S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for FY2021

S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for FY2021

S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for
February 8, 2021
FY2021
Megan S. Lynch
On February 5, 2021, the House and Senate adopted S.Con.Res. 5, a budget resolution for
Specialist on Congress and
FY2021. While a budget resolution generally represents an agreement between the House and
the Legislative Process
Senate on a budgetary plan for the upcoming fiscal year, the House Budget Committee stated that

this budget resolution was adopted solely to allow Congress the ability to employ the budget
James V. Saturno
reconciliation process.
Specialist on Congress and
the Legislative Process
For Congress to use the reconciliation process, it must first adopt a budget resolution that

includes reconciliation directives. Title II of S.Con.Res. 5 includes reconciliation directives to 23
House and Senate committees, instructing each to develop and report legislation within their

jurisdictions increasing the deficit by a specified amount by February 16, 2021.
This report provides a summary of the provisions of S.Con.Res. 5, including the reconciliation directives.
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Contents
Legislative History .................................................................................................... 1
Budgetary Totals ....................................................................................................... 2
Reconciliation Directives ............................................................................................ 4
Reserve Funds........................................................................................................... 6
Other Provisions........................................................................................................ 7

Tables
Table 1. Budgetary Totals Included in S.Con.Res. 5 .............................................................. 3
Table 2. House Committees Given Reconciliation Instructions in S.Con.Res. 5......................... 5
Table 3. Senate Committees Given Reconciliation Instructions in S.Con.Res. 5 ........................ 5

Contacts
Author Information ......................................................................................................... 9

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S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for FY2021

General y, the budget resolution establishes an annual agreement between the House and Senate
on budgetary levels for the upcoming fiscal year (and at least four additional years). The budget
resolution does not become law, and no money is spent or collected as a result of its adoption.
Instead, it is an agreement between the House and Senate meant to assist Congress in developing
federal budget policy. It also al ows Congress to trigger and employ a powerful legislative
process referred to as the budget reconciliation process.
On February 5, 2021, the House and Senate adopted S.Con.Res. 5, a budget resolution for
FY2021 (the fiscal year that began October 1, 2020). The House Budget Committee stated that
this budget resolution was adopted solely to al ow Congress the ability to employ the budget
reconciliation process to enact legislation to implement President Biden’s proposed American
Rescue Plan.1
Legislative History
Although FY2021 began on October 1, 2020, the House and Senate had not adopted a budget
resolution for FY2021. When the 117th Congress began on January 3, 2021, a budget resolution
for FY2021, therefore, remained available for consideration.2 Employing a budget resolution for
the fiscal year that has already begun al ows Congress to maximize the usage of the budget
reconciliation process in a calendar year.3
H.Con.Res. 11, establishing the congressional budget for FY2021, including reconciliation
instructions, was introduced and referred to the House Budget Committee on February 1, 2021.
On February 2, H.Res. 85 was reported from the House Rules Committee (H.Rept. 117-3) and

