The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
The Executive Budget Process Timeline:
In Brief
Updated February 23, 2024
Congressional Research Service
https://crsreports.congress.gov
R47088
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The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Development of the President’s Budget .......................................................................................... 1
Submission and Justification of the President’s Budget .................................................................. 2
Execution of Enacted Budgetary Legislation .................................................................................. 3
Budget Process Timeline in the Context of the 118th and 119th Congresses .................................... 5
Figures
Figure 1. Executive Budget Process Milestones Before and After Annual Submission to
Congress ....................................................................................................................................... 3
Figure 2. Example of Appropriated Funds Life Cycle .................................................................... 4
Figure 3. Executive Budget Process and the Congressional Budget Process for FY2025 .............. 5
Figure 4. Concurrent Budget Planning for Multiple Fiscal Years ................................................... 6
Contacts
Author Information .......................................................................................................................... 7
The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
Introduction
The Constitution vests Congress with the power of the purse, with provisions that refer to
congressional authority to levy taxes, authorize the issuance of debt, and make appropriations to
fund the federal government.1 The Constitution does not provide an explicit role for the President
in the budget process. Rather, the executive budget process exists primarily due to statutes
enacted by Congress, and it specifies roles for the President, the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB), and executive agencies.
The executive budget process is a complex set of activities that includes (1) development of the
President’s budget proposal, (2) submission and justification of the President’s budget proposal,
and (3) execution of enacted appropriations and other budgetary legislation. While some of the
activities must be completed by specific dates, many follow a more flexible schedule established
by formal and informal rules and procedures.
This report provides a brief overview of the phases of the executive budget process. For a more
detailed overview of the development, submission, and justification of the President’s budget
proposal, see CRS Report R47019, The Executive Budget Process: An Overview, by Dominick A.
Fiorentino and Taylor N. Riccard. CRS has also published a suite of “In Brief” products covering
components of the executive budget process, including the following:
• CRS Report R47089, The Role of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
in Budget Development: In Brief, by Taylor N. Riccard;
• CRS Report R47092, The Role of the President in Budget Development: In Brief,
by Taylor N. Riccard;
• CRS Report R47091, The Role of Executive Agencies in Budget Development: In
Brief, by Dominick A. Fiorentino;
• CRS Report R47090, Executive Agency Justification of the President’s Budget: In
Brief, by Dominick A. Fiorentino; and
• CRS Report R47088, The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief, by
Dominick A. Fiorentino (this report).
Development of the President’s Budget
The development of the President’s budget begins approximately 10 months before the President
must submit the proposal to Congress, about 18 months prior to the start of the fiscal year that the
budget will cover. As Congress begins action on appropriations bills and other budgetary
legislation for the upcoming fiscal year, OMB and agencies have already begun planning for the
subsequent fiscal year.
Early in the development phase of the executive budget process, OMB usually issues a budget
planning guidance memorandum that observers refer to as the “spring guidance.”2 This
memorandum provides executive agencies with detailed instructions and deadlines for submitting
1 See CRS Report R46240, Introduction to the Federal Budget Process, by James V. Saturno.
2 For an illustrative example, see OMB, memorandum from Mick Mulvaney, Director of OMB, M-17-28, “Fiscal Year
2019 Budget Guidance,” July 17, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2017/
M-17-28.pdf. A more recent version of the spring guidance document is not publicly available on OMB’s website.
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their budget requests and supporting materials.3 OMB typically has administratively set the
annual submission dates for September, which occurs 13 months before the beginning of the
forthcoming fiscal year. Agencies rely on internal processes and analysis to formulate their budget
requests, which may vary from agency to agency.
Agency budget requests are submitted to OMB in early fall, approximately four to five months
before the President must submit the budget to Congress. Agency requests are reviewed by the
OMB program examiners responsible for the associated policy areas. Examiners’
recommendations are reviewed by more senior OMB officials, culminating in review and
approval by the OMB director and the President.4 Agencies are notified of OMB’s decisions
through a process known as “passback.” During passback, OMB officials notify agencies of their
approved budgetary levels, which may differ from the agencies’ budget requests.5 For a timeline
containing milestones related to the development of the President’s budget, see Figure 1.
