeded. The Deficit Control Act has been amended several times—most significantly by the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990 and the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA).

BCA:  Budget Control Act of 2011, Pub. L. No. 112–25.

BEA: The Budget Enforcement Act, first enacted as Title XIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (OBRA-90), amended the Deficit Control Act to establish: (1) statutory discretionary spending limits enforced by sequestration (automatic across-the-board cuts in discretionary programs); and (2) a new pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) deficit neutrality requirement that, in effect, required new direct spending and tax cuts to be fully offset with spending cuts or tax increases in order to avoid triggering a sequester (automatic across-the-board cuts in nonexempt direct spending programs).

Public Law 103–66 (1993) extended the discretionary spending limits, pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules, and sequestration procedures through fiscal year 1998. The BEA of 1997, enacted as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, further extended these budget enforcement mechanisms through fiscal year 2002. The BEA of 1997 also added new categories of discretionary spending.

Title XIII of OBRA-90 also enacted the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990. FCRA changed the budget rules for credit programs by requiring Congress to appropriate budget authority up front to cover projected delinquencies, defaults, and interest rate subsidies over the life of credit programs. By requiring the up-front appropriation of budget authority to cover the projected future costs of credit programs, FCRA allowed Congress to compare, in an apples-to-apples way, the budgetary costs of direct loans and loan guarantees, with other programs.

Biennial Budgeting: A budget covering a period of two years. The federal government has an annual budget, but there have frequently been proposals to shift to a biennial budget. The two-year period could apply to the budget presented to Congress by the President, the budget resolution adopted by Congress, or to the frequency of appropriations acts.

Borrowing Authority: Budget authority enacted to permit an agency to borrow money and then to obligate against amounts borrowed.

Budget: For the federal government, the term “budget” usually refers to the President’s budget submission to Congress in early February each calendar year (except for the first year of a new Administration) in accordance with the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, and includes Administration proposals for spending and revenue-raising for the upcoming fiscal year.

Budget Act: The common name of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (Pub. L. No. 93-344, 88 Stat. 297, codified as amended at 2 U.S.C. § 621 et.seq.). Most congressional budget points of order are embedded in the 1974 Budget Act, as amended.

Budget Amendment: A revision to the President’s budget submitted to Congress prior to completion of appropriations action for the budget year.

Budget Authority: Budget authority, usually referred to as “BA,” is authority provided by federal law to enter into financial obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays of federal government funds. Budget authority may take the form of a direct appropriation of funds from the Treasury, borrowing authority, contract authority, entitlement authority, or authority to obligate offsetting collections or receipts. In general, the annual congressional budget resolution allocates budget authority for discretionary spending programs to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, and assigns budget authority for direct spending programs to the relevant authorizing committees.

Budget Functions: In the President’s budget and the congressional budget resolution, federal spending (i.e., budget authority and outlays) is divided among 20 conceptual categories known as “budget functions,” as displayed in Appendix C. This is a system of classifying spending according to the national needs being addressed without regard to department or agency. For example, the National Defense function—Function 050—includes expenditures of the Department of Defense, as well as defense-related activities of the Energy Department and other agencies.

Budget Process Timetable:  See Timetable.

Budget Reconciliation: Under section 310 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 641), a budget resolution may contain optional reconciliation instructions, which direct congressional authorizing committees to make changes in laws under their jurisdictions to achieve a specified budgetary result—raising or decreasing spending, revenues or deficits. Reconciliation instructions prescribe dollar amounts without reference to particular programs. The House and Senate Budget Committees base the instructions on programmatic assumptions, but the authorizing committees have complete discretion on how to fulfill the dollar-based instructions. Legislation reported by authorizing committees in fulfilling their reconciliation instructions is packaged by the respective House and Senate Budget Committees, without change, into reconciliation bills for House and Senate consideration. Reconciliation bills, similar to budget resolutions, are protected by expedited procedures and may not be filibustered in the Senate. The Senate prohibits non-budgetary provisions in reconciliation bills, enforced by the Byrd Rule point of order. See § 4.04, “Reconciliation Instructions: Changes to Entitlements, Taxes, and the Debt Limit.”

Budget Resolution: See Concurrent Resolution on the Budget.

Budgetary Resources: A term first used when the sequester mechanism was established by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, referring to amounts that may be cancelled through a sequester order by the Office of Management and Budget. Budgetary resources subject to sequestration include new budget authority and unobligated balances of budget authority provided in previous years.^[6]

Budget Sequestration: See Sequestration.

Budget Years: In the budget world, the “current year” refers to the current fiscal year, the “prior year” refers to the year before the current fiscal year, the “budget year” refers to the upcoming fiscal year for which a budget resolution, appropriations, and revenue bills are being developed, and “outyears” refer to fiscal years following the budget year. For example, in July of 2023, the current year is FY 2023, the prior year is FY 2022, the budget year is FY 2024, and the outyears are fiscal years beyond FY 2024.

Byrd Bath: A colloquial term referring to the vetting of a budget reconciliation bill for “extraneous” provisions violating the Senate’s Byrd Rule (section 313 of the 1974 Budget Act, as amended).

Byrd Rule: A rule of the Senate that allows a senator to strike “extraneous”—principally non-budgetary—material in a reconciliation bill, amendment, or conference report. The rule defines six types of provisions that are “extraneous,” including a provision that does not produce a change in outlays or revenues and a provision that produces changes in outlays or revenues that are merely incidental to the nonbudgetary components of the provision. (See Table 5 for a detailed explanation.) The Byrd Rule was first enacted as section 20001 of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 and later transferred to section 313 of the Congressional Budget Act (2 U.S.C. § 644). The rule is named after its primary sponsor, Senator Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who devised the rule to prevent the expedited budget reconciliation process from circumventing the Senate’s rules and precedents on unlimited debate and amendment.

C

Capital Budget: As used by most states, a capital budget segregates capital investments from the operating budget’s expenditures. In such a budget, the capital investments that are excluded from the operating budget do not count toward calculating the operating budget’s surplus or deficit. States that use capital budgets normally finance the capital investment from borrowing and then charge amortization (interest and debt repayment) to the operating budget. The federal government operates under a “unified budget” that includes all capital and operating expenses. Advocates for a capital budget argue that long-term federal investments, projected to yield long-term returns should be treated separately from annual operating expenses, while supporters of the unified budget argue that federal deficits (and surpluses) should include all federal outlays and revenues in order to ascertain the budget’s macroeconomic effects on the economy.

CBO: Abbreviation for the Congressional Budget Office which supports the congressional budget process by providing Congress with nonpartisan economic and program analyses and cost information on existing and proposed federal programs. The Budget Committees, Appropriations Committees, House Ways and Means, and Senate Finance Committees are the major users of CBO reports.

CHIMPs: An acronym for “CHanges In a Mandatory Programs” proposed or enacted in an appropriations bill rather than in authorizing legislation. Although generally classified as direct or mandatory spending, CHIMPs are included in appropriations bills where they are scored as producing negative budget authority—thereby creating room under section 302 allocations (or statutory spending caps when they are in effect) for additional discretionary spending. The negative budget authority is scored as discretionary when the appropriations bill is scored; however, after enactment, these changes are no longer considered discretionary, and they again become part of the mandatory spending baseline. For additional background see § 6.08, “Changes in Mandatory Programs (CHIMPs) in Appropriations Bills.”^[7]

Collections: Amounts received by the federal government during the fiscal year. Collections are classified in three categories: (1) governmental receipts (also called budget receipts or federal receipts), (2) offsetting collections, and (3) offsetting receipts. Governmental receipts (including taxes) result from the exercise of the government’s sovereign powers. Offsetting collections and receipts (described in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the President’s budget) result from businesslike transactions with the public and are recorded as offsets to spending, or negative budget authority.^[8]

Committee Allocation: See “Allocation.”