1 T he House Budget Committee stated, “T he 2021 budget resolution is not a comprehensive fiscal blueprint for the next
10 years. It is designed solely to provide the option of using reconciliation to deliver critical relief and achieve the goal s
of the American Rescue Plan.” U.S. Congress, House Committee on the Budget, The Budget Resolution and
Reconciliation: An Alternative Path for the Am erican Rescue Plan , 117th Cong., February 1, 2021,
https://budget.house.gov/publications/report/budget-resolution-and-reconciliation-alternative-path-american-rescue-
plan. For more information on the American Rescue Plan, see the White House, “ President Biden Announces American
Rescue Plan,” January 20, 2021, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/legislation/2021/01/20/president -biden-
announces-american-rescue-plan/.
2 While the House and Senate had not adopted a budget resolution for FY2021, they had agreed on enforceable
budgetary parameters that allowed for the consideration of FY2021 appropriations measures. T itle II of the Bipartisan
Budget Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-37) directed the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs to file statements of
budgetary levels, which would have the same effect in the respective chamber s as if they had been included in a budget
resolution. T he act required that (1) for discretionary spending, the filed levels be consistent with the statutory limits on
discretionary spending (as amended by the act), and (2) for mandatory spending and revenue levels, the filed levels be
consistent with the most recent baseline projections of the Congressional Budget Office. Pursuant to the act, on May 1,
2020, House Budget Committee Chair Yarmuth filed such levels ( Congressional Record [daily edition], pp. H1968-
H1969). As required, those levels were updated to reflect revised budgetary levels on July 22, 2020 ( Congressional
Record [daily edition], p. H3691), and December 21, 2020 (Congressional Record [daily edition], p. H7320). T hese
levels were extended by H.Res. 8 (117th Congress). Pursuant to the act, on May 4, 2020, Senate Budget Committee
Chair Enzi filed such levels (Congressional Record [daily edition], p. S2205-S2206). As required, those levels were
updated to reflect revised budgetary levels on September 24, 2020 ( Congressional Record [daily edition], p. S5859-
S5860). T hese provisions, however, would not preclude Congress from acting on a traditional budget resolution for
those years. For more information, see CRS Report R44296, Deem ing Resolutions: Budget Enforcem ent in the Absence
of a Budget Resolution, by Megan S. Lynch.
3 Using a FY2021 budget resolution to trigger this round of reconciliation leaves open the future opportunity for
Congress to later adopt a budget resolution for FY2022 that could then be used to trigger reconciliation again in
calendar year 2021. For more information on this and the reconciliation process generally, see CRS Congressional
Distribution Memorandum “Number of Reconciliation Bills Allowed in a Single Calendar Year” by James V. Saturno,
available from the author, and CRS Report R44058, The Budget Reconciliation Process: Stages of Consideration , by
Megan S. Lynch and James V. Saturno.
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S.Con.Res. 5: The Budget Resolution for FY2021

adopted the same day by a vote of 216-210. Among other things, H.Res. 85 provided for the
consideration of the budget resolution, H.Con.Res. 11. Under the terms of H.Res. 85, al points of
order against consideration of H.Con.Res. 11 were waived, and an amendment adjusting the
reconciliation instruction to the House Education and Labor Committee printed in the Rules
Committee report was considered as adopted. The resolution further provided for two hours of
general debate equal y divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the
Budget Committee and an additional hour of debate on the subject of economic goals and
policies4 equal y divided and controlled by Representative Beyer and Representative Schweikert
(representing the Joint Economic Committee) or their respective designees. On February 3,
H.Con.Res. 11 was debated and adopted, 218-212.
In the Senate, S.Con.Res. 5 was introduced on February 2, 2021, and referred to the Senate
Budget Committee, which was automatical y discharged from consideration of the resolution
pursuant to Section 300 of the Congressional Budget Act.5 The same day, the Senate agreed to a
motion to proceed to the consideration of S.Con.Res. 5 by a vote of 50-49. The measure was
considered by the Senate on February 3, 4, and 5. During consideration, 13 amendments failed
(including a substitute offered by Senator Paul), and nine fel on points of order. Twenty
amendments were adopted, but these were superseded when a substitute offered by Senator
Schumer was adopted 51-50 (with Vice President Harris voting to break a 50-50 tie). After an
amendment to the Schumer substitute offered by Senator McConnel failed on a 50-50 vote, the
Senate adopted S.Con.Res. 5 by a vote of 51-50 (with Vice President Harris voting to break a 50-
50 tie).
On February 5, 2021, H.Res. 101 was reported from the House Rules Committee (H.Rept. 117-5).
H.Res. 101 provided for the adoption of S.Con.Res. 5. After one hour of debate, H.Res. 101 was
adopted by the House, 219-209, and S.Con.Res. 5 was deemed to be adopted by the same vote.
Budgetary Totals
A budget resolution is required to include levels of budget authority, outlays, revenue, deficits,
and debt for the budget year6 and at least four additional years.7 Once the budget resolution has
been agreed to by both chambers, certain levels contained in it are enforceable through points of
order.8 Budgetary levels that are enforceable include spending and revenue aggregates, as wel as

