The Budget Resolution and the Senate’s Automatic Discharge Process

The Budget Resolution and the Senate’s Automatic Discharge Process

INSIGHTi

The Budget Resolution and the Senate’s
Automatic Discharge Process
Updated April 4, 2022
The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (the Budget Act) provides for the annual adoption of a concurrent
resolution on the budget that establishes an agreement between the House and Senate on budgetary levels
for the upcoming fiscal year (and at least four additional years). The budget resolution assists Congress in
developing federal budget policy, and its adoption allows Congress to trigger the budget reconciliation
process.
Consideration of the budget resolution is guided by the Budget Act and Senate rules and precedents.
Section 300 of the Budget Act includes a timetable specifying dates by which Congress is to complete
certain budgetary actions. Under this timetable, the Senate Budget Committee is directed to report a
budget resolution (pertaining to the upcoming fiscal year beginning October 1) by April 1, and Congress
is directed to complete action on a budget resolution by April 15.
Since 1983, the Senate has interpreted this timetable in a manner that affects how budget resolutions are
referred to committee and placed on the Senate’s Calendar of Business. If the Senate Budget Committee
has not reported a budget resolution by April 1, it is automatically discharged from the consideration of
any budget resolution that has been previously referred to it, as well as any budget resolution that is
subsequently introduced. Once the committee has been discharged from the consideration of a budget
resolution, it is placed on the Calendar.
For example, on March 29, 2012, a budget resolution for FY2013 (S.Con.Res. 37) was introduced and
referred to the Senate Budget Committee. Once April 1, 2012, passed without the Senate Budget
Committee reporting a budget resolution, the committee was automatically discharged from consideration
of S.Con.Res. 37, and the resolution was placed on the Calendar of Business. Similarly, on April 26,
2012, another budget resolution for FY2013 (S.Con.Res. 42) was introduced. Because April 1 had already
passed, the resolution was referred to the Senate Budget Committee, the committee was immediately
discharged, and the resolution was placed on the Calendar.
A memo attributed to the Senate Parliamentarian and linked in a recent press report stated that the
automatic discharge process is a “creation of the Office of the Parliamentarian” intended to “provide an
incentive for committee compliance with the law and to provide a remedy when compliance with and
through the mandatory processes of the [Budget Act] have not been met.” Generally, initial Senate
consideration of a budget resolution has been on a budget resolution reported by the Senate Budget
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Committee. In some years, however, initial Senate consideration has been on a budget resolution placed
on the Calendar under the automatic discharge process. For example, budget resolutions considered and
adopted by the Senate for FY1991, FY2002, FY2017, FY2021, and FY2022 were placed on the Calendar
under the automatic discharge procedure.
In the Senate, a budget resolution is privileged, meaning that the motion to proceed to its consideration is
not debatable and the resolution does not have to lie over a day before being called up on the floor. Once a
budget resolution has been placed on the Calendar of Business (either because the Senate Budget
Committee has reported it or because the committee has been discharged from consideration), a Senator
may make a non-debatable motion to proceed to its consideration. For example, on August 9, 2021,
Senate Budget Committee Chair Sanders introduced S.Con.Res. 14, a budget resolution for FY2022.
Under the Budget Act’s timetable, the Senate Budget Committee would have been expected to report a
FY2022 budget resolution by April 1, 2021. Because the Senate Budget Committee had not reported a
budget resolution for FY2022, the Senate Budget Committee was immediately discharged from
consideration of S.Con.Res. 14, and the resolution was placed on the Calendar. The next day, Majority
Leader Schumer offered a non-debatable motion to proceed to S.Con.Res. 14 that was then adopted by the
Senate (50-49).
After the Senate has agreed to a motion to proceed to the consideration of a budget resolution, under
Section 305(b)(1), debate—including all amendments and debatable motions and appeals—is limited to
50 hours, equally divided and controlled between the majority leader and the minority leader or their
designees. Section 305(b)(2) further specifies that debate on any amendment to the budget resolution is
limited to two hours, equally divided and controlled, and debate on any amendment to an amendment,
debatable motion, or appeal is limited to one hour, equally divided and controlled. Under Section
305(b)(5), a motion to further limit debate is not debatable. Section 305(b)(2) also requires that all
amendments offered to a budget resolution must be germane. After the 50 hours has elapsed, Senators
may continue to offer amendments and make other motions or appeals but without further debate. This
period is often referred to as a “vote-a-rama.”
Section 304 of the Budget Act provides that Congress may revise or reaffirm the budget resolution for the
fiscal year most recently agreed to. The memo attributed to the Senate Parliamentarian referred to above
stated that such a revised budget resolution would not be eligible for the automatic discharge process. A
revised budget resolution is an optional procedure, and there is no comparable deadline established under
Sections 300 or 304 of the Budget Act for it to be reported from committee. Accordingly, any revised
budget resolution would have to be reported by the Budget Committee or discharged under regular
Budget Committee and Senate rules, including those rules in force under the recent “powersharing”
agreement. Because the Senate has not considered a revised budget resolution under Section 304 since the
1983 precedent that allows a non-debatable motion to proceed to be made to consider a budget resolution,
it is not clear that the precedent would then be applicable. One additional difference for the consideration
of a revised budget resolution is that Section 305(b)(1) limits debate to 15 hours.
Author Information

James V. Saturno
Megan S. Lynch
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process
Specialist on Congress and the Legislative Process

Congressional Research Service
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