Concurrent Resolution on the Budget: The Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, established by the 1974 Budget Act, is a congressional blueprint to guide subsequent congressional action on spending and revenue measures. As a concurrent resolution of Congress it is not presented to the President and does not become law.

It must include: Total spending ceilings (budget authority and outlays) and revenue floors for at least five fiscal years; a nonbinding allocation of new budget authority and outlays among 20 categories known as budget functions; deficit (or surplus) and debt levels projected to result from the spending and revenue totals; outlays and revenues for the off-budget Social Security insurance programs displayed separately; and (in its report language) enforceable allocations of spending to each committee of the House and Senate, including a lump-sum to the Appropriations Committees for all discretionary spending.

It may include: special procedures to enforce the budget resolution; special provisions called “budget reconciliation instructions” aimed at expediting changes to direct spending programs or tax laws through a filibuster-proof  budget reconciliation bill; and budget resolution reserve funds to permit adjustments in committee allocations and revenue and spending totals to accommodate specific (usually deficit-neutral) legislation.

The budget resolution’s spending and revenue totals, functional allocations, committee allocations, and reconciliation instructions (if any), do not mention specific programs or budget accounts, although the numbers are based on specific (though non-binding) programmatic assumptions made by the Budget Committees.

Congressional Budget Act: Titles I–IX of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, as amended (2 U.S.C. §§ 601–661), are commonly referred to as the Congressional Budget Act. (Title X is cited as the Impoundment Control Act.)

Consolidated Budget: Refers to a display of the federal budget that combines on-budget spending and revenues with off-budget (Social Security and U.S. Postal Service) spending and revenues to ascertain the macroeconomic impact of all federal activities.

Consumer Price Index (CPI): A measure of inflation that affects annual spending and revenues, including Social Security payments and tax brackets. Measures for two population groups are currently published, CPI-U and CPI-W. CPI-U is based on a market basket determined by expenditure patterns of all urban households, while the market basket for CPI-W is determined by expenditure patterns of urban wage-earner and clerical-worker families. Both indexes are published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Continuing Resolution: An appropriation act that provides budget authority for federal agencies to continue in operation when Congress and the President have not completed action on the regular appropriation acts by the beginning of the fiscal year. Enacted in the form of a joint resolution (requiring presidential signature), a continuing resolution is passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the President. A continuing resolution may be enacted for the full year, up to a specified date, or until regular appropriations are enacted. A continuing resolution usually specifies a maximum rate at which the obligations may be incurred. For example, the resolution may state that obligations may not exceed the “current rate” or must be the lower of the amounts provided in appropriation bills passed in the House or Senate.

The current rate is the total amount of budget authority that was available for obligation for a particular activity during the fiscal year immediately prior to the one for which a continuing resolution is enacted. Congress often uses the “current rate” as part of a formula to indicate a level of spending that it desires for a program for the duration of the continuing resolution. Current rate funding does not allow agencies to fund new initiatives or programs for the new fiscal year unless Congress specifically authorizes them to be funded.

Contract Authority: Budget authority set forth in authorizing legislation that permits an agency to enter into contractual obligations in advance of appropriations. Appropriations are still required to liquidate the obligations.

Cost Estimates: Estimates of the impact legislation under consideration by Congress would have on the federal budget if the legislation became law. Cost estimates are provided by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for all legislation reported by a congressional committee and are, typically, published in the report accompanying that legislation. CBO is required to use Joint Committee on Taxation estimates for revenue provisions.

Credit Authority: Authority to incur direct loan obligations or to incur primary loan guarantee commitments.^[9]

Credit Reform: The method of controlling and accounting for credit programs under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, under which appropriations must be provided up-front for anticipated subsidy costs of direct loans and loan guarantees. See § 16.02, “FCRA: Accounting for Federal Loan Guarantees and Direct Loans.”

Credit Subsidy Cost: The estimated long-term cost to the federal government of a direct loan or loan guarantee calculated on a net present value basis excluding administrative costs.^[10]

Current Level Estimate: Up-to-date tabulations of congressional budget action by the Congressional Budget Office provided to committees of the House and Senate, on a monthly basis, tabulating the progress of congressional action on bills providing new budget authority or providing an increase or decrease in revenues or tax expenditures for each fiscal year covered by the budget resolution. Using these tabulations, the House and Senate Budget Committee chairmen place in the Congressional Record regular budget scorekeeping reports. See § 308(b) of the 1974 Budget Act, as amended (2 U.S.C. § 639(b)).

Current Services Estimates: Estimates submitted by the President of the levels of budget authority and outlays for the budget year based on the continuation of existing levels of service and adjusting for inflation. These estimates reflect the anticipated costs of continuing federal programs and services at present levels without policy changes. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also prepares similar estimates included in the Budget and Economic Outlook in January.^[11]

D

Debt and Deficits: A budget deficit (or surplus) is the difference between outlays and revenues for a particular fiscal year. In contrast to an annual deficit, the federal debt is the accumulated debt of the federal government. Whenever the federal government runs an annual budget deficit, the additional borrowing to finance that deficit adds to the federal debt. By contrast, whenever the federal government runs a budget surplus, as it did during FYs 1998 through 2001, the federal debt may decrease because the Treasury uses the surplus to redeem outstanding debt, rather than borrowing additional funds to redeem the debt.

• Gross or Total Public Debt: Gross or total public debt includes the sum of: (1) debt-held-by-the-public (debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, the Federal Reserve System, foreign governments and central banks); plus (2) debt held by government accounts or  “intragovernmental debt” such as debt held by the Social Security, Medicare, and retirement trust funds.
• Debt-held-by-the-public: One of the two components of total federal debt, the other being intragovernmental debt. Debt-held-by-the-public is the portion of gross federal debt held outside the federal government. This includes federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, the Federal Reserve System, foreign governments and central banks. Debt-held-by-the-public is distinct from “public debt,” which is a shorthand for total federal debt.
• Debt Held by Government Accounts (Intragovernmental Debt): One of the two large components of gross federal debt, the other being debt-held-by-the-public. Most intragovernmental debt is held by trust funds, such as Social Security, Medicare and federal retirement trust funds.
• Debt Subject to Statutory Debt Limit: The Constitution, in Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to “borrow Money on the credit of the United States,” thus mandating that Congress exercise control over the public debt.^[12] Since ratification of the Constitution, Congress has placed restrictions of various types on federal borrowing, for example, in the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917.^[13] In 1939, Congress enacted the first aggregate limit covering nearly all federal debt, and commonly referred to as the “debt limit” or “debt ceiling.”^[14] Since that time, when the activities of the federal government require a higher limit, Congress enacts a law to raise the debt limit.

The debt limit roughly approximates gross (total) public debt, which includes: (1) Debt-held-by-the-public (debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, the Federal Reserve System, foreign governments and central banks); plus (2) Debt held by federal government accounts (also known as intragovernmental debt), for example, debt held by the Social Security, Medicare, and retirement trust funds. (See Chapter 13, “Public Debt and the Debt Limit.”

Debt Limit or Debt Ceiling: A statutory limit on total public debt, comprised of debt-held-by-the-public plus debt held by government trust funds.

Debt Service: Payment of interest on, and repayment of principal on, borrowed funds. The term may also be used to refer to payment of interest alone.

Deeming Resolution: A resolution or bill passed by one or both houses of Congress that, in years without a budget resolution, serves for the chamber as the budget resolution for purposes of budget levels and points of order. At a minimum, deeming resolutions provide new spending allocations to the appropriations committees, but they also may set new aggregate budget levels, and provide revised spending allocations to other House and Senate committees. Alternatively, a deeming resolution may declare that a budget resolution passed earlier in the session by one chamber, is deemed to have the force and effect, for that chamber’s points of order, as if adopted by both houses.