4 As provided under Section 305(a)(3) of the Congressional Budget Act and colloquially kno wn as “Humphrey-
Hawkins debate.”
5 By precedent, if the Senate Budget Committee has not reported a budget resolution by April 1, as set out in Section
300, the committee will be discharged from consideration of any resolution referred to it . Floyd M. Riddick and Alan S.
Frumin, Riddick’s Senate Procedure: Precedents and Practices, 101st Cong., 2nd sess., S.Doc. 101-28 (Washington:
GPO, 1992), p. 599.
6 Generally, the budget year refers to the upcoming fiscal year but may refer to the fiscal year already in progress if the
budget resolution is adopted after the start of the fiscal year on October 1.
7 In current practice, it is typical for budget resolutions to cover a 10 -year period, although they are required to cover
only five years.
8 T his means that if legislation is being considered on the House or Senate floor that would violate certain levels
contained in the budget resolution, a Member may raise a point of order against the consideration of that legislation.
Points of order can be raised against bills, resolutions, amendments, or conference reports. If such a point of order is
raised against legislation for violating levels in the budget resolution, the presiding officer makes a ruling on the point
of order based on estimates provided by the relevant budget committee. T he process for waiving points of order varies
by chamber. Generally, such points of order can be waived in the House by a simple majority of Members and in the
Senate by three-fifths of all Senators.
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committee spending al ocations.9 Certain budgetary totals included in S.Con.Res. 5 are included
below in Table 1.
The levels in the budget resolution represent federal aggregates and do not include programmatic
spending details. Assumptions concerning some major programs may be noted in documents
accompanying the budget resolution, but these assumptions are not binding on the committees of
jurisdiction.
As mentioned earlier, the House Budget Committee stated that S.Con.Res. 5 was adopted with the
sole purpose of granting Congress the ability to employ the budget reconciliation process. The
adoption of S.Con.Res. 5 is therefore not expected to affect the status of the regular
appropriations process for FY2021.10 In addition, while a budget resolution is required to address
the appropriate level of public debt, no action on the debt limit is expected as a consequence of
S.Con.Res. 5.11
Table 1. Budgetary Totals Included in S.Con.Res. 5
In mil ions
Debt Held by the
Fiscal Year
Revenues
Outlays
Deficits
Public
2021
$2,303,274
$6,140,857
$3,837,583
$24,081,000
2022
$2,768,717
$4,298,244
$1,529,527
$25,818,000
2023
$2,971,083
$4,070,343
$1,099,260
$27,153,000
2024
$3,092,643
$4,070,242
$977,599
$28,380,000
2025
$3,236,199
$4,250,436
$1,014,237
$29,610,000
2026
$3,514,253
$4,425,376
$911,123
$30,730,000
2027
$3,762,577
$4,606,887
$844,310
$31,882,000
2028
$3,883,209
$4,950,170
$1,066,961
$33,333,000
2029
$4,007,991
$5,019,083
$1,011,092
$34,768,000
2030
$4,121,665
$5,419,949
$1,298,284
$36,518,000

9 T he Budget Act requires that the budget resolution allocate t otal spending among committees, typically referred to as
302(a) allocations. T he allocations act as a limit on the total spending within a specific committee’s jurisdiction and are
required to be included in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report on the budget resolution.
Section 4001 of S.Con.Res. 5 requires that if a budget resolution is adopted without the House and Senate engaging in a
conference committee (and therefore issuing a joint explanatory statement), the House and Senate Budget Committee
chairs submit a statement for publication in the Congressional Record establishing committee allocations.
10 Full-year appropriations for FY2021 were provided in H.R. 133, which was enacted on December 27, 2020 (P.L.
116-260). For more information, see CRS’s Appropriations Status T able at https://www.crs.gov/
AppropriationsStatusTable/Index.
11 T he Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019 (P.L. 116-37) suspended the debt limit until August 1, 2021. Upon reinstatement,
the act provides for a debt limit adjustment to accommodate borrowing activity that occurred during the suspension.
Although House Rule XXVIII provides for a measure to automatically be engrossed and deemed to have been passed
by the House by the same vote as the adoption by the House of a budget resolution setting forth a level of the public
debt different from the existing statutory limit, Section 6 of H.Res. 85 (the resolution that also provided for House
consideration of H.Con.Res. 11) specified that “ Rule XXVIII shall not apply with respect to the adoption by the House
of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2021.” For more on Rule XXVIII, see CRS Report RL31913,
Debt Limit Legislation: The House “Gephardt Rule”, by Bill Heniff Jr. For more information on the debt limit
generally, see CRS In Focus IF10292, The Debt Lim it, by Grant A. Driessen.
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Source: S.Con.Res. 5, Title I.
Reconciliation Directives
If Congress intends to use the reconciliation process, reconciliation directives (also referred to as
reconciliation instructions) must be included in the budget resolution. These directives instruct
individual committees in the House and Senate to develop and report legislation that would
change laws within their jurisdictions to accomplish a specific budgetary goal. Such
reconciliation legislation is then eligible to be considered under special expedited procedures in
both the House and Senate. These procedures are especial y important in the Senate, as they
include a 20-hour limit on debate time and therefore mean that a budget resolution does not
require the support of three-fifths of Senators to bring debate to a close.12
Title II of S.Con.Res. 5 includes reconciliation directives to 23 House and Senate committees
instructing them each to develop and report legislation within their jurisdictions increasing the
deficit by a specified amount. Committees and their specified amounts are listed below in Table 2
and Table 3. Each committee is directed to submit its legislative recommendations to its
chamber’s Budget Committee, which then is to package the committee responses into an omnibus
budget reconciliation bil and report the measure to its respective chamber without “any
substantive revision.”13 The directives to the 12 House committees total approximately $2.1
tril ion in deficit increases, while the directives to the 11 Senate committees total $1.9 tril ion.
The House Budget Committee has indicated that this difference is due to “overlapping committee
jurisdictions in the House” and that the budget resolution assumes that the net effect of a
reconciliation bil wil not exceed $1.9 tril ion.14
While it has been stated that any reconciliation process triggered pursuant to S.Con.Res. 5 would
be used to enact policies included in the American Rescue Plan,15 nothing in the resolution or the
Budget Act requires that such policies ultimately be included in either the committee’s legislative
response or the final reconciliation legislation.
S.Con.Res. 5 directs the specified House and Senate committees to submit their legislative text to
the Budget Committees of their respective chambers not later than February 16, 2021.16 There is
no procedural mechanism for requiring a committee to report reconciliation legislation in
response to its directive. Each chamber, however, may employ methods of moving forward with

