Congressional Budget Resolutions: Reporting Deadline in the Senate

Congressional Budget Resolutions: Reporting Deadline in the Senate

Order Code RS20541
Updated April 23, 2008
Congressional Budget Resolutions:
Reporting Deadline in the Senate
Robert Keith
Specialist in American National Government
Government and Finance Division
Summary
The House and Senate are required under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974
to complete action each year on a budget resolution before spending, revenue, and debt-
limit legislation can be considered. In order to facilitate timeliness in the congressional
budget process, Section 300 of the 1974 act establishes a timetable that requires the
Senate Budget Committee to report a budget resolution by April 1 and the House and
Senate to reach final agreement on a budget resolution by April 15. (Prior to FY1987,
the deadline for reporting the budget resolution was April 15 and the deadline for its
final adoption was May 15.)
During the 34 years that the congressional budget process has been in effect, the
Senate Budget Committee has reported 32 budget resolutions subject to the April
deadline. (The budget resolutions for FY1991 and FY2002 were discharged from the
committee.) On average, the 32 budget resolutions were reported about on the
applicable deadline (e.g., within a fraction of a day late). Twenty of the 32 budget
resolutions were reported in a timely manner, about 12.6 days before the deadline, on
average. The remaining 12 budget resolutions were reported after the deadline, by about
21.3 days, on average. This report will be updated as developments warrant.
Under the congressional budget process established by the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974 (P.L. 93-344, as amended), the House and Senate are required to adopt a budget
resolution each year before spending, revenue, and debt-limit legislation can be
considered, unless a waiver or exception applies. The budget resolution serves as a
framework that constrains action on subsequent budgetary legislation.1 The congressional
budget process has been in effect for 34 years, covering FY1976-FY2009.
1 The congressional budget process is discussed in more detail in CRS Report 98-721,
Introduction to the Federal Budget Process, by Robert Keith. See also CRS Report RL30297,
Congressional Budget Resolutions: Selected Statistics and Information Guide, by Bill Heniff Jr.
and Justin Murray.

CRS-2
The 1974 Congressional Budget Act originally required the House and Senate to
adopt two budget resolutions each year, a “first” budget resolution in the spring and a
“second” one in the fall, just before the beginning of the fiscal year. The first budget
resolution set advisory targets that guided action on budgetary measures while the second
budget resolution set binding limits. Congress abandoned the practice of adopting a
second budget resolution after the FY1982 budget cycle and formally repealed the
requirement as part of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985
(Title II of P.L. 99-177, as amended).
In order to promote timely action in the congressional budget process, the 1974
Congressional Budget Act set forth a timetable in Section 300. Under the original
timetable, the House and Senate were required to reach final agreement on the budget
resolution by May 15. In furtherance of this objective, the House and Senate Budget
Committees were required to report the first budget resolution by April 15 each year.
The congressional budget process timetable was revised by the 1985 Balanced
Budget Act. In an effort to spur more timely action, the deadline for adoption of the
budget resolution was advanced from May 15 to April 15. Further, the Senate Budget
Committee was required to report the budget resolution by April 1. (The reporting
deadline for the House Budget Committee was eliminated instead of being revised.)2
These changes first took effect in 1986 for the FY1987 budget cycle.
Table 1 indicates, for each fiscal year from FY1976-FY2009, the number of the first
budget resolution reported in the Senate, the Senate report number, and the date the
budget resolution was reported. Thirty-two budget resolutions were reported during the
34-year period.
In two instances (FY1991 and FY2002), the Senate Budget Committee was
discharged from the further consideration of the budget resolution. The FY1991 budget
resolution, S.Con.Res. 110, was discharged on Monday, April 2, 1990, and subsequently
considered by the Senate. The committee reported another budget resolution, S.Con.Res.
129, the following month, but it was not considered and is not counted for purposes of
Table 1. For FY2002, the Senate Budget Committee did not mark up or report a budget
resolution. Instead, the House-passed budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 83), which had been
referred to the Senate Budget Committee on March 28, 2001, was discharged on Monday,
April 2 and later considered by the Senate.
In nine instances (FY1988, FY1993, FY1998, and FY2004-FY2009), the Senate
Budget Committee did not submit a written report to accompany the budget resolution.
For FY2004-FY2009, the Senate Budget Committee issued a committee print in lieu of
a written report.
2 The change was made in Section 201(b) of the 1985 act; see 99 Stat. 1040.