Deferral of Budget Authority: Temporary withholding or delaying of the obligation of budget authority until later in a fiscal year. Under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 684), budget authority may only be deferred to provide for contingencies, to achieve savings or greater efficiency in the operations of the government, or as otherwise specifically provided by law. Budget authority may not be deferred for policy reasons. Deferrals must be communicated to Congress by the President in a special message. Deferred budget authority may be withheld without further action by Congress. Congress may disapprove a deferral by law. A deferral may not extend beyond the end of the fiscal year of the budget authority’s availability. However, for multiyear funds, the President may re-report the deferral the next fiscal year. Agencies must release all deferred budget authority with sufficient time remaining in the fiscal year to prudently obligate that budget authority before the end of the fiscal year.

Deficit Control Act: Refers to the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, Pub. L. No. 99-177, as amended, which is also referred to by the acronyms “BBEDCA” and “GRH” (for the bill sponsors, Senators Phil Gramm (R-TX), Warren Rudman (R-NH), and Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-SC). New budget laws typically amend either BBEDCA or the 1974 Budget Act.

Direct (Mandatory) Spending: Budget authority provided directly by authorizing laws outside the annual appropriations process. As defined by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, direct spending includes entitlement authority, the Food Stamp Program (now called SNAP),[15] and budget authority provided by law other than appropriations acts. Under the Statutory Pay-As-You-GO Act of 2010, new direct spending is subject to pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) requirements. While the levels of direct spending are determined by requirements embedded in laws under the jurisdiction of authorizing committees, funds must nevertheless be appropriated prior to expenditure through permanent or annual appropriations. For example, Social Security is permanently appropriated, while Medicaid and certain veterans’ programs are annually appropriated.

Disbursements: Amounts paid by federal agencies during a fiscal year to liquidate government obligations. “Disbursement” is used interchangeably with the term “outlay.”

Discretionary spending: Budget authority that is provided and controlled by annual appropriation acts and the outlays that result from that budget authority. Contrast with entitlements, the spending for which is determined by automatic spending formulas set forth in authorizing statutes.

Discretionary Spending Limits (or Caps): Statutory ceilings imposed for a fiscal year on total discretionary spending, or on subcategories of discretionary spending, and enforced by automatic across-the-board cuts (sequestration) to eliminate any overages. Spending limits were first imposed by the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) and were applied to budget authority and outlays, and were eventually extended through FY 2002. See Chapter 9 on the Budget Enforcement Act. Spending limits were again imposed by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) for each year through FY 2021, but applied to budget authority only. The BCA spending caps were automatically reduced by a “Joint Committee trigger” in 2012 and were subsequently referred to as “sequester caps.” However, the sequester caps were, in large part, rolled back by a series of four Bipartisan Budget Acts. The BCA spending caps expired in FY 2021. See Chapter 11 on the Budget Control Act.

E

Earmarks: The term “earmark” refers to three distinct types of Member-driven benefits placed in bill or report language: (1) congressional spending earmarks; (2) limited tax benefits; and (3) limited tariff benefits.

• Congressional earmark (as referenced in House Rules) or congressionally directed spending item (in Senate Rules) refers to a spending provision placed in bill or report language—at the request of a Member or Senator—that provides, authorizes, or recommends spending authority for “an entity, or targeted to a specific State, locality or Congressional district, other than through a statutory or administrative formula-driven or competitive award process.”^[16]
• Limited tax benefit, in the House, refers to a provision that provides tax benefits aimed at 10 or fewer beneficiaries with eligibility criteria that are not applied uniformly, or a provision providing tax transition relief aimed at one beneficiary.^[17] A similar provision in the Senate applies to tax benefits for “a particular beneficiary or a limited group of beneficiaries” but without the 10-beneficiary threshold in the House Rule.^[18]
• Limited tariff benefit refers to provisions “modifying the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States in a manner that benefits 10 or fewer entities.”^[19]

For current disclosure rules regarding earmarks, see § 6.11, “Earmarks: Disclosure Requirements and the Return of Spending Earmarks.”

Emergency: A term that usually modifies “appropriation,” “legislation,” or “supplemental.”  The House or the Senate, or their respective committees of jurisdiction, may designate proposed appropriations or other legislation as “emergency legislation” and thereby exempt new budget authority, outlays, or receipts resulting from such legislation from enforcement provisions in the Congressional Budget Act, a budget resolution, spending caps (when they exist), or the 2010 Statutory PAYGO law.

Enhanced Rescission: Legislative proposals that would allow the President to withhold funds from obligation upon proposing a rescission and to continue withholding the funds unless and until Congress acts to disapprove the presidential proposal to rescind funds. The President could then veto the disapproval bill, forcing each chamber to muster a two-thirds majority to override the veto. This would be a reversal of current Impoundment Control Act procedures that require funds proposed for rescission to be released after 45 days unless Congress approves, by law, all or part of the amount proposed to be rescinded by the President. In 1996, Congress enacted the Line Item Veto Act, similar to enhanced rescission, which authorized the President, after signing a bill into law, to cancel in whole any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, any item of new direct spending, or any limited tax benefit if the President made certain determinations. The Act provided that the cancellation was effective unless Congress enacted a disapproval bill into law to void the cancellation. In 1998, the United States Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), ruled that the Line Item Veto Act violated the Presentment Clause, Article 1, Section 7, of the U.S. Constitution.

Entitlements: Entitlement programs are the most common form of direct spending and are established by authorizing legislation, such as the Social Security Act, legally obligating the federal government to pay specified benefits to eligible individuals. The fundamental characteristic of an entitlement is the absence of annual appropriations decisions on funding levels; instead, the level of expenditures flows directly from benefit formulas and eligibility rules set forth in permanent law.^[20]

F

Federal Credit: Defined by the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (FCRA) as federal direct loans and federal loan guarantees.

• Credit Reform: The method of controlling and accounting for credit programs in the federal budget after FY 1991. FCRA added title V to the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. It requires that the credit subsidy cost be appropriated up-front at the time the direct or guaranteed loans are disbursed.
• Credit Subsidy Cost: The estimated long-term cost to the government of a direct loan or loan guarantee, calculated on a net present value basis543[21] and excluding administrative costs.
• Direct Loan: A disbursement of funds by the government to a nonfederal borrower under a contract that requires the repayment of such funds either with or without interest. Under credit reform, the budget records the credit subsidy cost of direct loans as outlays.
• Direct Loan Subsidy Cost: The estimated long-term cost to the government of a direct loan, excluding administrative costs. These estimated cash flows include the effects of estimated defaults, prepayments, fees, penalties, and expected actions by the government and the borrower within the terms of the loan contract.
• Guaranteed Loan: A nonfederal loan to which a federal guarantee is attached. The loan principal is recorded as a guaranteed loan regardless of whether the federal guarantee is full or partial. Under credit reform, the budget records the credit subsidy cost of guaranteed loans as outlays.
• Guaranteed Loan Subsidy Cost: The estimated long-term cost to the government of a loan guarantee, excluding administrative costs. FCRA specifies that the credit subsidy cost of a loan guarantee is the net present value, at the time a guaranteed loan is disbursed by the lender.

Federal Financing Bank: A government corporation created by the Federal Financing Bank Act of 1973 under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury. FFB was established to (1) finance federal and federally assisted borrowings in ways that least disrupt private markets, (2) coordinate such borrowing programs with the government’s overall fiscal policy, and (3) reduce the costs of such borrowing from the public. FFB obtains funds by borrowing from the Department of the Treasury.^[22]

Federal Reserve System: The central bank of the United States. The Federal Reserve is responsible for conducting the nation’s monetary policy and overseeing credit conditions. See § 14.04, “Non-Budgetary Status of the Federal Reserve System.”

