Budget Process Reform

The current Congressional budget process was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. After 42 years, the process is due for a much-needed update. The House Budget Committee has called for an overhaul of the Congressional Budget Act and a return to Constitutional principles. A new process should reinforce a healthy balance of power between the different branches of government, so Congress restores its power of the purse and improves its oversight of the Executive Branch’s activities. The process should be modernized to give Congress tools to better and more completely understand how policies will impact the nation’s fiscal and economic trajectory.

Budget Process Reform in the 114th Congress

On November 30, 2016, the House Budget Committee released a discussion draft on a proposed rewrite of the Congressional budget process. Below are links to the discussion draft, a summary of selected provisions, and a speech Chairman Price gave at the Brookings Institution updating the American people on the Committee’s reform efforts.