What is the Federal Budget Process?

00:07:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-49WE1xMGeI

Resumen

TLDRThe federal budget process involves five key steps: the president submits a budget request, Congress drafts and votes on budget resolutions, appropriations bills are created, both chambers vote on these bills, and finally, the president signs them into law. This process was established to ensure Congress has more control over budget decisions, especially after concerns about presidential power in 1974. The video details how the president gathers input from various departments, how Congress resolves differences between the House and Senate, and the role of committees in shaping the budget. It emphasizes the complexity and potential for disagreement in the process, which can lead to lengthy negotiations.

Para llevar

  • 📝 The federal budget process has five main steps.
  • 👔 The president's budget request reflects priorities.
  • 🏛️ Congress writes and votes on budget resolutions.
  • 🔄 Compromise is key when the House and Senate disagree.
  • 📜 Appropriations bills detail how to spend the budget.

Cronología

  • 00:00:00 - 00:07:00

    The federal budget process involves five main steps: the president's budget request, Congress's budget resolutions, the marking up of appropriations bills by subcommittees, voting on these bills, and the president's final approval. This process was established to ensure Congress has more control over budget decisions, stemming from concerns in 1974 about presidential power. The president's budget request reflects priorities based on input from various government departments, while Congress creates its own budget resolutions that may differ from the president's request. If disagreements arise, a Conference Committee reconciles the differences into a final resolution. Subsequently, appropriations bills are drafted by committees and subcommittees, which detail how funds will be allocated. These bills undergo a mark-up process where amendments can be made before being voted on by the full House and Senate. Finally, both chambers must agree on the same version of the bills for them to pass, which can be a lengthy and complex process.

Mapa mental

Vídeo de preguntas y respuestas

  • What are the main steps in the federal budget process?

    The main steps are: 1) President's budget request, 2) Congress writes budget resolutions, 3) Appropriations bills are marked up, 4) House and Senate vote on bills, 5) President signs the bills.

  • Why are there so many steps in the budget process?

    There are many steps to ensure Congress has control over the budget, as established by a law passed in 1974.

  • What is a budget resolution?

    A budget resolution is Congress's plan for government spending, which may differ from the president's budget request.

  • What is the role of the Appropriations Committee?

    The Appropriations Committee focuses on how to spend the money in the budget and is made up of smaller subcommittees.

  • What happens if the House and Senate disagree on budget resolutions?

    They can either pass each other's version, compromise, or go to a Conference Committee to create a final resolution.