Fiscal policy: The government’s tax and spending policies, determined by Congress, and their macroeconomic impact on the overall economy. Contrast with monetary policy under the jurisdiction of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

Fiscal Year:  In order to keep track of its revenues and expenditures in an orderly way, the federal government has established a 12-month period known as the “fiscal year” (FY). The fiscal year for the federal government begins on October 1 of each year and ends on September 30 of the following year; it is designated by the calendar year in which it ends. The October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023 fiscal period is FY 2023.

• Budget Year: Refers to the upcoming fiscal year for which the budget is being considered. The budget process in calendar 2023 is focused on budget year FY 2024.
• Current Year: Refers to the current fiscal year.
• Program Year: Describes the authorized operating period of a particular program when it differs from fiscal year.
• Outyear: In the Concurrent Resolution on the Budget, or in the President’s budget submission, any fiscal year (or years) beyond the budget year for which projections are made. In the context of the Byrd Rule, the outyears may refer to fiscal years beyond the 5- or 10-years covered by the reconciliation bill.

Forward Funding: Budget authority that is made available for obligation beginning in the last quarter of the fiscal year for the financing of ongoing activities during the next fiscal year. This funding is used mostly for education programs, so that obligations for grants can be made prior to the beginning of the next school year. For example, the authority may be available from July 1 of one fiscal year through September 30 of the following fiscal year, a period of 15 months.

Functional Classification: See Budget Functions.

Full Funding: The provision of budgetary resources to cover the total estimated cost of a program or project at the time it is undertaken. Full funding generally pertains to the acquisition of capital assets, such as the construction of Navy ships or buildings to house federal agencies. The term full funding can sometimes refer to the appropriation of the total amount authorized by law; a program is said to be “fully funded” when the appropriation equals the authorized level or when appropriations are sufficient to cover services for all eligible persons or organizations.

FY: Abbreviation for Fiscal Year, which begins on October 1 of each year. For example, FY 2024 will begin on October 1, 2023.

G

GAO: The Government Accountability Office (previously the General Accounting Office) is a nonpartisan legislative branch agency which plays a key role in implementation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which governs deferrals and proposed rescissions of budget authority.

Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): The most recent iteration of performance-based budgeting is the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)^[23] as amended by the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA).^[24] The objective of GPRA is to shift the focus of program reviews from expenditures and activities to mission objectives and results. GPRA requires agencies to submit 5-year Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans with their budget requests to Congress. GPRAMA amended GPRA to require federal agencies to collect and report performance data for use in funding decisions and program management.^[25]

Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE): A privately owned and operated federally-chartered financial institution that facilitates the flow of investment funds to specific economic sectors. GSEs, acting as financial intermediaries, provide these sectors access to national capital markets. The activities of GSEs are generally not included in the federal budget’s totals because they are classified as private entities. However, because of their relationship to the government, detailed statements of financial operations and conditions are presented as supplementary information in the budget document. In recent years, large federal expenditures to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the financial crisis have been included in budget totals. See § 14.05, “Budgetary Treatment of GSEs: Federally-Chartered Shareholder-Owned Companies.”

Governmental Receipts: Collections from the public based on the government’s exercise of its sovereign powers, including individual and corporate income taxes and social insurance taxes, excise taxes, duties, court fines, compulsory licenses, and deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve System. Gifts and contributions are also counted as governmental receipts. Total governmental receipts are compared with total outlays in calculating the annual budget surplus or deficit. Also referred to as “revenues.”

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings: The popular name of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, so named for the Senate sponsors: Senators Phil Gramm (R-TX), Warren Rudman (R-NH), and Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC).

Grants: A federal financial assistance award making payment in cash or in kind for a specified purpose. Block grants are given to governmental units in accordance with a statutory formula. Formula grants allocate federal funds to states or their subdivisions in accordance with a distribution formula prescribed by law or administrative regulation. Project grants provide federal funding for fixed periods for specific projects or the delivery of specific services or products.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The total market value of goods and services produced domestically during a given period. The components of GDP are consumption (both household and government), gross investment (both private and government), and net exports. For analytical purposes, federal spending categories and programs are often displayed as percentages of GDP in order to compare year-to-year trends.

Gross Federal Debt: Gross federal debt, also referred to as total public debt, is the sum of debt-held-by-the-public and debt held by government accounts (intragovernmental debt).

I

ICA:  The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 which places limits on permissible deferrals of an agency’s budget authority to later in a fiscal year, and sets forth procedures for Congress to consider rescissions proposed by the Administration.

Identification Code: Each appropriation or fund account in the President’s budget carries an 11-digit code that identifies (1) the agency, (2) the account, (3) the nature or timing of the transmittal to Congress (for example, regular budget cycle or supplemental), (4) the type of fund, and (5) the account’s functional and subfunctional classifications.

Impoundment: Any action or inaction by an officer or employee of the federal government that precludes obligation of budget authority. See definitions for the two types of impoundments: deferrals and rescissions. Deferrals and proposed rescissions are strictly controlled by the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Indefinite Authority: Budget authority that, at time of enactment, is for an unspecified amount. Indefinite budget authority may be appropriated as all or part of the amount of proceeds from the sale of financial assets, the amount necessary to cover obligations associated with payments, the receipts from specified sources—the exact amount of which is determinable only at some future date—or it may be appropriated as “such sums as may be necessary” for a given purpose.

Intragovernmental Transfers: Collections from other federal government accounts, often as payment for goods or services provided. Most offsetting receipts from intragovernmental transfers are offset against budget authority and outlays of the agency that produced the goods or services.

J

JCT:  The Joint Committee on Taxation is a joint House-Senate committee of Congress. Unlike other committees of Congress that develop legislation for congressional consideration, the JCT exists solely to employ a nonpartisan staff of tax professionals and economists to provide the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees with nonpartisan revenue estimates, analyses of tax proposals, and committee report language. The CBO is required to use JCT revenue estimates.

Joint Resolution: A form of legislation (H.J.Res. and S.J.Res.) often used for continuing resolutions. Typically, there is no effective difference between a bill and a joint resolution; both require bicameral majority votes for passage and signature of the President.

Justification: A highly detailed document submitted by a federal agency to the House and Senate appropriations committees in support of its budget request and posted on the agency’s public website. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) prescribes the contents of justification materials, which are closely reviewed by the appropriations subcommittees during annual agency appropriation hearings.

L

Limitation: A restriction on the amount, purpose, or period of availability of budget authority. While limitations are most often established through appropriations acts, they may also be established through authorization legislation. Limitations may be placed on the availability of funds for program levels, administrative expenses, direct loan obligations, loan guarantee commitments, or other purposes.

Line Item: In appropriation acts, refers to an individual account or part of an account for which a specific amount is available.

Line Item Veto: An executive power to veto only certain parts of legislation while allowing the rest of the legislation to become law. In 1996, the Line Item Veto Act was enacted authorizing the President, after signing a bill into law, to cancel in whole any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, any item of new direct spending, or any limited tax benefit if the President made certain determinations. In 1998, the United States Supreme Court in Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417 (1998), ruled that the Line Item Veto Act violated the Presentment Clause, Article 1, Section 7, of the U.S. Constitution.

Liquidating Appropriations: An appropriation to pay obligations incurred pursuant to substantive legislation, usually contract authority. A liquidating appropriation is not recorded as budget authority because the BA is attributed to the contract authority; rather it is recorded as outlays.

M

Mandatory Spending: Mandatory spending is not defined in law, but is the same as “direct spending” which is defined at section 250(a)(8) of the 1985 Deficit Control Act, and refers to budget authority provided in laws other than appropriation acts, and the outlays that result from such budget authority.

Mark-Up: Meetings where congressional committees work on language of bills or resolutions. For example, at Budget Committee mark-ups, the House and Senate Budget Committees work on the language and numbers contained in budget resolutions and legislation affecting the congressional budget process.