12 For more information on the reconciliation process, see CRS Report R44058, The Budget Reconciliation Process:
Stages of Consideration, by Megan S. Lynch and James V. Saturno.
13 Pursuant to Section 310(b)(2) of the Budget Act. In fulfilling this requirement, the Budget Committee will typically
hold a business meeting before voting to report to the chamber, and while amendments are not in order during the
markup, members of the Budget Committee may still communicate support or concern related to the underlying
legislation.
14 See, U.S. Congress, House Committee on the Budget, https://budget.house.gov/publications/report/section-section-
analysis-2021-budget-resolution.
15 U.S. Congress, House Committee on the Budget, The Budget Resolution and Reconciliation: An Alternative Path for
the Am erican Rescue Plan, 117th Cong., February 1, 2021.
16 Historically, most committees have responded to their reconciliation directives by the date specified, but the Budget
Committee may wait for additional committees to respond to their directives, if necessary, with no impact on the
privileged status of the reconciliation bill. For more, see CRS Report R41186, Reconciliation Directives: Com ponents
and Enforcem ent, by Megan S. Lynch; and CRS Report R41151, Budget Reconciliation Process: Tim ing of Com m ittee
Responses to Reconciliation Directives, by Megan S. Lynch.
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reconciliation legislation and include legislative language that fal s within the non-reporting
committee’s jurisdiction in the event that the committee has not reported.17
Table 2. House Committees Given Reconciliation Instructions in S.Con.Res. 5
To submit to the House Budget Committee by February 16, 2021
Amount by which the committee is instructed
Committee
to increase the deficit
Agriculture
$16,112,000,000
Education and Labor
$357,926,000,000
Energy and Commerce
$188,498,000,000
Financial Services
$75,000,000,000
Foreign Affairs
$10,000,000,000
Natural Resources
$1,005,000,000
Oversight and Reform
$350,690,000,000
Science, Space, and Technology
$750,000,000
Smal Business
$50,000,000,000
Transportation and Infrastructure
$95,620,000,000
Veterans Affairs
$17,000,000,000
Ways and Means
$940,718,000,000
Total
$2,103,319,000,000
Source: S.Con.Res. 5, Section 2001.
Note: Committees are instructed to increase the deficit by such amounts over the period of FY2021-FY2030.
Table 3. Senate Committees Given Reconciliation Instructions in S.Con.Res. 5
To submit to the Senate Budget Committee by February 16, 2021
Amount by which the committee is instructed
Committee
to increase the deficit
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
$22,717,000,000
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
$89,250,000,000
Commerce, Science, and Transportation
$35,903,000,000
Environment and Public Works
$3,206,500,000
Finance
$1,296,487,000,000
Foreign Relations
$10,000,000,000

