§111e. Section 301. Adoption of first concurrent resolution. (CBA, as Enacted)

Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Section 301, as Enacted

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Adoption of first concurrent resolution

Sec. 301. (a) Action To Be Completed By May 15.—On or before May 15 of each year, the Congress shall complete action on the first concurrent resolution on the budget for the fiscal year beginning on contents. October 1 of such year. The concurrent resolution shall set forth—

(1) the appropriate level of total budget outlays and of total new budget authority;

(2) an estimate of budget outlays and an appropriate level of new budget authority for each major functional category, for contingencies, and for undistributed intragovernmental transactions, based on allocations of the appropriate level of total budget outlays and of total new budget authority;

(3) the amount, if any, of the surplus or the deficit in the budget which is appropriate in light of economic conditions and all other relevant factors;

(4) the recommended level of Federal revenues and the amount, if any, by which the aggregate level of Federal revenues should be increased or decreased by bills and resolutions to be reported by the appropriate committees;

(5) the appropriate level of the public debt, and the amount, if any, by which the statutory limit on the public debt should be increased or decreased by bills and resolutions to be reported by the appropriate committees; and

(6) such other matters relating to the budget as may be appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act.

(b) Additional Matters In Concurrent Resolution.—The first concurrent resolution on the budget may also require—

(1) a procedure under which all or certain bills and resolutions providing new budget authority or providing new spending authority described in section 401(c) (2) (C) for such fiscal year shall not be enrolled until the concurrent resolution required to be reported under section 310(a) has been agreed to, and, if a reconciliation bill or reconciliation resolution, or both, are required to be reported under section 310(c), until Congress has completed action on that bill or resolution, or both; and

(2) any other procedure which is considered appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act. Not later than the close of the Ninety-fifth Congress, the Committee on the Budget of each House shall report to its House on the implementation of procedures described in this subsection.

(c) Views and Estimates of Other Committees.—On or before March 15 of each year, each standing committee of the House of Representatives shall submit to the Committee on the Budget of the House, each standing committee of the Senate shall submit to the Committee on the Budget of the Senate, and the Joint Economic Committee and Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation shall submit to the Committees on the Budget of both Houses—

(1) its views and estimates with respect to all matters set forth in subsection (a) which relate to matters within the respective jurisdiction or functions of such committee or joint committee; and

(2) except in the case of such joint committees, the estimate of the total amounts of new budget authority, and budget outlays resulting therefrom, to be provided or authorized in all bills and resolutions within the jurisdiction of such committee which such committee intends to be effective during the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of such year. The Joint Economic Committee shall also submit to the Committees on the Budget of both Houses, its recommendations as to the fiscal policy appropriate to the goals of the Employment Act of 1946. Any other committee of the House or Senate may submit to the Committee on the Budget of its House, and any other joint committee of the Congress may submit to the Committees on the Budget of both Houses, its views and estimates with respect to all matters set forth in subsection (a) which relate to matters within its jurisdiction or functions.

(d) Hearings and Report.—In developing the first concurrent resolution on the budget referred to in subsection (a) for each fiscal year, the Committee on the Budget of each House shall hold hearings and shall receive testimony from Members of Congress and such appropriate representatives of Federal departments and agencies, the general public, and national organizations as the committee deems desirable. On or before April 15 of each year, the Committee on the Budget of each House shall report to its House the first concurrent resolution on the budget referred to in subsection (a) for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of such year. The report accompanying such concurrent resolution shall include, but not be limited to—

(1) a comparison of revenues estimated by the committee with those estimated in the budget submitted by the President;

(2) a comparison of the appropriate levels of total budget outlays and total new budget authority, as set forth in such concurrent resolution, with total budget outlays estimated and total new budget authority requested in the budget submitted by the President;

(3) with respect to each major functional category, an estimate of budget outlays and an appropriate level of new budget authority for all proposed programs and for all existing programs (including renewals thereof), with the estimate and level for existing programs being divided between permanent authority and funds provided in appropriation Acts, and each such division being subdivided between controllable amounts and all other amounts;

(4) an allocation of the level of Federal revenues recommended in the concurrent resolution among the major sources of such revenues;

(5) the economic assumptions and objectives which underlie each of the matters set forth in such concurrent resolution and alternative economic assumptions and objectives which the committee considered;

(6) projections, not limited to the following, for the period of five fiscal years beginning with such fiscal year of the estimated levels of total budget outlays, total new budget outlays, total new budget authority, the estimated revenues to be received, and the estimated surplus or deficit, if any, for each fiscal year in such period, and the estimated levels of tax expenditures (the tax expenditures budget) by major functional categories;

(7) a statement of any significant changes in the proposed levels of Federal assistance to State and local governments; and

(8) information, data, and comparisons indicating the manner in which, and the basis on which, the committee determined each of the matters set forth in the concurrent resolution, and the relationship of such matters to other budget categories.