Maximum Deficit Amount: Dollar amounts capping annual deficits, set forth in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, aimed at placing the federal budget on a trajectory to a balanced federal budget.^[26] The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990^[27] effectively replaced deficit caps with discretionary spending caps and the PAYGO deficit neutrality requirement for direct spending and revenues.

Mid-Session Review (MSR): A update of the President’s budget, required to be issued by July 15 of each year,^[28] containing revised estimates of budget receipts, outlays, and budget authority and other summary information.

Monthly Treasury Statements (MTS): The MTS presents the receipts, outlays, resulting budget surplus or deficit, and federal debt for the month and the fiscal year to date and a comparison of those figures to those of the same period in the previous year. Treasury also issues the Daily Treasury Statement (DTS), which is published every working day of the federal government. It provides data on Treasury’s cash and debt operations.

MSR:  OMB Mid-Session Review (July update of the President’s Budget).

Multiyear Authority: Budget authority available for a fixed period of time in excess of one fiscal year. This authority generally takes the form of 2-year, 3-year, etc. availability but may cover periods that do not coincide with the start or end of a fiscal year. For example, the authority may be available from July 1 of one fiscal year through September 30 of the following fiscal year, a period of 15 months. This latter type of multiyear authority is sometimes referred to as “forward funding,” and is often used for education funding.

N

Net interest: In the federal budget, net interest is the government’s interest payments on debt-held-by-the-public.

No-Year Authority: Budget authority that remains available for obligation for an indefinite period of time. A no-year appropriation is usually identified by language such as “to remain available until expended.”

O

Object Classification: A uniform classification identifying the obligations of the federal government by the types of goods or services purchased (such as personnel compensation, supplies and materials, and equipment) without regard to the agency involved or the purpose of the programs for which they are used.

Obligation: A legally binding commitment by the federal government—pursuant to budget authority—that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. An agency incurs an obligation, for example, when it places an order, signs a contract, awards a grant, purchases a service, or takes other actions that require the government to make payments to the public.

Obligation Limitation (ObLim): A restriction on the amount, purpose, or period of availability of budget authority. Typically, an obligation limitation is included in an appropriation act. The limitation may affect budget authority provided in that act, but more often it affects direct spending that has been provided in an authorization act, such as ObLim’s on highway contract authority. See § 16.04, “The Highway Funding Hybrid: Direct Spending with Appropriation Limitations.”

Obligational Authority: The sum of (1) budget authority enacted for a given fiscal year, (2) unobligated balances of amounts that have not expired brought forward from prior years, (3) amounts of offsetting collections to be credited and available to specific funds or accounts during that year, and (4) budget authority transferred from other funds or accounts.

Off-Budget: Refers to spending or revenues excluded by law from the budget totals. The revenues and outlays of the two Social Security trust funds (the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Disability Insurance Trust Fund) and the transactions of the Postal Service are off-budget.[29] The budget documents routinely report the on-budget and off-budget amounts separately and then “consolidate” them to arrive at total government spending, revenues, and deficits in order to assess macroeconomic effects on the economy.

Offsetting Collections: Collections authorized by law to be credited to appropriation or fund expenditure accounts. They result from (1) businesslike transactions or market-oriented activities with the public, (2) intragovernmental transfers, and (3) collections from the public that are governmental in nature but required by law to be classified as offsetting. Laws authorizing offsetting collections make them available for obligation to meet the account’s purpose without further legislative action. The authority to obligate and spend offsetting collections is a form of budget authority.

Offsetting Receipts: Collections that are offset against total outlays but are not authorized to be credited to expenditure accounts. Unlike offsetting collections, offsetting receipts cannot be used without being appropriated. (However, trust fund offsetting receipts are permanently appropriated and, therefore, can be used without subsequent annual appropriation legislation.)

OMB: The Office of Management and Budget is an agency within the Executive Office of the President that formulates the President’s Budget requests for transmittal to Congress, manages the “apportionment” (i.e., availability) of appropriated funds for agencies, and is the President’s agent for managing the overall operations of the Federal Government.

OMB Circular A-11: The Office of Management and Budget’s annually updated document that provides detailed guidance to executive departments and agencies for preparing and submitting the President’s budget to Congress, and executing the budget following congressional action.

On-Budget: All budgetary accounts other than those designated by law as off-budget, i.e., the Social Security Trust Funds and the U.S. Postal Service. (See Off-Budget.)

Outlays: The issuance of checks, disbursement of cash, or electronic transfer of funds made to liquidate a federal obligation made pursuant to budget authority. Outlays may pay for obligations incurred in a prior fiscal year or in the current year. For most categories of spending, outlays are recorded on a cash accounting basis. The excess of outlays over revenues in a fiscal year is the annual deficit.

Oversight Committee: An oversight committee is the congressional authorizing committee charged with general oversight of an agency’s or program’s operations. In addition to authorizing committee oversight, an important part of an agency’s oversight also occurs during appropriations subcommittee hearings.

P

Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO): A budgetary enforcement mechanism originally set forth in the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) intended to ensure that laws affecting direct spending or revenues are deficit neutral—effectively requiring budgetary offsets for new direct spending and tax cuts. In the absence of offsets, net deficit increases will show up on a cumulative PAYGO scorecard, automatically triggering sequestration—automatic across-the-board reductions in nonexempt direct spending programs sufficient to eliminate the net deficit in the applicable budget year. PAYGO effectively expired at the end of FY 2002, but was resuscitated in the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010—although the President and Congress have routinely overridden enforcement sequesters through legislative action. PAYGO may also refer to the Senate rule (first established in 1993) or the House rule (first established in 2007) that prohibits consideration of direct spending or revenue legislation that is not deficit neutral within specified time periods.

Performance Budgeting: Refers to the infusion of performance information into the resource allocation process used to develop budget proposals. Also known as results-based budgeting. See § 16.03, “GPRA and Results-Based Budgeting.”

Performance Plan: A plan that covers each program activity set forth in an agency’s budget. It establishes performance goals to define the level of performance to be achieved by a program activity; establishes performance indicators to be used in measuring the relevant outputs, service levels, and outcomes of each program activity; provides a basis for comparing actual program results with the established performance goals; and describes the means to be used to verify and validate measured values. Contrast with strategic plan.

Permanent Authority: Budget authority that is available as the result of previously enacted legislation and is available without further legislative action. For example, payment of benefits from the Social Security Trust Funds is permanently appropriated; and authority to retain and use offsetting receipts is typically permanent authority.

Points of Order: An objection raised on the House or Senate floor to a bill, amendment, resolution, or conference report as violating a provision of the 1974 Budget Act or other House or Senate rules. Many of the rules established in the Congressional Budget Act, or set forth in budget resolutions, preclude the consideration of legislation that would violate budget resolution spending or revenue totals, committee allocations, appropriations subcommittee allocations, the PAYGO rule, or certain deficit or spending constraints. Points of order may be waived by a majority vote in the House, but many points of order in the Senate require a supermajority three-fifths vote. (See § 17.01, Summary of Current Points of Order and other Budget Controls, and Appendix E for a comprehensive explanation of all budget points of order.)

President’s Budget: The document, comprised of five volumes and supplementary digital files, sent to Congress by the President in February of each year (or later after a change in Administration), as required by law (31 U.S.C. § 1105), requesting new budget authority for federal programs, proposing spending and tax policy changes with accompanying legislative language, and providing budget authority, outlay, and revenue estimates for the upcoming budget year and four subsequent fiscal years. Although the title of the document is Budget of the U.S. Government, it is actually a highly detailed set of proposals for congressional consideration.

Program, Project, or Activity (PPA): An element within a budget account that is relevant to implementation of budget sequesters. For annually appropriated accounts, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and agencies identify PPAs by reference to committee reports and budget justifications. For permanent appropriations, OMB and agencies identify PPAs by the program and financing schedules that the President provides in the “Detailed Budget Estimates” for the relevant fiscal year.

