Federal Budget & Kids

Recent Actions on Federal Funding

Fiscal Year 2009 “Omnibus” Appropriations bill: President Obama signed an FY2009 omnibus appropriations bill (on March 11), to conclude annual program-by-program spending decisions (including decisions on annually-appropriated programs that benefit children) for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2008. Click here to read an analysis of what this bill means for children.
Economic Stimulus Bill: President Obama signed into law (on February 17) the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, providing new federal funding over two years (beyond the annually-appropriated funding and current ongoing funding), for a variety of purposes, including several children’s investments. Click here to see how children will benefit from this.
President’s Fiscal Year 2010 Budget Proposal: President Obama presented his FY2010 budget blueprint proposal to Congress (on February 26), outlining “big picture” federal budget numbers for the fiscal year beginning October 1, 2009. Click here to see what President Obama is proposing for children.

Where the Process Stands Now

The House and Senate Budget Committees are drafting their versions of the Fiscal Year 2010 Congressional budget resolutions, which provide overall “big picture” totals on spending and revenues, but NOT program-by-program spending decisions.

House and Senate Budget Committees vote on (“mark-up”) their versions of the Fiscal Year 2010 Congressional budget resolution (expected the week of March 23rd).

The Next Steps in the Process

During the week of March 30, the full House of Representatives is expected to debate and vote on their version of the Fiscal Year 2010 budget resolution, and the full Senate is expected to debate and vote on their version of the budget resolution.
After both chambers have passed an Fiscal Year 2010 budget resolution, selected Representatives and Senators negotiate a “conference report” to reconcile any differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget resolution.
The “conference report” must be approved by both the House and Senate to become binding – that is expected to occur in April.

The Appropriations Process

Once a final budget resolution is adopted by both the House and Senate, the appropriations committees begin their work of appropriating funds to all of the annually-appropriated federal programs (markups often begin in early June).
After the House and Senate have agreed to a particular appropriations bill (there are a dozen different appropriations bills, with each bill including the annual funding for several agencies), it is sent to the President to be signed into law.
If Congress does not complete an appropriations bill or a set of bills by September 30, the Congress must pass “continuing resolutions” in order for those federal programs to continue operating until the appropriations bills are signed into law.

Ongoing (“Mandatory”) Funding and Taxes

A budget resolution may also call for changes in ongoing mandatory funding (such as Medicare or Medicaid), and revenues/taxes, through a process called “reconciliation”.
If the budget calls for “reconciliation” legislation, then the Committees with authority over those mandatory programs and tax decisions (the “authorizing committees”) develop the legislation, which is then bundled together by the Budget Committees, considered on the House and Senate floors, and (once House/Senate differences have been reconciled), passed in identical form and sent to the President for enactment.