How does the federal budget get made?

#The president’s budget is a request

Federal law requires the president to submit a budget by the first Monday in February for the fiscal year that starts the next October 1. Agencies typically send their requests to the Office of Management and Budget in late summer or early fall, and it reviews them for the president. The Congressional Research Service describes the result as “only a request to Congress.” It tells Congress the president’s priorities, but it does not spend or raise any money.

#The Budget Act of 1974 and the budget resolution

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act, Public Law 93-344, became law on July 12, 1974. It created the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office. It set up a congressional budget process, with a timetable in 2 U.S.C. § 631, and procedures on the impoundment of funds by the executive branch. It also set the current fiscal year, which has run from October 1 through September 30 since fiscal 1977.

The centerpiece is a concurrent resolution on the budget, with a target date of April 15. It sets overall levels and priorities for the coming years. It is not a law: the president cannot sign or veto it, and no money can be raised or spent under it. It can also start reconciliation, an expedited process for changing revenue and direct spending laws. When the chambers do not agree on a resolution, they have often used “deeming” measures to set enforceable levels instead.

#Appropriations

The Constitution bars drawing money from the Treasury except under “Appropriations made by Law.” The House and Senate Appropriations Committees handle the regular annual bills. As of a 2016 Congressional Research Service report, each committee had 12 subcommittees, each responsible for one regular bill and paired with its counterpart in the other chamber. These bills pass and go to the president like other bills, and most of the money they provide is available for one fiscal year.

If regular bills are not enacted by October 1, Congress can pass a continuing resolution, or CR, for temporary funding. A CR can last from a single day to the rest of the fiscal year. If neither is in place, a funding gap occurs. Agencies are generally prohibited from spending in a gap and may be directed to begin a shutdown of affected activities.

#Mandatory versus discretionary

Discretionary spending is set each year through appropriations. Mandatory spending, also called direct spending, is typically set in permanent law by eligibility rules and benefit formulas, so it continues until Congress changes that law. Some programs, called appropriated entitlements, run through appropriations bills, yet the amounts are determined by their authorizing law.

The Office of Management and Budget reports these fiscal 2025 outlays, out of $7,011.1 billion in all.

• Mandatory: $4,165.9 billion, including Social Security ($1,575.1 billion), Medicare ($987.7 billion) and Medicaid ($668.1 billion).
• Discretionary: $1,875.1 billion, split into $893.6 billion for national defense and $981.5 billion for nondefense.
• Net interest: $970.1 billion.

#A worked example: fiscal 2024

Fiscal 2024 ran from October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024. Its dates show how the schedule and practice can differ.

• March 9, 2023: GovInfo dates the president’s fiscal 2024 budget to this day. The statutory date was February 6, 2023.
• September 30, 2023: A first CR, Public Law 118-15, funds agencies through November 17.
• November 17, 2023: A second CR becomes Public Law 118-22.
• January 19, 2024: A third becomes Public Law 118-35.
• March 1, 2024: A fourth becomes Public Law 118-40.
• March 9, 2024: Six regular appropriations acts become law together in Public Law 118-42.
• March 23, 2024: The other six become law in Public Law 118-47.

This pattern is common. The Congressional Research Service reported in March 2025 that Congress enacted at least one CR in all but three of the 49 fiscal years since fiscal 1977, and that all regular appropriations were on time in only four of them: fiscal 1977, 1989, 1995 and 1997.