Projections: Estimates of budget authority, outlays, receipts, or other budget amounts extending several years into the future. Projections are generally intended to show the budgetary implications of existing or proposed programs and legislation. The statutory basis for preparing and submitting projections is provided in section 201(a) of the Budget and Accounting Act (31 U.S.C. § 1105), and for Congress and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in sections 202, 308, and 402 of the Congressional Budget Act (2 U.S.C. §§ 601, 639, and 653).

R

Reappropriation: Legislation permitting an agency to obligate, whether for the same or different purposes, all or part of the unobligated portion of budget authority that has expired or would otherwise expire if not reappropriated.

Reapportionment: A revision of a previous apportionment of budgetary resources for an appropriation or fund account.

Reauthorization: Legislation that renews an expiring or expired authorization that was in effect for a fixed period, with or without substantive change. See also Authorizing Committees,  Authorizing Legislation.

Receipts: See Governmental Receipts.

Recession: A significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, and normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators. The National Bureau of Economic Research identifies recessions on the basis of several indicators. As a rule of thumb, recessions are commonly identified by a decline in real GDP for at least two consecutive quarters. Some budget controls may be waived during periods of recession.

Reconciliation: See Budget Reconciliation.

Reprogramming: Shifting funds within an appropriation account to use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of appropriation. Reprogramming shifts funds from one object class to another (see Object Classification) within an appropriation or from one program activity to another. (This is distinct from a transfer of funds that involves shifting funds from one account to another.)

Unlike transfers, agencies may technically reprogram (shift funds within an appropriation or fund account as part of their duty to manage their funds) without additional statutory authority. However, appropriations report language often advises (effectively requiring) prior notification to the relevant congressional appropriations subcommittees prior to reprogramming.

Rescission: Legislation enacted by Congress that cancels the availability of budget authority previously enacted before the authority would otherwise expire. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 683) permits the President to propose rescissions whenever the President determines that all or part of any budget authority will not be needed to carry out the full objectives or scope of programs for which the authority was provided. All funds proposed for rescission must be reported to Congress in a special message. Amounts proposed for rescission may be withheld for up to 45 calendar days of continuous session while Congress considers the proposals. If both houses have not completed action on a rescission bill rescinding all or part of the amount within 45 calendar days of continuous session, any funds being withheld must be made available for obligation. Congress may also initiate rescissions. See Chapter 5, “Impoundment Control Act of 1974.”

Results-Based Budgeting: See Performance Budgeting.

Revenues: Funds collected from the public that arise from the government’s exercise of its sovereign or governmental powers. Article I, Section 7, of the U.S. Constitution requires that revenue bills originate in the House of Representatives. Revenues come from a variety of sources, including individual and corporate income taxes, excise taxes, customs duties, estate and gift taxes, payroll taxes for social insurance programs, and miscellaneous receipts (primarily remittances of the Federal Reserve System, fees, and fines). Federal revenues are also known as governmental receipts.

Revolving Fund: A fund established by Congress to finance a cycle of businesslike operations through amounts received by the fund. A revolving fund charges for the sale of products or services and uses the proceeds to finance its spending, usually on a self-sustaining basis. Instead of recording the collections in receipt accounts, the budget records the collections and the outlays of revolving funds in the same account. A revolving fund is a form of permanent appropriation. See § 14.02, “Trust Funds and Federal Funds.” 

S

Scorekeeping / Scorekeeping Guidelines: Budget scorekeeping (“scoring”) is the process of estimating the spending, revenue, or deficit^[30] effects of current laws and proposed legislation. Scorekeeping guidelines are used by the House and Senate Budget Committees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Office of Management and Budget (the “scorekeepers”) in measuring compliance with the 1974 Budget Act as amended, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 as amended, and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. Scorekeeping guidelines are applied to determine whether new discretionary appropriations, new direct spending, or new revenue legislation will trigger: (1) points of order under the 1974 Budget Act, a budget resolution or other House or Senate rules; or (2) a sequestration order to enforce Statutory PAYGO (or to enforce statutory spending caps if they are reinstated in the future). The official scorekeepers for Congress are the House and Senate Budget Committees,^[31] although they rely in nearly all cases on spending estimates provided by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and revenue estimates provided by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. The Office of Management and Budget is the principal scorekeeper for purposes of determining compliance with the Statutory PAYGO requirement^[32] and for execution of the annual Joint Committee mandatory sequesters (through FY 2031).^[33]

The Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office are required by statute^[34] to determine common budget scorekeeping guidelines in consultation with the House and Senate Budget Committees. The current guidelines are set forth in Appendix A of OMB Circular A-11 and are based on guidelines originally set forth in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 1997, with subsequent revisions agreed upon by the scorekeepers.^[35]

The scorekeeping guidelines cover the following areas: classification of appropriations; outlays; direct spending programs; transfer of budget authority from a direct spending account to a discretionary account; transfer authority; reappropriation; advance appropriations; rescissions and transfers of unobligated balances; delay of obligations; contingent legislation; purchases; write-offs; reclassifications; program management expenses; asset sales; and indefinite borrowing authority. See § 16.01, “Budget Scorekeeping Rules.”^[36]

Sequestration:^[37] A budget enforcement mechanism requiring across-the-board cancellation of nonexempt federal spending by presidential sequester order, utilized by: the 1985 Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (BBEDCA or “Deficit Control Act”) to enforce maximum deficit amounts; the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) to enforce discretionary spending caps and the Pay-as-You-Go (PAYGO) deficit neutrality requirement for direct spending and revenue legislation; the Statutory PAYGO Act of 2010; and the Budget Control Act of 2011 to enforce discretionary spending caps and implement automatic annual direct spending reductions (that remain in effect through FY 2031).

Sequestration orders apply to nonexempt discretionary spending categories when used to enforce discretionary spending caps; and applies to nonexempt direct spending programs when enforcing the PAYGO statute or implementing the annual mandatory spending reductions.

Notably, when an “across-the-board” sequester of direct spending programs is required, it is not really “across-the-board.” Automatic cuts in the Medicare program are limited to four percent under a PAYGO sequester order and two percent under the annual Joint Committee sequester orders,[38] and many other direct spending programs are entirely exempted from sequestration including: Social Security, federal retirement, interest payments, most unemployment benefits, veterans’ programs, and low-income programs including Medicaid, food stamps (now called SNAP^[39]), children’s health insurance (CHIP), refundable income tax credits, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).^[40]

Short-term interest rate: The interest rate earned by a debt instrument (such as a Treasury bill) that will mature within one year.

Shutdown: Federal departments and agencies lacking appropriations are required by the Anti-Deficiency Act to shut down; only “excepted activities” relating to the “safety of human life or protection of property” may continue.

Spending Limits / Spending Caps: See Discretionary Spending Limits.

Spendout Rate / Outlay Rate: The rate at which budget authority leads to outlays in a fiscal year. It is usually presented as an annual percentage. The rate directly impacts estimates of total outlays and deficits (or surpluses).

Strategic Plan: Federal agency plan containing the organization’s comprehensive mission statement, general goals and objectives, description of how the goals and objectives are to be achieved, description of how performance goals are related to the general goals and objectives, and description of program evaluations used to establish the general goals and objectives. Strategic plans must cover a period of not less than 5 years and must be updated and revised at least every 3 years. Contrast with performance plan. See § 16.03, “GPRA and Results-Based Budgeting.”

Subcommittee Allocation: See “Allocation.”

Subfunction: A subdivision of a budget function. For example, health care services and health research are subfunctions of the health function.

Super-Majority: A vote of the Senate requiring three-fifths of all Senators, or 60 votes for passage. Supermajority votes are required to waive many of the budget points of order or to appeal a ruling of the Chair on the respective points of order.