17 In the House, if a committee has not responded to a reconciliation directive, Section 310(d)(5) of the Budget Act
states that the House Rules Committee may make in order amendments to a reconciliation bill to satisfy reconciliati on
directives if a committee has not submitted reconciliation legislation. In the Senate, if a committee has not responded to
a reconciliation directive, it may still be possible to consider reconciliation legislation on the Senate floor that would
satisfy the committee’s directive. For example, by precedent, it would be in order for a Senator to offer a motion to
recommit the bill to that committee with instructions that it report the measure back to the Senate forthwith with an
amendment. Unlike amendment s to the reconciliation bill, the motion to recommit would not have to be germane if it
were made in this situation.
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Amount by which the committee is instructed
Committee
to increase the deficit
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
$304,956,000,000
Homeland Security and Government Affairs
$50,687,000,000
Indian Affairs
$8,604,000,000
Smal Business and Entrepreneurship
$50,000,000,000
Veterans Affairs
$17,000,000,000
Total
$1,888,810,500,000
Source: S.Con.Res. 5, Section 2002.
Note: Committees are instructed to increase the deficit by such amounts over the period of FY2021-FY2030.
Reserve Funds
Congress frequently includes “reserve funds” in the annual budget resolution. These provisions
are not technical y a reserve or a fund but instead give the chairs of the House or Senate Budget
Committees the authority to adjust the budgetary levels included in the budget resolution in the
future if the chamber is considering a specified legislative policy. General y, the procedural effect
of a reserve fund is to al ow certain legislative policies to be considered on the floor without
triggering a point of order for violating levels in the budget resolution. Often, reserve funds wil
require that the net budgetary impact of the specified future legislation not increase the deficit and
are referred to as “deficit neutral” reserve funds.
While reserve funds may have a budget procedure effect, they do not provide funding for any
specific policy. Additional y, they do not require Congress to include such a policy in future
legislation, nor do they prohibit Congress from taking future action on a policy. They have
sometimes been characterized as a way for Senators to receive a non-binding vote on a certain
policy in the same manner as a “sense of the Senate” provision.18
Title III of S.Con.Res. 5 includes multiple reserve funds for the House and Senate. While most of
the reserve funds are deficit-neutral reserve funds, the resolution also included a reserve fund for
each of the House and Senate Budget Committees that is not deficit neutral. This reserve fund
al ows the relevant Budget Committee chair to adjust budgetary levels in the resolution to
accommodate a reconciliation bil developed pursuant to the reconciliation instructions included
in the budget resolution. In addition, the provision exempts such a reconciliation bil from other
budgetary chamber rules.19

18 Paul M. Krawzak, “Biden Coronavirus Relief Plan Clears Senate Budget Hurdle After ‘Vote-a-Rama’,” Roll Call,
February 5, 2021. Senators have sometimes expressed concern regarding reserve funds and whether their presence
would result in a situation in which legislative questions, which would otherwise have required a three -fifths threshold
in the Senate, could be agreed to with only a simple majority. Such a reserve fund provision, however, would have an
impact only on whether a budgetary point of order could be made. It would not affect the Senate’s other rules and
procedural requirements, such as the cloture process, and the possibility that the measure would need three-fifths of the
Senate to agree to end debate on a legislative question, such as final passage. A colloquy on this subject occurred on the
Senate floor. Senators Portman and Murray, “ Budget Act Section 114(c),” Congressional Record, daily edition, vol.
160, part 2 (January 7, 2014), p. S67. For more information on the cloture process, see CRS Report 98-425, Invoking
Cloture in the Senate, by Christopher M. Davis.
19 In the House, Section 3001(a)(3) provides that any reconciliation bill would be exempt from the House PAYGO rule
(House Rule XXI, clause 10). For more information on the House PAYGO rule, see CRS Report R41510, Budget
Enforcem ent Procedures: House Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Rule, by Bill Heniff Jr. In the Senate, Section 2001(b)
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Deficit-neutral reserve funds were also included in S.Con.Res. 5. In the House, one deficit-neutral
reserve fund is included for unspecified deficit-neutral legislation. In the Senate, such deficit-
neutral reserve funds are included for:
 Establishing a fund to provide grants to food service and drinking establishments
affected by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic;
 Preventing tax increases on smal business during a pandemic;
 The authority of states and other taxing jurisdictions to tax certain income of
employees working in other states and jurisdictions;
 Targeting economic impact payments to Americans who are suffering from the
effects of COVID-19;
 COVID-19 vaccination administration and a public awareness campaign;
 Supporting elementary and secondary schools in states with lost revenue due to
the federal moratorium on oil and natural gas leasing on public lands and
offshore waters;
 Strengthening the provider relief fund;
 Improving services and interventions relating to sexual assault, family violence,
domestic violence, dating violence, and child abuse;
 Supporting hospitality, conventions, trade shows, entertainment, tourism and
travel, and their workers;
 Maintaining the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Israel;
 Increasing the federal minimum wage during the COVID-19 pandemic;
 Funding the police;
 Providing information online regarding the expenditure of COVID-19 relief
funds;
 Improving the solvency of federal trust funds;
 Federal environmental and water policies;
 Federal relief funds for state or local governments;
 Federal relief funds for state and local governments prohibiting actions by the
executive branch that would make the United States more reliant on countries
with weaker environmental or labor standards for oil, gas, or hardrock mineral
production; and
 Expanding health savings accounts.
Other Provisions
S.Con.Res. 5 includes various other procedural provisions, many of which are commonly
included in a budget resolution. For example, S.Con.Res. 5 includes the following:
 A provision relating to committee spending al ocations. The Budget Act requires
that the budget resolution al ocate total spending among committees, typical y