Submission and Justification of the President’s
Budget
Under current law, the President must submit a consolidated budget to Congress no later than the
first Monday in February prior to the start of the upcoming fiscal year.6 Although the President’s
budget is not legally binding, it usually initiates the congressional budget process. It provides
Congress with recommended spending levels for agency programs, projects, and activities funded
through the annual appropriations acts. In practice, the President does not always meet this
submission deadline, particularly during transition years.7
Once the President has submitted the budget, OMB and agency officials explain and justify the
request to Congress. Early in the congressional budget process, the OMB director and other
Cabinet officials may provide testimony regarding the President’s budgetary objectives before
congressional committees. Agencies also submit written justification of their budget requests to
the appropriations committee and subcommittees of jurisdiction in each chamber. The form and
content of agency budget justifications (also referred to as congressional budget justifications, or
CBJs) have been shaped by appropriations committee and subcommittee norms and practices.
The President may also update the budget proposal by submitting revisions to the original request
and, in the wake of key events, supplemental requests to Congress.8 Under current law, the
President is required to submit a supplemental summary of the budget, commonly referred to as
the “Mid-Session Review” (MSR), after the January/February budget submission deadline but
3 The budget planning guidance memorandum is usually issued in mid- to late spring, nearly a year before the President
submits the budget proposal to Congress. However, the memorandum has been issued as late as August.
4 Shelley Lynne Tomkin, Inside OMB: Politics and Process in the President’s Budget Office (New York: M.E. Sharpe,
1998), pp. 120-130.
5 Tomkin, Inside OMB, p. 131.
6 31 U.S.C. §1105. The President’s budget includes budget requests for all executive departments and agencies as well
as budget requests for entities in the legislative and judicial branches. The President and OMB play no role in the
development of legislative and judicial branch requests. Instead, entities in the legislative and judicial branches transmit
their budget requests to the President, who is then required to include them in the budget submission to Congress
without modification (31 U.S.C. §1105(b)).
7 For more information about the submission of the President’s budget during transition years from FY1977 to present,
see CRS Report RS20752, Submission of the President’s Budget in Transition Years, by Taylor N. Riccard.
8 OMB, “Supplementals, Amendments, and Releases,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/supplementals-amendments-
and-releases/.
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The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
before July 16 of each year. The MSR contains supplemental budget estimates and changes,
including substantial changes in estimates of expenditures and receipts, as well as substantial
changes to obligations imposed (i.e., entitlements) within the current fiscal year.9 For a timeline
containing milestones related to the submission and justification of the President’s budget, see
Figure 1.
Figure 1. Executive Budget Process Milestones Before and After Annual
Submission to Congress
Sources: CRS analysis of U.S. Code, OMB guidance documents, and Presidents’ budget submissions. Milestones
that are established by law are also indicated by listing relevant U.S. Code citations.
Execution of Enacted Budgetary Legislation
The Constitution provides that federal spending may occur only through appropriations passed by
Congress and enacted into law. Accordingly, agencies cannot begin to execute the budget until
this occurs.10 The President, OMB, and agencies execute the budget in accordance with the
budgetary laws. Once appropriations and other budgetary legislation have been enacted, OMB
9 31 U.S.C. §1106.
10 In the event that an agency’s regular appropriations act has not become law prior to the start of the fiscal year, a
temporary continuing appropriations act (i.e., a continuing resolution, or CR) may be enacted. This allows the agency
to continue operating programs funded with annual appropriations for the period of time covered by the CR. See CRS
Report R46595, Continuing Resolutions: Overview of Components and Practices, coordinated by James V. Saturno
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The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
apportions available funds to executive agencies by time period, program, project, or activity.11
Throughout the fiscal year, agencies allocate, obligate, and expend funds. They possess limited
authority to make spending adjustments after appropriations and other spending legislation have
been enacted.