The managers on the part of the House and the Senate of the conference of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H.R. 7130) issued an explanatory statement of the legislation. This was included in a House Budget Committee print in 1975 after the bill’s enactment. It included the following description of this section:

Section 301 (a) and (b). Adoption and Content of First Concurrent Resolution

The House bill provided for adoption of the first concurrent resolution by May 1 each year. This resolution would have set forth the appropriate levels of total new budget authority and total outlays, the appropriate level of budget authority and outlays for each functional category, the appropriate levels of overall revenues and public debt, and the appropriate surplus or deficit in the budget. The budget resolution also could contain other matters relating to the budget. The Senate amendment provided for adoption of the first resolution by June 1. The resolution would have specified appropriate levels of total budget authority and outlays with these totals allocated by functional categories and within each category the amounts would be divided between existing and proposed programs. The allocations for existing program would have been subdivided between permanent and regular appropriations and within the latter between controllable and other amounts. The Senate amendment also provided that the budget resolution would contain an estimate of Federal revenues and the major sources, the recommended surplus or deficit, any recommended changes in total revenue (and may include the major sources of revenue change), any recommended change in the public debt, and other matters deemed appropriate for the congressional budget. The Senate amendment further provided that the budget resolution could mandate additional procedures relating to the consideration of spending measures.

The conference substitute provided for adoption of the first concurrent resolution on the budget by May 15. This resolution shall set forth: appropriate levels of total budget authority and outlays, the appropriate level of new budget authority and estimated outlays for each functional category, including an allowance for contingencies and for undistributed Intragovermental transactions; the appropriate budget surplus or deficit; the recommended level of Federal revenues any recommended increase or decrease in aggregate revenue to be reported by the appropriate committees; the appropriate level of the public debt and any recommended increase or decrease to be reported by the appropriate committees; and other matter deemed appropriate to the congressional budget. The first budget resolution may direct that budget authority and entitlement legislation not be enrolled until the second budget resolution and any required reconciliation are adopted or the first concurrent resolution may prescribe the use of some alternative procedure for the ensuing fiscal year.

The adoption date for the first budget resolution is scheduled almost four months after submission of the President’s budget, two months after House and Senate committees have transmitted their own views and estimates to the Budget Committees, one month after the resolution is reported by the Committees, and on the deadline set for the reporting of authorizing legislation. Your managers are determined to allow an ample interval between each of these key events in the budget process. The May 15 date means that Congress will be substantially informed of the substance of all authorizing legislation before it makes its initial budget determinations and that it will have received views and estimates bearing on the budget from of its standing committees. The May 15 date also allows sufficient time for the subsequent consideration of appropriation bills prior to the period set for reconciliation actions. By virtue of the requirement of section 303, the May 15 adoption date also is the effective date for the commencement of floor consideration of appropriation and entitlement measures and for this reason it is critical that all efforts be made to complete action on the first resolution by May 15.

The managers conceive of the first budget resolution as a major annual opportunity for considering budget policies and priorities. The budget process must combine on optimum amount of information in committee reports and other sources with attention to the key aggregates and priorities in the budget resolution. In accord with this approach, the conference substitute specifies that the budget resolution is to set forth total revenue, total budget authority, total spending, and total debt, with the budget authority and outlay amounts divided among broad functional categories.

The managers recognize that as it acquires experience with its new budget process, Congress may desire to establish additional procedures to facilitate the coordination of its separate budget and appropriation decisions. Section 301(b) authorizes Congress to require in the first budget resolution that appropriation and entitlement legislation not be enrolled until the reconciliation stage of the budget process is completed. Congress may devise any other procedure relating to the budget process and prescribe its implementation for the coming fiscal year.

