Environmental Information
THE FEDERAL BUDGET: A NEW LOOK
'The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
(Public Law 93-344)
Purpose of the Act
--To assure effective -congressional control over the budgetary
process.
--To provide congressional determination each year of the
appropriate level of Federal revenues and expenditures.
--To provide for a system of impoundment control.
--To establish national budget priorities.
--To provide for the furnishing of information by the executive
branch in a manner that will assist the Congress in dis-
charging its duties.
Timing
P.L. 93-344 was enacted on July 12, 1974. It changes the
beciinning of the fiscal year from July 1 to October 1, starting
with fiscal year 1977 on October 1, 1976. It establishes a .
detailed timetable for completing congressional action on the
necessary budgetary legislation before October 1 and the beginning
of a new fiscal year. Although the provisions of the Act are
effective for fiscal year 1977, Congress is now going through
the new process on a trial basis for the fiscal year 1976 budget.
New Budget Machinery
1. The Act established a Budget Committee in the Senate and in
the House. During the 94th Congress, the Senate Committee
comprises 16 members and the House unit 25 members. The Act
also created a Congressional Budget Office with a Director and
Deputy Director appointed for a four-year term by the Speaker
of the House and President Pro Tern of the Senate.
a. The Budget Committees will be the central point for
all information and analyses on formulating fiscal policies
and budget priorities in Congress. They will be responsible
for recommending a Congressional budget to their respective
Houses on April 15 each year. Their resolutions will specify
total spending figures, spending priorities, total revenue,
and the aporopriate budget surolus or deficit for the coming
fiscal year.
U S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460
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b. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will comprise a non-
partisan staff authorized to obtain all relevant budgetary
information from Federal departments and agencies and
provide the information to the Budget Committees and to
other committees and members of Congress. The Budget
Office will fully advise the Budget Committees on such
matters as projected spending, taxation, and budget
priorities and their overall relationship to balanced
growth and development of the Nation. Hopefully, CBO,
in short, will provide Congress with the kind of expertise
now provided to the Executive Branch of the Federal
Government by the Office of Management and Budget.
New Budget Procedures: Timetable Deadlines
Nov. 10--The President will submit to Congress a Current Services
Budget. The budget will show estimated expenditures
and proposed appropriations if all existing programs
and activities were to be continued for the ensuing
fiscal year (beginning the following Oct. 1) at existing
levels with no policy change.
January--(15 days after Congress reconvenes)--The President will
present his budget to Congress as he now does.
March 15-Standing committees of the House and Senate, the Joint
Economic Committee and the Joint Committee on Internal
Revenue Taxation will submit budgetary recommendations
to the House and Senate Budget Committees.
April l--The Congressional Budget Office will report its recom-
mendations to the House and Senate Budget Committees.
April 15-Budget Committees will report the first concurrent
resolution on the budget to House and Senate. The
resolution will include total budget outlays and new
budget authority by major categories such as housing,
education, defense, health, etc.; amount of surplus
or deficit, if any, in the budget; recommended level
of Federal revenues and totals to be increased or
decreased, if any, by appropriate committees; level
of the public debt and how much, if any, the statutory
limit should be increased or decreased. The Budget
Committees will hold hearings before approving the
resolution and its accompanying report.
The Budget Committees' report will include: comparisons
of revenues, total outlays, and budget authority in
the budget proposals of the President and the Committees;
five-year projections of revenues, surpluses or deficits,
new budget authority, and budget outlays, significant
changes in proposed levels of Federal assistance to
State and local governments; revenue estimates by major
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source and the underlying economic assumptions and
objectives upon which they are based.
May 15 Congress will complete action on the first concurrent
resolution on the budget — the Congressional Budget.
September 15-Congress will complete action on the second concurrent
budget resolution of the Budget Committees. The second
resolution will reaffirm or revise the first resolution,
taking into account the most recent economic data and
individual committee actions on budget proposals of
the Congressional Budget Committees.
September 25-If it is necessary for previous Congressional actions
on spending or revenue measures to be reconciled with
the second concurrent budget resolution, Congress will
enact a reconciliation bill. Congress may not recess
for more than three days until a reconciliation bill
is approved.
Impoundment Actions
The Act limits the President's ability to impound funds in three
ways :
1. It limits the President's statutory basis for withholding
appropriated funds by deleting the "other developments"
clause of the Anti-Deficiency Act. This clause has been
employed frequently by the President to justify contro-
versial impoundments. The language of the Anti-Deficiency
Act now permits budgetary reserves solely to provide for
contingencies or to effect savings.
2. It requires the President to request — and both Houses to
pass--a rescission bill if the President would terminate
or cancel a program or delay the obligation of a one-year
appropriation to the end of the fiscal year in which it is
available .
3. It delegates only limited authority to the President to
defer the obligation of appropriated funds for no longer
than the end of the fiscal year in which the deferral
occurs. However, the President must notify Congress that
he proposes to defer funds and the deferral will be
subject to the disapproval of either House by approval of
an impoundment resolution. If either House passes such
a resolution, the President must make the funds available
for obligation.
Backdoor Spending
The Act requires that all new spending measures which provide
government agencies with contract or borrowing authority
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go through the regular appropriations process. Present contract
or borrowing authority is not affected.
The Act creates special procedures for limiting spending under
new entitlement programs, programs which commit the Federal
Government to pay benefits to all eligible recipients. If
an entitlement bill exceeds the spending target set for it
in the first Congressional budget resolution, it must be referred
to the Appropriations Committee for not more than 15 days, after
which the Committee must report it, amended or not, to the floor.
However, if the bill's spending total does not exceed the limit
set in the budget resolution, it may be considered on the floor
without going through the Appropriations Committee.
Impact on EPA
The new budget procedures will significantly affect EPA and
other Federal agencies through establishment of Congressional
controls over possible future impoundment actions by a President
The new budget law also will mean:
--Change in the beginning of the fiscal year from July 1 to
October 1.
--Tighter deadlines for budget submissions.
--Provision of budget data directly to Congress through CBO.
--Participation in Budget Committee hearings.
--Extended projections for budget needs.
--Tighter Congressional controls over Agency's new contract
and borrowing activities.
--A need for new, revised budgetary information systems, terms,
definitions, codes, etc.
Aoril 1975
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