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Desplazamiento automático:
  • 00:00:02
    - [Narrator] The federal budget process
  • 00:00:03
    is the way the federal government
  • 00:00:05
    decides how to spend money.
  • 00:00:07
    There are five main steps.
  • 00:00:09
    One, the president sends a budget request to Congress.
  • 00:00:14
    Two, Congress writes and votes on budget resolutions.
  • 00:00:18
    Three, House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees
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    mark up bills.
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    Four, the House and Senate vote on appropriations bills
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    and turn them into one big bill,
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    and five, the president signs
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    all of the different appropriations bills
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    and the budget becomes law.
  • 00:00:38
    Why are there so many steps in the budget process?
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    In 1974, Congress was worried
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    that the president had too much power.
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    Congress did not like how the president spent tax money.
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    Congress passed a law to give Congress more control
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    over the budget than the president.
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    Let's go over each step
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    of the budget process in more detail.
  • 00:01:01
    One, the president's budget request
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    is what the president wants the budget to be.
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    A budget request shows what the president
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    thinks is important to spend money on.
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    The president starts by listening to budget requests
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    from different departments in the government,
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    like the Department of Education or the Department of Labor.
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    Each department tells the president
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    how much money they need.
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    The president listens to all of the departments.
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    Then the president decides how much money
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    to ask Congress for in the budget request.
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    The president's budget request needs to say
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    how much money the president wants to spend,
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    how much money the government wants to get from taxes,
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    if the government is going to spend
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    more or less money than it gets from taxes.
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    After the president has listened to all the departments
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    and answered these important questions
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    in the budget request,
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    they send the budget request to Congress for review.
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    Two, Congress writes and votes on a budget resolution.
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    Congress is made of two parts,
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    the House of Representatives and the Senate.
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    Sometimes we will call the House of Representatives
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    just the House.
  • 00:02:09
    After Congress gets the president's budget request,
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    the House and the Senate write and vote
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    on their own separate budget resolutions.
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    A budget resolution is the House and Senate's own plan
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    for how the government will spend money.
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    Sometimes, the president and Congress
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    disagree on what is important.
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    That means that the budget resolutions from Congress
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    can end up looking very different
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    from the president's budget request.
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    While the president's budget is an important starting point,
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    it is up to the House and Senate to make final decisions
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    about what important things
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    will be included in the federal budget.
  • 00:02:43
    If the House and the Senate disagree on what is important,
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    they will write different budget resolutions.
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    If the House and the Senate
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    write different budget resolutions, they have three choices.
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    The Senate can get rid of their own bill
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    and pass the House's version,
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    the House can get rid of their own bill
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    and pass the Senate's version, or they can compromise.
  • 00:03:06
    When the House and the Senate compromise on a bill,
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    it is called going to conference.
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    The people who meet are called the Conference Committee.
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    The Conference Committee
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    looks at the two different budget resolutions
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    from the House and the Senate.
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    Then, the Conference Committee turns them both
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    into one final budget resolution
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    for the House and Senate to vote on.
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    If the Senate and House both vote for the budget resolution,
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    then that budget resolution passes.
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    But the budget resolution is just a plan.
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    Passing the budget resolution doesn't mean anything happens.
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    It's up to the appropriations bills
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    to explain how to actually spend money in the budget.
  • 00:03:46
    Three, the House and the Senate write appropriations bills.
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    The House and the Senate
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    both have a lot of small groups called committees.
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    Committees pay special attention to different topics,
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    like education or the army.
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    The committee that pays attention to how to spend the money
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    in the budget is called the Appropriations Committee.
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    The House and the Senate
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    both have their own Appropriations Committees.
  • 00:04:11
    The Appropriations Committee
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    is made of even smaller groups called subcommittees.
  • 00:04:16
    Right now, there are 12 subcommittees.
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    Subcommittees focus on different things
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    that the federal government does.
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    Each subcommittee has a meeting
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    where they talk to different people
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    in charge of different parts of the federal government.
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    Then, each subcommittee writes a bill
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    to tell the Appropriations Committee what they decided.
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    The Appropriations Committee marks up the bills
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    based on what the subcommittees decide.
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    Mark-up means that the committee
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    can make changes to the bills.
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    If someone on the committee wants to make a change,
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    the change is called an amendment.
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    Once the Appropriations Committee is done making changes,
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    they vote on the bill.
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    If the bill gets enough votes,
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    the appropriations bill goes on to the next step.
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    The Appropriations Committee
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    must do this whole process 12 times,
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    once for each of the 12 different subcommittees.
  • 00:05:08
    The House and the Senate
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    both have their own separate Appropriations Committees.
  • 00:05:13
    They both use the same process
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    for writing appropriations bills,
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    but they might not do it at the same time.
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    Usually, the House goes first.
  • 00:05:21
    Four, the Senate and House
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    vote on all of the different appropriations bills.
  • 00:05:27
    Once the House Appropriations Bills Committee
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    has voted for a bill,
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    the whole House gets a chance to vote on the bill.
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    If the bill gets enough votes in the House,
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    then it goes to the Senate.
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    Sometimes, the Senate writes their own bills
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    while the House is still writing the House bill.
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    Usually, the Senate waits for the House
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    to finish their appropriations bills first.
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    When the House appropriations bills are ready,
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    the Appropriation Subcommittees in the Senate
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    look at the House appropriations bills.
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    The Senate Appropriation Subcommittees
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    decide if they want to make any changes.
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    Then, they give the new version of the bills
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    to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
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    The bills get marked up again,
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    which means that the Senate Appropriations Committee
  • 00:06:10
    can make more changes.
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    The Senate Appropriations Committee votes on the bills,
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    and finally, the whole Senate
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    gets a chance to vote for the bills.
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    In order for a bill to pass, the Senate and the House
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    both have to vote on the same version.
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    If one side makes changes to the bill,
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    the other side has to vote for the bill again.
  • 00:06:31
    It can take a very long time
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    to have both the House and Senate agree on all the bills.
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    It is normal if this sounds confusing and complicated.
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    It is confusing and complicated,
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    even for people who have been in Congress for a long time.
  • 00:06:46
    To learn more about the federal budget and how it works,
  • 00:06:49
    visit AutisticAdvocacy.org/Budget
  • 00:06:52
    for the other videos in this series.
  • 00:06:55
    Produced by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.
Etiquetas
  • federal budget
  • budget process
  • president
  • Congress
  • appropriations
  • budget resolution
  • House of Representatives
  • Senate
  • Appropriations Committee
  • government spending