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(Circulation. 1996;93:1944-1945.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Shorthand Guide to the Congressional Budget Mess

Richard S. Hamburg, MPA; Scott D. Ballin, JD

From the American Heart Association Office of Public Affairs, Washington, DC.

Correspondence to Scott D. Ballin, JD, Office of Public Affairs, AHA, Ste 810, 1150 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036.

	Introduction

 
What do the balanced budget, Medicare, tax cuts, and healthcare reform all have in common? During the 104th Congress, each has been addressed under the proposed omnibus budget reconciliation legislation.

Many readers may be lost when it comes to understanding the workings of the arcane federal budget process. Trying to untangle the web to ascertain how much money has been allocated the National Institutes of Health (NIH) can be deeply confusing. The following may be useful as preparation for the fiscal year 1997 process.

	The Budget and the Budget Reconciliation Process

 
Early each year, the President submits a budget to Congress, basically an outline of the administration's fiscal policy. The Congress then authors a budget resolution containing targets for the deficit, revenues, and spending totals for 20 government functions for a 5-year period.

In addition, the Federal Budget Act provides for a process called budget reconciliation under which Congress conforms tax and spending legislation to the levels set forth in the budget resolution. Changes recommended by committees pursuant to reconciliation instructions are incorporated into a reconciliation bill or resolution. In recent years, the reconciliation measure also has served as a vehicle for attaching authorizing legislation.

Congressional Quarterly refers to the reconciliation process as one "in which tax laws and entitlement programs are changed, or reconciled to achieve deficit-reduction targets set in the congressional budget resolution."

Prior to 1995, passage of the most recent budget reconciliation bill was in 1993. It contained a controversial mix of tax increases and spending cuts, totaling $433 billion over 5 years.

In . . . [Full Text of this Article]