Budget execution occurs in multiple steps:
1. “Budget authority” is enacted into law by appropriations legislation. Budget
authority provides agencies with the legal basis to incur obligations.
2. “Apportionment” occurs when OMB subdivides the budget authority made
available to agencies.
3. “Obligations” are incurred when agencies enter into legally binding
commitments such as employing personnel or awarding contracts for the
provision of goods or services.
4. “Outlays” are payments made to liquidate these obligations.12
For an illustrative example of how appropriated funds are executed, see Figure 2.
Figure 2. Example of Appropriated Funds Life Cycle
Relationship Between Budget Authority, Apportionment, Obligations, and Outlays
Source: CRS analysis.
Notes: This graphic serves as an illustrative example and does not represent a particular appropriations account
or appropriated amount. In a given fiscal year, outlays may pay for obligations incurred within the same fiscal year
or during prior fiscal years.
11 The collection of statutes commonly referred to as the Antideficiency Act have been codified in multiple sections of
Title 31 of the U.S. Code (31 U.S.C. §§1341-1342, 1349-1350, 1511-1519). Selected government entities are exempted
from the apportionment requirements of the Antideficiency Act, including the Senate, the House of Representatives,
congressional committees, and the Office of the Architect of the Capitol (31 U.S.C. §1511(b)(3)).
12 U.S. Government Accountability Office, A Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process, GAO-05-734SP,
September 2005, p. 105, https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-05-734sp.
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Budget Process Timeline in the Context of the 118th and 119th Congresses
This section presents more detailed graphical representations of how the executive budget process overlaps with the congressional budget
process, as well as how agencies concurrently plan and execute budgets for multiple fiscal years.
Figure 3 provides a timeline of the FY2025 budget process compared to the 2023, 2024, and 2025 calendar years as well as the executive
budget process milestones. FY2025 will begin on October 1, 2024, but executive agency budget planning for FY2025 began 18 months prior in
the spring of 2023. By statute, the President was required to submit the consolidated FY2025 budget to Congress no later than the first Monday
in February 2024. As of February 23, 2024, President Biden has not submitted the FY2025 budget request to Congress.
Figure 3. Executive Budget Process and the Congressional Budget Process for FY2025
Sources: CRS analysis of U.S. Code, OMB guidance documents, and President’s budget submissions.
Notes: In practice, budgetary submission and milestone dates for FY2025 may differ from statutory deadlines. Congressional action on the FY2025 budget may extend
beyond September 30, 2024.
While Congress deliberates on the FY2025 budget, the President is to submit the MSR. By statute, this must be submitted before July 16 each
year, but many such submissions are provided later than this date.
FY2025 will begin on October 1, 2024, and end on September 30, 2025. Obligations incurred during FY2025 may not result in outlays until
after the end of the fiscal year. Additionally, budgetary and financial reporting associated with FY2025 will continue after September 30, 2025.
As Congress begins action on appropriations bills and other budgetary legislation for FY2025, OMB and agencies have already begun planning
for subsequent fiscal years. Figure 4 shows that budget-related activities for FY2025, FY2026, and FY2027 may occur simultaneously for
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agencies at a given point in time (e.g., during May 2025) and may provide opportunities for Congress to engage with agencies, OMB, and the
President for all three of these fiscal years within the 118th and 119th Congresses.
Figure 4. Concurrent Budget Planning for Multiple Fiscal Years
Sources: CRS analysis of OMB guidance documents, President’s budget submissions, and U.S. Code.
Notes: In practice, budgetary submission and milestone dates for FY2025, FY2026, and FY2027 may differ from statutory deadlines.
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The Executive Budget Process Timeline: In Brief
Author Information
Dominick A. Fiorentino
Analyst in Government Organization and
Management
Acknowledgments
This report supersedes CRS Report RS20152, which was originally written by Bill Heniff Jr., Analyst on
Congress and the Legislative Process, and updated by Michelle D. Christensen, Analyst in Government
Organization and Management.
Mari Y. Lee, Visual Information Specialist, and Brion A. Long, Visual Information Specialist, collaborated
on the report’s figures.
Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan
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under the direction of Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other
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