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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