Supplemental Appropriation: An act appropriating funds for the current fiscal year in addition to those already enacted in an annual appropriation act. Supplemental appropriations provide additional budget authority usually in cases where the need for funds is too urgent to be postponed until enactment of the next regular appropriation bill.

Surplus: The amount by which the federal government’s total revenues exceed its total outlays in a given period, typically a fiscal year. The last budget surplus was in FY 2001.

T

Tax: A sum that legislation imposes upon persons (broadly defined to include individuals, trusts, estates, partnerships, associations, companies, and corporations), property, or activities to pay for government operations. The power to lay and collect federal taxes is given to Congress in Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution and was extended to taxation of income in the 16^th Amendment. Collections that arise from the sovereign powers of the federal government constitute the bulk of governmental receipts, which are compared with budget outlays in calculating the budget surplus or deficit. See also Governmental Receipts.

Tax Credit / Refundable Tax Credit: An amount that offsets or reduces tax liability. When the allowable tax credit amount exceeds tax liability and the difference is paid to the taxpayer, the credit is considered refundable and is treated as an increase in outlays in the federal budget.

Tax Deduction: An amount that is subtracted from taxable income before tax liability is calculated.

Tax Expenditures: The term tax expenditures means “those revenue losses attributable to provisions of the Federal tax laws which allow a special exclusion, exemption, or deduction from gross income or which provide a special credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.”^[41]

Technical and Economic Assumptions: Assumptions about factors affecting estimations of future outlays and receipts that are not a direct function of legislation. Economic assumptions involve such factors as future inflation, growth and interest rates. Technical assumptions involve all other nonpolicy factors. For example, in the Medicare program, estimates regarding demography, hospitalization versus outpatient treatment, and morbidity all affect estimations of future outlays.

Timetable: Following is the budget process timetable set forth in Section 300 of the 1974 Budget Act,562 as amended.[42]  With the exception of the President’s Budget transmittal and the October 1 start of the fiscal year, the target dates set forth below are an exercise of Congress’ constitutional rulemaking authority and therefore subject to change by the House or Senate. There are no legal sanctions for missing the target dates.

Transfer / Transfer Authority: Shifting of all or part of the budget authority in one appropriation account to another. Agencies may transfer budget authority only as specifically authorized by law (transfer authority).

Treasury Security: A debt instrument of the U.S. Treasury issued to finance the operations of the government or refinance the government’s debt. A Treasury Bill is the shortest term federal debt instrument or security. Treasury bills mature within 1 year after the date of issue. A Treasury Note is a federal debt instrument with a maturity of at least 1 year but not more than 10 years. A Treasury Bond is a federal debt instrument with a maturity of more than 10 years.

Trillion Dollars:  A trillion dollars is a million millions or a thousand billions.

Trust Funds: The unified federal budget is comprised of federal funds and trust funds. A trust fund is an account designated by law as a trust fund. When Congress creates a federal trust fund, it designates a funding source to benefit stated groups or individuals. A trust fund records the revenues, offsetting receipts, or offsetting collections earmarked for the purpose of the trust fund, as well as budget authority and outlays of the fund that are financed by those revenues or receipts. The largest and best known trust funds finance major benefit programs (such as the Social Security and Medicare trust funds) or infrastructure spending (such as the Highway Trust Fund and the Airport and Airway Trust Fund). For additional background, see § 14.02, “Trust Funds and Federal Funds.”^[49]

U

Undistributed Offsetting Receipts: Offsetting receipts that are deducted from spending totals for the government as a whole, rather than from a single agency or subfunction in order to avoid distortion of agency or subfunction totals. Examples of offsetting receipts that are undistributed in both agency and functional tables are: collections of employer share of employee retirement payments; rents and royalties on the Outer Continental Shelf; and the sales of major assets.

Unexpired Budget Authority: Budget authority that remains available for incurring new obligations.

Unfunded Mandates / UMRA: The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), Pub. L. No. 104-4, requires committees of Congress to include in reports accompanying proposed legislation CBO estimates of “unfunded mandates” on state and local governments (“intergovernmental mandates”) or the private sector (“private sector mandates”), with costs exceeding inflation-adjusted thresholds (in 2023, $99 million for intergovernmental mandates and $198 million for private sector mandates). Where costs exceed the thresholds, bills must include authorization of appropriations or direct spending language to cover the costs. For additional background, see § 16.06, “Unfunded Federal Mandates” and Appendix L for an example of a CBO unfunded mandate estimate.

Unified Budget: Although most states have separate operating and capital (investment) budgets, the federal budget is generally treated as a single “unified budget”—a comprehensive budget in which all receipts and outlays are consolidated. The unified budget, as conceived by the President’s 1967 Commission on Budget Concepts,^[50] presents the full range of federal activities, enabling evaluation of the full macroeconomic impact of federal spending, revenues, and deficits (or surpluses) on the nation’s economy. Despite general adherence to the unified approach, two programs—Social Security and the operations of the Postal Service—were moved “off-budget” by statute. Consequently, the budget authority, outlays, and receipts of Social Security and the Postal Service are displayed separately as “off-budget,” although consolidated totals including both on-budget and off-budget spending and receipts continue to be included in budget documents. There has been periodic discussion of whether the unified budget approach should be restructured to follow the example of the states, by adopting a separate capital budget. This question was studied in detail in the 1999 Report of the President’s Commission to Study Capital Budgeting.^[51] See § 14.01, “The Unified Budget and the Consolidation of Operating and Capital Spending.”

Unobligated Balances: The portion of budget authority that has not yet been obligated. When budget authority is provided for one fiscal year, any unobligated balances at the end of that year expire and are no longer available for obligation. When budget authority is provided for a specific number of years, any unobligated balances are carried forward and are available for obligation during the years specified. When budget authority is provided for an unspecified number of years, unobligated balances are carried forward indefinitely, until one of the following occurs: the balances are expended or rescinded, the purpose for which they were provided is accomplished, or no disbursements have been made for two consecutive years.

User Fees: Money that the federal government charges for services, or for the sale or use of federal goods or resources, that generally provide benefits to the recipients beyond those that may accrue to the general public. The amount of a user fee is typically related to the cost of the service provided or the value of the good or resource used. In the federal budget, user fees can be classified as offsetting collections, offsetting receipts, or revenues.

V

Views and Estimates: A report that the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires each House and Senate committee with jurisdiction over federal programs to submit to its respective budget committees each year within 6 weeks of the submission of the President’s budget, in advance of the House and Senate Budget Committees’ drafting of a concurrent resolution on the budget. Each report contains a committee’s comments or recommendations on budgetary matters within its jurisdiction.

Vote-a-Rama: A “vote-a-rama” is the unofficial name for a de facto practice in the Senate that allows senators to propose an unlimited number of amendments to budget resolutions, nearly all of which are nonbinding sense of the Senate amendments or reserve funds that are seldom implemented. After a brief debate of 2 to 10 minutes, the amendments are each voted on in rapid succession. Vote-a-ramas have been part of Senate budget debates since the 1990s, despite periodic efforts to eliminate the practice.

[1] “(c) The Comptroller General…in cooperation with the Secretary (of the Treasury), the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, shall establish, maintain, and publish standard terms and classifications for fiscal, budget, and program information of the Government, including information on fiscal policy, receipts, expenditures, programs, projects, activities, and functions….” 31 U.S.C. § 1112(c). GAO publishes the terminology developed pursuant to this authority in A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734SP (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 2005), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-05-734sp.pdf.

[2] U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., GAO-05-734SP, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process (2005). According to GAO, “we are currently updating the Federal Budget Glossary.” Accessed on Feb. 24, 2023 at https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-05-734sp.