CRS-3
Table 1. First Budget Resolutions Reported by
the Senate Budget Committee: FY1976-FY2009
Fiscal
Budget
Senate
Date
Year
Resolution
Report
(S.Con.Res.)
Number
Reported
Comment
April 15 Reporting Deadline
1976
32
94-77
04-15-75
—
1977
109
94-731
04-01-76
—
1978
19
95-90
04-12-77
—
1979
80
95-739
04-14-78
—
1980
22
96-68
04-12-79
—
1981
86
96-654
04-09-80
—
1982
19
97-49
05-01-81
—
1983
92
97-385
05-10-82
—
1984
27
98-63
04-24-83
—
1985
106
98-399
04-18-84
—
1986
32
99-15
03-20-85
—
April 1 Reporting Deadline
1987
120
99-264
03-24-86
—
1988
49
—
04-15-87
No written report.
1989
113
100-311
03-31-88
—
1990
30
101-20
04-27-89
—
1991
110
—
—
S.Con.Res. 110 was discharged from the
committee on 04-02-90 and placed on
the calendar. Another budget
resolution, S.Con.Res. 129, was
reported on 05-10-90 but not
considered.
1992
29
102-40
04-18-91
—
1993
106
—
04-03-92
No written report.
1994
18
103-19
03-12-93
—
1995
63
103-238
03-18-94
—
1996
13
104-82
05-15-95
—
1997
57
104-271
05-13-96
—

CRS-4
Fiscal
Budget
Senate
Date
Year
Resolution
Report
(S.Con.Res.)
Number
Reported
Comment
1998
27
—
05-19-97
No written report.
1999
86
105-170
03-20-98
—
2000
20
106-27
03-19-99
—
2001
101
106-251
03-31-00
—
2002
—
—
—
Committee did not mark up or report a
budget resolution. Instead, the House-
passed budget resolution, H.Con.Res.
83, was discharged from the Senate
Budget Committee on 04-02-01 and
placed on the calendar.
2003
100
107-141
04-11-02
—
2004
23
—
03-14-03
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 108-19, in lieu of
a written report.
2005
95
—
03-05-04
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 108-365, in lieu
of a written report.
2006
18
—
03-11-05
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 109-18, in lieu of
a written report.
2007
83
—
03-10-06
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 109-057, in lieu
of a written report.
2008
21
—
03-16-07
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 110-019, in lieu
of a written report.
2009
70
—
03-07-08
No written report. Committee issued a
committee print, S.Prt. 110-039, in lieu
of a written report.
Source: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service.
Figure 1 provides information on the reporting of the budget resolutions relative to
the deadline. The 32 budget resolutions were reported, on average, about on the deadline
(e.g., within a fraction of a day late). Twenty of the budget resolutions were reported in
a timely manner. The reporting date for these budget resolutions ranged from zero to 27
days before the deadline and averaged 12.6 days before the deadline. The remaining 12
budget resolutions were reported from two to 48 days after the deadline, averaging 21.3
days after the deadline.

CRS-5
Compliance with the original deadline of April 15 (in effect through FY1986) was
about the same as compliance with the revised deadline of April 1 (in effect beginning
with FY1987). Under both deadlines, the budget resolution was reported, on average,
about on the deadline (e.g., within a fraction of a day late). The minor difference between
the two averages obscures the significantly tardy reporting of the budget resolutions for
FY1996-FY1998, which were reported between 42 days and 48 days after the deadline.
Following these three years of tardy reporting of the budget resolution, the measure has
been reported on time in nine of 10 years.

CRS-6
Figure 1. Number of Days Budget Resolutions Were Reported by the
Senate Budget Committee Before or After the Reporting Deadline:
FY1976-FY2009
Number of Days Before (-) or After (+) Deadline
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1976
0
1977
-14
1978
-3
1979
-1
1980
-3
1981
-6
1982
16
1983
25
1984
9
1985
3
1986
-26
1987
-8
1988
14
1989
-1
1990
26
1992
17
1993
2
1994
-20
1995
-14
1996
44
1997
42
1998
48
1999
-12
2000
-13
2001
-1
2003
10
2004
-18
2005
-27
2006
-21
2007
-22
2008
-16
2009
-25
Source: Prepared by the Congressional Research Service.
Note: The reporting deadline was April 15 for FY1976-FY1986 and April 1 for FY1987 and
thereafter. The Senate Budget Committee did not report a budget resolution for FY1991 or
FY2002. For FY1991, the Senate Budget Committee was discharged from the further
consideration of the budget resolution (S.Con.Res. 110), which was placed on the calendar on
Monday, April 2, 1990, and considered by the Senate. (The committee reported another budget
resolution, S.Con.Res. 129, the following month, but it was not considered and is not counted for
purposes of Figure 1.) For FY2002, the Senate Budget Committee did not mark up a budget
resolution. Instead, the House-passed budget resolution (H.Con.Res. 83), which had been
referred to the Senate Budget Committee on March 28, 2001, was discharged on Monday April
2 and later considered by the Senate.