THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS RITA MARTIN CSAVR DEPUTY DIRECTOR

THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS The Budget starts with the President The President's budget is formulated over a period of months with the assistance of the Office of Management and Budget. OMB is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President. The budget request includes funding requests federal executive departments and independent agencies. Budget documents include supporting documents and historical budget data and contains detailed information on spending and revenue proposals, along with policy proposals and initiatives with significant budgetary implications.

THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS The Budget has to be submitted for each fiscal year which is the 12 month period beginning Oct 1and ending Sept 30 The President delivers the White House budget to Congress and the Congressional Budget Office The House and Senate Budget Committees pass resolutions that set targeted funding levels for each of 19 "functions" Functions are (funding categories). The target funding levels set in the House and Senate may not correlate with the White House budget or with each other. These are known as 302(a) allocations- overall limits on how much the federal government can spend in an FY.

THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS The Budget has to be submitted for each fiscal year which is the 12 month period beginning Oct 1and ending Sept 30 The President delivers the White House budget to Congress and the Congressional Budget Office The House and Senate Budget Committees pass resolutions that set targeted funding levels for each of 19 "functions" Functions are (funding categories). The target funding levels set in the House and Senate may not correlate with the White House budget or with each other. These are known as 302(a) allocations- overall limits on how much the federal government can spend in an FY.

THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS The respective House and Senate Appropriations Committees, guided by the funding levels set in the "functions," determine how much money is available to each of 12 Appropriations Subcommittees; these are often referred to as 302(b) allocations. The Appropriations Subcommittees set funding levels for the various Departments and their programs. These separate subcommittee budgets are then rolled up to the full House and Senate Appropriations Committees for modification and approval. These proposed budgets are voted on by the full House and Senate Following that, both Chambers must meet in a Conference Committee to reconcile the differences in their proposed budgets before they are sent back to the full House and Senate for passage.

THE APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS After Congress approves an appropriations bill, it is sent to the President, who may sign it into law, or may veto it. If Congress fails to pass an annual budget, a series of Appropriations bills must be passed as "stop gap" measures. A vetoed bill is sent back to Congress, which can pass it into law with a two- thirds majority in each chamber. Congress may also combine all or some appropriations bills into an omnibus reconciliation bill. In addition, the president may request and the Congress may pass supplemental appropriations bills or emergency supplemental appropriations bills.

AUTHORIZATION & APPROPRIATIONS Funds for federal government programs must be authorized by an "authorizing committee" through enactment of legislation. The budget authority is then appropriated by the Appropriations Committee of the House. Committees with jurisdiction to authorize programs make policy decisions, while the Appropriations Committees decide on funding levels, limited to a program's authorized funding level, though the amount may be any amount less than the limit.

MANDATORY SPENDING Mandatory spending refers to spending enacted by law. The VR program has mandatory funding. Programs that are mandatorily funded are not dependent on an annual or periodic appropriation bill. Congress can affect spending on entitlement programs by changing eligibility requirements or the structure of programs.

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING Discretionary spending requires an annual appropriation bill, which is a piece of legislation. Discretionary spending is typically set by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and their various subcommittees.HouseSenate Appropriations Committeessubcommittees Since the spending is typically for a fixed period (usually a year), it is said to be under the discretion of the Congress. Some appropriations last for more than one year.

DISCRETIONARY SPENDING There are currently 12 appropriation bills that must be passed each fiscal year in order for continued discretionary spending to occur. The subject of each appropriations bill corresponds to the jurisdiction of the respective House and Senate appropriation subcommittees: Several government agencies provide budget data and analysis. These include the Government Accountability Office (GAO) the Office of Management and Budget,(OMB) and the US Treasury Department.