Order Code RS20144
Updated August 29, 2003
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Allocations and Subdivisions in
the Congressional Budget Process
Bill Heniff Jr.
Analyst in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
The annual budget resolution sets forth total spending and revenue levels for at least
five fiscal years. The spending amounts are allocated, or “crosswalked,” to the House and
Senate committees having jurisdiction over discretionary spending (the Appropriations
Committees) and direct spending (the legislative committees). The committee allocations
provide Congress with one means of enforcing the spending levels of a budget resolution
after it has been adopted. See [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml] for
more information on budget process.
While the budget resolution allocates spending among the 20 major functional
categories of the federal budget for the purpose of providing a broad statement of budget
priorities, the functional categories do not correspond to the committee system by which
Congress operates. The committee allocations reformulate the functional category
amounts in a budget resolution to correspond to committee jurisdictions. By allocating
the spending among committees responsible for spending legislation, the committee
allocations allow Congress to hold its committees accountable for staying within the
spending limits established in the budget resolution.
Section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget Act (CBA) of 1974 (Titles I-IX of P.L.
93-344), as amended, requires that the total budget authority and outlays set forth in the
budget resolution be allocated to each House and Senate committee that has jurisdiction
over specific spending legislation. These committee allocations usually are included in
the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on a budget
resolution. Section 302(b) of the CBA requires the Appropriations Committee of each
chamber to subdivide its committee allocation among its 13 subcommittees as soon as
practicable after a budget resolution has been adopted. The Appropriations Committees
are then required to report these subdivisions to their respective chamber and may revise
the subdivisions any time during the appropriations process to reflect actions taken on
spending legislation. Section 302(c) of the CBA provides a point of order against the
consideration of any appropriations measures before the Appropriations Committees
report their subdivisions.
The congressional budget process timetable sets April 15 as the deadline for
completion of the annual budget resolution. However, since Congress usually does not
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CRS-2
meet this deadline, Section 302(a)(5) of the CBA provides for provisional spending
allocations if a budget resolution has not been adopted by April 15. Under these
provisions, the chair of the House Budget Committee must submit to the House a Section
302(a) spending allocation for the House Appropriations Committee as soon as
practicable after April 15. The House Appropriations Committee, in turn, must report its
Section 302(b) subdivisions to the House as soon as practicable. The provisional
allocations remain in effect until Congress adopts a budget resolution for the current
budget year.
The spending allocations and subdivisions may be revised after a budget resolution
has been adopted if provided for in the resolution. For instance, Congress usually
includes reserve fund provisions in the annual budget resolution, which provide the chairs
of the House and Senate Budget Committees the authority to revise the committee
spending allocations if certain legislation is reported by the appropriate committee or
other conditions are met.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have jurisdiction over the 13
regular appropriations acts and other appropriations acts. The Appropriations Committees
of each chamber have 13 parallel subcommittees, each of which is responsible for one of
the 13 regular appropriations acts. After extensive hearings, each of the subcommittees
reports one of the 13 regular appropriations bills to its respective full committee. Then,
the full Appropriations Committees report the bills to their respective chamber. A cost
estimate of each bill is prepared and compared to the amount allocated or subdivided to
the relevant subcommittee.
Section 302(f) of the CBA prohibits any measure or amendment that would cause
the 302(a) or 302(b) allocations to be exceeded. In the House, these committee
allocations and suballocations are the primary focus of enforcement since Section 311(c)
of the CBA, known as the “Fazio exception,” allows the overall limit of spending to be
breached so long as a committee’s 302(a) allocation is not exceeded.
The allocation limits are not self-enforcing; a Member must raise a point of order for
an allocation to be enforced. The points of order may also be waived. In the House, a
special rule may be adopted, or unanimous consent may be granted, waiving any
budgetary points of order. In the Senate, the point of order against violations of the
spending allocations may be waived by a motion under Section 904 of the CBA or by
unanimous consent. A motion to waive the point of order requires a three-fifths vote of
all Senators duly sworn and chosen (60 votes if there are no vacancies).
Discretionary spending policies primarily are enforced by this Section 302 process.
Direct spending policies, on the other hand, are primarily enforced by the reconciliation
process. For more information on reconciliation, see CRS Report 98-814, Budget
Reconciliation Legislation: Development and Consideration
.