Budget and Appropriations
A Very Busy Lame Duck?
Katina Slavkova | December 1, 2022
Why walk when you can fly? As the 117th Congress pushes into its lame duck session, party leaders consider an ambitious array of bills, and historically, it’s not unusual for such sessions to feature major legislative items. While lame ducks of the past decade or two have typically been marked by
Rest In Peace Congressional Budget Process
Josh Huder | June 6, 2022
Sometime in the last ten years the congressional budget process died. The precise moment is hard to pinpoint because it is not totally – just mostly — dead. But today, only a hollow version of the process still exists. Partisan majorities pass shell budgets to trigger reconciliation in the hopes
The Defense Budget: Current Status and Core Issues
Katina Slavkova | May 3, 2022
Defense officials are already busy making the obligatory annual rounds on Capitol Hill in support of the President’s preferred spending priorities. The current steady pace of congressional hearings might suggest that Congress is methodically working its way towards a timely passage of the defense budget. But this burst of activity on the
Appropriations Update and Continuing Resolutions
Matt Glassman | March 2, 2022
Where are we with government funding? It’s déjà vu all over again, as Congress passes another Continuing Resolution (CR). The FY2022 congressional appropriations process—which will provide funding for the federal government from October 1, 2021 until September 30, 2022—is once again delaying final action. After its failure to enact full year appropriations bills by October
A Familiar Landmine: The Looming Debt Ceiling
Laura Blessing | June 4, 2021
With all the other tumult going on in our politics, one might be forgiven for not focusing on a familiar landmine: the debt ceiling. After all, since its regularized inclusion in the appropriations process a decade ago, Congress has shifted from extending the debt limit to a specific amount
Stretching Processes and Avoiding Reform: Senate Reconciliation and Filibuster
Josh Huder | April 8, 2021
News dropped Monday the Senate Parliamentarian would allow Democrats to “revise” the budget resolution for fiscal year 2021. This is an important guidance because it would enable Democrats to pursue another round of reconciliation – a process outlined in the 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act allowing for Senate passage of budget-related
The 116th and the 117th Congresses: It’s bad but probably not as bad as you think
Josh Huder | December 3, 2020
Historic dysfunction may well be the credo of American politics in the 21st century. Congress appears hopelessly gridlocked. Pundits have run out of adjectives to describe the polarization plaguing American politics. And maybe worse, the mixed results of the 2020 Election defy easy analysis. The House Democratic majority lost seats, the Senate Republican majority
Lessons of Economic Recessions
Laura Blessing | May 6, 2020
In politics, we often learn the lesson of the last time. Our current economic troubles prompt comparison to previous episodes, particularly the 2007-2009 Great Recession. While the past six weeks may seem like an eternity to many Americans, we are early in the government response to this crisis, particularly its economic effects. The future
The Appropriations Process from the Perspective of a Congressional Staffer
Mark Harkins | March 10, 2020
Welcome to appropriations season on Capitol Hill. With the President’s budget officially submitted last month it is now up to Congress to decide what to keep, what to discard, and what to enhance. I want to focus on the third category, and I offer these thoughts from the perspective of someone with nearly two
Appropriations Update
Mark Harkins | November 4, 2019
Here we go again. To keep the government funded past the start of the fiscal year on October 1st, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that lasts until November 21st. Over the last decade, during non-election years, it has taken, on average, SIX months into the fiscal year before all 12 appropriations bills have been