Concurrent Budget Resolution

The first step in the budget enactment process – the Concurrent Budget Resolution (CBR) – provides an overall blueprint for the congressional budget process. While not required by the Constitution, the budget resolution process was established by the Budget Impoundment and Control Act of 1974. This act, which also created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), requires that Congress pass an annual CBR to provide guidance for revenue and spending legislation. The CBR specifies the amounts of revenue, budget authority, and outlays for the coming fiscal year plus the next nine fiscal years. With respect to budget authority and outlays, the CBR effectively establishes ceilings for each of the 21 major functional categories (plus Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), when applicable).  Since the CBR is a resolution, it is passed by both Houses of Congress, but does not require the signature of the President; as such, the CBR, unlike the annual Authorization and Appropriation Acts, is not a law. The CBR is scheduled to be adopted by the Congress on or before April 15 of each year (Title 2, US Code, Section 632).  This CBR process is managed by the Congressional (House and Senate) Budget Committees. 

The House and Senate Budget Committees, using the analysis provided by the CBO and the views and estimates provided by the standing committees regarding the funding required to continue their programs, will each present their version of the budget resolution for review, debate and ultimate passage by their respective chambers. These versions of the resolution will have differences that must be resolved in a conference committee before the CBR is passed in identical form by both the House and Senate. The resulting budget plan, referred to as a CBR, is then voted on again in each chamber, requires only a simple majority to pass, and cannot be filibustered (its consideration is one of the few actions that cannot be filibustered in the Senate). If passed in both the House and Senate, the CBR becomes binding on Congress, eventhough the resolution does not have the force of law, since the President does not sign it.  Nonethless, a budget point of order can still be raised in the Senate, on any legislation that exceeds a committee's spending allocation or reduces taxes below the levels established in the budget resolution.  It take 60 votes to waive a point of order in the Senate.

In some years, both the House and Senate have not been able to agree upon or, in some cases, even pass their own budget resolution.  When that occurs, the House and Senate do not meet in conference and the Congress does not have a common budget position (or CBR). In this situation, there is not an agreement on revenues, outlays, or top line controls for the 21 Major Government Functions, and the Appropriation committees continue their work unconstrained, without a top-line budget amount for each Major Government Function.