It is intended that the authority to prescribe “any other procedure which is considered appropriate to carry out the purposes of this Act” applies only to the specific procedures for the enactment of budget authority and spending authority legislation for the coming fiscal year and not to the jurisdiction of committees, the authorization of budget authority, or to permanent changes in congressional procedure. The Budget Committees are directed to report to Congress on the implementation of such procedure no later than the end of the 95^th Congress.

Section 301(c). Views and Estimates of Other Committees

The House bill required certain designated budget-related committees to submit their views and recommendations on matters relating to the first budget resolution.. Other committees would have been able to submit their views and recommendations at their discretion. The Senate amendment provided for an annual report on fiscal policy and budget recommendation by the Joint Economic Committee. Every other standing committee and the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation would have submitted its views and estimates with respect to those matters in the budget resolution relating to its jurisdiction or functions.

The conference substitute mandates report by March 15 from every standing committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation to the House or Senate Budget Committee (to both Budget Committees in the case of joint committees). Each committee is to give its views and estimates on all matters in the budget resolution which relate to its jurisdiction or functions as well as an estimate of the budget authority and resulting outlays which it expects to be provided or authorized in legislation within its jurisdiction for the ensuing fiscal year. Any other committee may submit a report if it so desires. The Joint Economic Committee also is to report its views as to the fiscal policy appropriate to achieve the goals of the Employment Act of 1946.

Section 301(d). Hearings and Report

The House bill required Budget Committee hearings for both the first and second concurrent resolutions, and it provided that certain executive officials should be witnesses and that testimony also may be received from public witnesses. It also provided that the committee report on any budget resolution include information concerning the derivation of the amounts specified in the resolution. The Senate amendment required hearings only on the first budget resolution and it set a May 1 deadline for reporting the resolution. Among the matters to be included in the report were to be comparisons with the President’s budget, economic assumptions and program objectives, five-year projections of revenues, spending, and tax expenditures, explanations of changes in assistance to State and local governments, and crosswalk allocation of the amounts in the budget resolution among congressional committees and appropriations subcommittees.

The conference substitute provides that the Budget Committees shall conduct hearings in preparation of the first concurrent resolution and receive testimony from Members of Congress and from others as they deem desirable. The budget resolution is to be reported by April 15, allowing a full month for analysis, floor consideration, and conference. The report is to compare the committee’s revenue estimates and the budget authority and outlay levels in the concurrent resolution with the estimates and amounts in the President’s budget. It also is to provide an allocation of the recommended level of revenue by major sources, five-year budget projections, the economic assumptions and objectives of the budget resolution, a statement of any significant changes in Federal assistance to States and localities, and information concerning the basis on which the amounts in the budget resolution were determined and their relationship to other categories. The managers expect that the relationship with other budget categories will be shown in sufficient detail and with appropriate categories to enable Members of Congress and the public to ascertain the budget status of appropriations and other spending measures and to provide reliable basis for scorekeeping at all stages of the congressional budget process. Although they concur in the need for adequate crosswalk procedures, the managers do not consider it necessary to specify the particular type of crosswalk that is to be used in the report on the first budget resolution.

The conference substitute also provides for the report to contain a division of the functional allocations of budget authority and outlays contained in the concurrent resolution into more precise categories although this division may be included in the concurrent resolution. Each functional allocation is to be distributed between proposed and existing programs with the latter subdivided between permanent and regular appropriations. Those categories then are to be divided between controllable and other amounts.

[Joint Explanatory Statement on the Committee of Conference on H.R. 7130; (Committee Print), Committee on the Budget, House of Representatives, 93d Congress, 2d Session, Washington D.C. 1975.]

Current Section

Section 301. Annual Adoption of Concurrent Resolution on the Budget

Classification to the U.S. Code

This section is currently classified in the U.S. Code as 2 U.S.C. 632. It was formerly classified to 31 U.S.C. 1322.

Legislative History Notes

Public Laws

Pub. L. 93–344, §301, July 12, 1974, 88 Stat. 306. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 enacted this section into law.

Revision of title 31 of the u.s. code

Most of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was classified to Title 31 of the U.S. Code but has since been transferred either to title 2 (The Congress) or to a revised Title 31. See the following for more information:

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[BCR § 100e]