provides an exemption from the Senate PAYGO rule as well as the Senate’s short -term deficit point of order and long-
term deficit point of order. For more information on those points of order, see CRS Report RL31943, Budget
Enforcem ent Procedures: The Senate Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Rule, by Bill Heniff Jr., and CRS Report 97-865,
Points of Order in the Congressional Budget Process, by James V. Saturno.
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referred to as 302(a) al ocations. The al ocations act as a limit on the total
spending within a specific committee’s jurisdiction and are required to be
included in the joint explanatory statement accompanying the conference report
on the budget resolution. This provision states that in the event that S.Con.Res. 5
was agreed to without the House and Senate engaging in a conference committee
(and therefore issuing a joint explanatory statement) that the House and Senate
Budget Committee chairs submit a statement for publication in the Congressional
Record establishing committee al ocations.20
 A provision requiring that the House and Senate Appropriations Committees
receive a separate al ocation for discretionary administrative expenses of off-
budget entities (the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Postal Service).21
 A provision specifying the timing of when any adjustments of budgetary levels
made by the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs (pursuant to authority
granted in the resolution) should occur and requiring that the adjustments be
published in the Congressional Record as soon as practicable. The provision also
specifies that for the purposes of enforcing the budgetary levels in the resolution,
budgetary amounts are determined on the basis of estimates made by the House
and Senate Budget Committee chairs.22
 Provisions granting authority to the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs
to make adjustments to the budget resolution to account for (1) any changes in
concepts and definitions and (2) changes resulting from the Congressional
Budget Office’s updates to its baseline for FY2021-FY2030.23
 A provision extending for the remainder of FY2021 the prohibition in the House
against legislation making advance appropriations except for certain accounts.24
 A provision reducing the number of Senators required to waive rules related to
the Senate consideration of legislation that would increase the direct costs of
federal intergovernmental mandates.25
 A provision noting that the budget resolution is being adopted as an exercise of
Congress’s constitutional rulemaking authority and should therefore be
considered as if they were a part of the rules of the House and Senate.26

20 S.Con.Res. 5, §4001. Requirements associated with 302(a) allocations can be found in Section 301(e)(2) of the
Budget Act .
21 S.Con.Res. 5, §4002.
22 S.Con.Res. 5, §4003.
23 S.Con.Res. 5, §§4004 and 4005, respectively.
24 S.Con.Res. 5, §4006.
25 S.Con.Res. 5, §4007. Such points of order under Sections 425(a)(1) and 425(a)(2) of the Budget Act had previously
been subject to the three-fifths threshold in the 109th Congress under Section 403(b) of H.Con.Res. 95 (109th Congress).
Section 205 of S.Con.Res. 21 (110th Congress), however, provided that Section 403 no longer applies in the Senate.
T he three-fifths threshold was again established under Section 3203 of S.Con.Res. 11 (114th Congress) before being
repealed by S.Con.Res. 5.
26 S.Con.Res. 5, §4008.
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Author Information

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

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