The Federal Budget Process

Step 1 - The President's Budget

Every year the president submits a budget request to Congress, typically in February. A new president’s first budget often arrives later, as the new administration gets up and running. The president’s budget does not carry the force of law. However, the funding levels it proposes do reflect the administration’s priorities. The president’s budget is either viewed by Congress as a starting point or is disregarded altogether, depending on which party holds the White House and which party or parties control Congress. CBF and our advocates work throughout the annual appropriations process to ensure that programs essential to Bay restoration are robustly funded. 

Step 2 - Congress' Budget

Through the spring, the House and Senate Budget Committees work to pass the congressional budget plan (called a “concurrent budget resolution”). It includes budget targets, policy priorities, and specific funding levels for different government functions—including those that support Bay restoration. Like the president’s budget, the congressional budget plan is not law. But it does set important spending and revenue levels for Congress, including how much money the Appropriations Committees will be allocated to fund discretionary government programs in the coming fiscal year. The federal fiscal year starts October 1. 

Step 3 - Appropriations

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees each have 12 subcommittees that write the annual budgets for the federal departments and agencies under their jurisdiction. These subcommittees hold hearings to hear from both experts and from members of Congress directly about their priorities for the bill the subcommittee will write. Once the subcommittees draft and vote on their respective bills, they pass their legislation to the full Appropriations Committees for debate and approval.  

Advocates and members of Congress from the Bay region can make a real impact during this part of the budget process. This is a key time for advocates to contact members of the relevant subcommittees and urge them to include robust funding for Bay restoration in their spending bills. CBF also works with our congressional representatives and senators from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, New York, and the District of Columbia to write to congressional leaders and senior members of the Appropriation Committees requesting sufficient federal funding for restoring the Bay and its rivers and streams. 

Once a spending bill is approved by the Appropriations Committee it goes to the floor of either the House or Senate for debate and consideration of amendments.  All representatives or senators have the opportunity to offer amendments and vote on them when a bill is on the House or Senate floor. CBF monitors this stage closely. CBF tracks amendments and, when needed, mobilizes advocates to urge their representatives or senators to defeat amendments that would hinder Bay restoration progress.  

After each chamber passes its version of a bill, negotiators from the House and Senate reconcile any differences between the two versions and produce a compromise bill. Both chambers must pass the compromise bill before Congress can send it to the president to sign.  

If Congress fails to pass final spending bills for the coming fiscal year by September 30, the last day of the current fiscal year, it must still fund government programs in the new fiscal year, which starts October 1. Otherwise, government agencies covered by the outstanding bills may be forced to shut down. To avoid a shutdown, Congress can pass what’s known as a “continuing resolution.” A continuing resolution extends funding levels from the fiscal year that just ended until a certain date in the new fiscal year. This “deadline extension” gives Congress more time to finish work on the overdue bills.  

Step 4 - Reconciliation

Sometimes the budget resolution requires Congress to amend laws that directly fund certain programs to meet its budget targets. This process does not involve Appropriations Committees because the programs it covers are not funded annually through appropriations. Instead, the committees with jurisdiction over the affected laws draft legislation to amend those laws so they produce the revenue or spending level set in the budget resolution. The Budget Committees then package together all of the bills the other committees drafted to carry out the budget resolution’s instructions. Both chambers then must pass their respective budget reconciliation bills, reconcile any differences between them, and pass a final compromise bill that will become law if the president signs it. CBF carefully follows the reconciliation process and is ready to respond to—and engage advocates and lawmakers if necessary—any proposals that would undermine Bay restoration work. 

Federal Dollars at Work