Budget Resolutions

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 created the budget resolution as Congress's own fiscal plan, a counterpart to the President's budget, along with the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office. Because it is a concurrent resolution, it is adopted by both chambers but not sent to the President and does not become law. It is supposed to be adopted by April 15 each year and covers at least five fiscal years, often 10.

The resolution sets totals for spending, revenue, the deficit, and the debt, and divides discretionary spending into allocations for the Appropriations Committees, known as 302(a) allocations, which those committees then divide among their subcommittees. These limits are enforced through points of order against bills that exceed them. A budget resolution may also include reconciliation instructions directing committees to change laws to meet spending or revenue targets, which allows the resulting reconciliation bill to pass the Senate by simple majority without a filibuster.

In many recent years Congress has not adopted a budget resolution at all, relying instead on deeming resolutions or provisions in other laws to set spending limits, and the resolution is increasingly adopted mainly to unlock reconciliation. Congress adopted a fiscal 2025 budget resolution in April 2025 whose reconciliation instructions led to the law signed on July 4, 2025. Supporters say the budget resolution gives Congress a way to set fiscal priorities and enforce discipline, while critics say it has become a partisan vehicle for reconciliation rather than a real budget plan.