[3] Cong. Budget Off., Glossary (Jul. 19, 2016), https://www.cbo.gov/publication/42904.

[4] Cong. Rsch. Serv., RS20129, Entitlements and Appropriated Entitlements in the Federal Budget Process, 1 (Nov. 26, 2012).

[5] U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, Chapter 2, The Legal Framework, Fourth Edition, 2-22 (2016 Revision), citing, B-193573, Dec. 19, 1979.

[6] As defined in the Deficit Control Act, as amended, the terms “sequester” and “sequestration” mean “the cancellation of budgetary resources provided by discretionary appropriations or direct spending law,” where budgetary resources includes “new budget authority, unobligated balances, direct spending authority, and obligation limitations.” Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, § 250(c), 2 USC §§ 900(c).

[7] See also OMB Circular A-11, Section 20 – Terms and Concepts (2018).

[8] Off.] of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. [Off.] of the President, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2023, Analytical Perspectives (2022).

[9] Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, § 3(10), 2 U.S.C. § 622.

[10] See U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., GAO-05-734SP, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, 51-52 (2005).

[11] See CBO Budget and Economic Outlook at: https://www.cbo.gov/about/products/major-recurring-reports.

[12] U.S. Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 2.

[13] Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, 49 Stat. 21. See Cong. Rsch. Serv., RL31967, The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases, Summ. (Nov. 2, 2015); and Cong. Rsch. Serv., R43389, The Debt Limit Since 2011 (Apr. 1, 2021).

[14] A Bill to Amend the Second Liberty Bond Act, Pub. L. No. 76-201, 53 Stat. § 1071, 31 USC § 3101.

[15] Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (previously referred to as Food Stamps).

[16] Rules of the House of Representatives, 118^th Congress, Rule XXI, clause 9 and Standing Rules of the Senate, Rule XLIV, paragraph 5.

[17] Rules of the House of Representatives, 118th Congress, Rule XXI, clause 9.

[18] Standing Rules of the Senate, Rule XLIV, paragraph 5.

[19] Rules of the House of Representatives, 118th Congress, Rule XXI, clause 9; and Standing Rules of the Senate, Rule XLIV,  paragraph 5.

[20] The term “entitlement authority” was first defined in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, Pub. L. No. 99-177, § 201(a)(1), 99 Stat. 1037, (1985). That definition incorporated by reference section 401(c)(2)(C) of the 1974 Budget Act which described “spending authority… to make payments (including loans and grants), the budget authority for which is not provided for in advance by appropriation Acts, to any person or government if, under the provisions of the law containing such authority, the United States is obligated to make such payments to persons or governments who meet the requirements established by such law.” Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-344, § 401(c)(2)(C), 88 Stat. 297, 317-18.

[21] “The present value of the estimated future cash inflows minus the present value of the cash outflows.” U.S. Gov’t Accountability Off., GAO-05-734SP, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, 69 (2005).

[22] See [Off.] of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. [Off.] of the President, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2024, Budget Appendix, 988 (2023).

[23] Government Performance and Results Act, Pub. L. No. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285, 31 U.S.C. § 1101 note (1993).

[24] GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-352, 124 Stat. 3866, 31 U.S.C. § 1101 note (2011).

[25] GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-352, 124 Stat. 3866, 31 U.S.C. § 1101 note (2011).

[26] Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, Pub. L. No. 99-177, 99 Stat. 1038 (1985).

[27] Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, Title XIII of Pub. L. No. 101-508, 104 Stat. 1388-573 (1990).

[28] The requirement for the MSR is codified at 31 USC § 1106.

[29] For provisions establishing the off-budget status of the Social Security Trust Funds, see the Congressional Budget Act, as amended, § 301(a), 2 U.S.C. § 632; the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, § 261 (1985); the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-508, § 13301, 104 Stat. 1388, 1624 (1990); and 42 U.S.C. § 911 codifying off-budget status in the Social Security Act. For provisions establishing the off-budget status of the Postal Service, see the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, Pub. L. No. 101-239, § 4001(a), 39 U.S.C. § 2009a; and the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-435, § 401(a)(1), 39 U.S.C. § 2011(f).

[30] Or budget surplus effects.

[31] Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, § 312, 2 U.S.C. § 643, provides that “for purposes of this title and title IV, the levels of new budget authority, outlays, direct spending, new entitlement authority, and revenues for a fiscal year shall be determined on the basis of estimates made by the Committee on the Budget of the House of Representatives or the Senate, as applicable.”

[32] However, the Congressional Budget Office handles scoring for purposes of the House and Senate PAYGO points of order.

[33] A sequester to eliminate a PAYGO or spending cap overage is an executive action and must therefore be handled by OMB, an executive agency. For example, the Government Accountability Office’s role in the initial version of BBEDCA was struck down by the Supreme Court, finding that the GAO, a legislative branch agency, had been given responsibilities that were executive in nature. See Bowsher v. Synar, 478 U.S. 714 (1986).

[34] Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, § 252(d)(5), 2 U.S.C. § 902.

[35] [Off.] of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. [Off.] of the President, Circular A-11, Appendix A, Aug. 2021.

[36] [Off.] of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. [Off.] of the President, Circular A-11, Appendix A, Aug. 2021.

[37] As defined in the Deficit Control Act, as amended, the terms “sequester” and “sequestration” mean “the cancellation of budgetary resources provided by discretionary appropriations or direct spending law,” where budgetary resources includes “new budget authority, unobligated balances, direct spending authority, and obligation limitations.” Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, as amended, § 250(c), 2 USC §§ 900(c).

[38] The four percent PAYGO sequester cap for Medicare is codified at 2 U.S.C. § 935; and the two percent Joint Committee sequester cap for Medicare is codified at 2 U.S.C. § 901a(6)(A).  For additional background, see Cong. Rsch. Serv., R45106, Medicare and Budget Sequestration, (Mar. 28, 2022).

[39] Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

[40] Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 as amended, § 255, 2 U.S.C § 905.

[41] The term “tax expenditures” is defined in section 3 of the 1974 Budget Act, Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, §  3, 2 U.S.C. § 622.

[42] Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, § 300, 2 U.S.C. § 631.

[43] The President’s Budget is required by law to be submitted by the first Monday in Feb. for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 (31 U.S.C. § 1105(a)). The timing of the President’s Budget transmittal changes in a year with a transition between outgoing and incoming Administrations.

[44] There is no sanction if this date is missed. However, section 303(a) of the 1974 Budget Act prohibits consideration of legislation providing new budget authority, an increase or decrease in revenues, an increase or decrease in the public debt limit, new entitlement authority (in the Senate only), or an increase or decrease in outlays (in the Senate only) for a fiscal year until a budget resolution for that fiscal year has been agreed to. This point of order can be waived by a simple majority.

[45] This was designed as a “safety valve” so that work on the annual appropriations bills could proceed in the House in the absence of a budget resolution.

[46] This budget reconciliation target date has never been followed. Instead, each set of budget resolution reconciliation instructions contains firm dates for the submission of reconciliation language, by the authorizing committees, to the House and Senate Budget Committees. See Appendix F, Table 18 for citations to Budget reconciliation instructions.

[47] Typically, the House aims to complete Floor action on annual appropriations bills in July.

[48] The start of the new fiscal year was moved from Jul. 1 to Oct. 1 by section 501 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as enacted, Pub. L. No. 93-344, § 501, 88 Stat. 297, 321.

[49] For additional background, see U.S. Gen Accounting Off., GAO-01-199SP, Federal Trust and Other Earmarked Funds: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (Jan. 2001), https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-01-199sp.pdf.

[50] Report of the President’s Commission on Budget Concepts (Oct. 1967), https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4446593&view=1up&seq=9.

[51] See Report of the President’s Commission to Study Capital Budgeting (Feb. 1999), https://clintonwhitehouse4.archives.gov/media/pdf/report.pdf.