The President's Budget

Until 1921 there was no unified executive budget, and agencies sent their funding requests directly to Congress. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 required the President to submit an annual budget for the whole government and created the Bureau of the Budget, now the Office of Management and Budget, to prepare it, and President Warren Harding sent the first such budget in December 1921. By law the budget is due on or after the first Monday in January and no later than the first Monday in February.

Preparation begins more than a year in advance, as agencies submit requests to OMB, which reviews them against the President's priorities, negotiates with agencies, and settles final figures. The budget includes proposed funding for every agency and program, estimates of mandatory spending and revenue, projections of deficits and debt over 10 years, and proposals for tax and policy changes, published in several volumes along with detailed justifications that agencies send to the Appropriations Committees. It also lays out the President's economic assumptions.

The budget has no legal force: Congress may ignore it, and lawmakers often call a President's budget dead on arrival when they disagree with it. It matters as a statement of priorities and a starting point for negotiations, and as a source of detailed data. Presidents increasingly submit budgets late, sometimes months after the deadline, and in 2025 the administration released a shortened fiscal 2026 proposal on May 2 calling for deep cuts in nondefense spending, followed by detailed agency requests later. Supporters say the President should set the government's fiscal agenda, while critics say Congress, which holds the power of the purse, too often defers to it or ignores it entirely.