Summary
The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, reviewing all bills and resolutions on the budget, and monitoring agencies and programs funded outside of the budgetary process. The committee briefly operated as a select committee in 1919 and 1921, during the 66th and 67th United States Congresses, before being made a standing committee in 1974.
Senate counterpart: Budget Committee (Senate)
Chair: Jodey Arrington, Texas
Ranking Member: Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania
Majority Staff Director: Gary Andres
Minority Staff Director: Gregory Waring
Meeting Location: 204 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; (202) 226-7270
Featured Video: Markup of: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – 2/22/21
Web Links
OnAir Post: Budget Committee (House)
News
On Oct. 12, 2021, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth (D) announced he will not seek reelection in 2022. Yarmuth has represented Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District since assuming office in 2007 and is the only Democrat to represent the state in congress.
“Truth be told, I never expected to be in Congress this long. I always said I couldn’t imagine being here longer than 10 years,” Yarmuth said. “After every election, I was asked how long I intended to serve, and I never had an answer. Today, I do. This term will be my last.”
Yarmuth has served as chairman of the House Budget Committee since 2019 and was involved in drafting the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. He is also a member of the Committee on Education and Labor.
As of Oct. 2021, 25 members of Congress—five members of the U.S. Senate and twenty members of the U.S. House—have announced they will not seek re-election. Fourteen members—five senators and nine representatives—have announced their retirement. All five retiring Senate members are Republicans, and of the retiring House members, six are Democrats and three are Republicans.
(CNN)The House Budget Committee voted Saturday to pass the $3.5 trillion spending bill out of committee and send it to the House floor.
Bloomberg Government, – September 15, 2021
House committees worked into the night on components to their $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package that would enact the second half of President Joe Biden’s economic agenda.
Some panels worked past midnight, voting early this morning on some measures. The Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees are set to resume the final portions under their jurisdiction today, which is the deadline for all panels to submit their portions of the package to the House Budget Committee. The House and Senate are working to consider the final measure before the end of the month.
About
Jurisdiction
Responsibility
The Committee’s chief responsibility is to draft an annual concurrent resolution on the budget that provides a Congressional framework for spending and revenue levels, the federal surplus or deficit, and public debt. The budget resolution can contain reconciliation instructions directing authorizing committees to change laws in their jurisdiction to change revenues or mandatory spending levels. The resolution also can include mechanisms that aid in enforcing budget procedures in general or for particular purposes. In drafting the budget resolution, the Committee examines the President’s annual budget request, as well as economic and fiscal projections from the Congressional Budget Office. The Committee also has jurisdiction over budget process laws and tracks the budgetary effects of legislative action.
Membership
House rules require that the Budget Committee be comprised of five members from the Ways and Means Committee, five members from the Appropriations Committee, and one member from the Rules Committee. In addition, the Budget Committee must have one leadership designee from the Democratic and Republican caucuses. The Democratic Caucus limits Democrats, other than the member designated by leadership, from serving more than three out of five successive congresses. The Republican Conference does not have a term limit rule for its members serving on the Budget Committee. The number of members on the Budget Committee fluctuates each Congress and currently stands at 36 members. Further, the ratio of Democrats and Republicans is determined at the beginning of every Congress and is based on party strength. The House elects a new Chair at the beginning of each Congress.
Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction of the Budget Committee is derived from the 1974 Budget Act as well as House Rule X. The relevant sections are included below.
RULE X: ORGANIZATION OF COMMITTEES
Committees and their legislative jurisdictions
- There shall be in the House the following standing committees, each of which shall have the jurisdiction and related functions assigned by this clause and clauses 2, 3, and 4. All bills, resolutions, and other matters relating to subjects within the jurisdiction of the standing committees listed in this clause shall be referred to those committees, in accordance with clause 2 of rule XII, as follows:
…
(d) Committee on the Budget.
- Concurrent resolutions on the budget (as defined in section 3(4) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974), other matters required to be referred to the committee under titles III and IV of that Act, and other measures setting forth appropriate levels of budget totals for the United States Government.
- Budget process generally.
- Establishment, extension, and enforcement of special controls over the Federal budget, including the budgetary treatment of off-budget Federal agencies and measures providing exemption from reduction under any order issued under part C of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985.
Special oversight functions
- (c) The Committee on the Budget shall study on a continuing basis the effect on budget outlays of relevant existing and proposed legislation and report the results of such studies to the House on a recurring basis.
Additional functions of committees
- (b) The Committee on the Budget shall—
- review on a continuing basis the conduct by the Congressional Budget Office of its functions and duties;
- hold hearings and receive testimony from Members, Senators, Delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and such appropriate representatives of Federal departments and agencies, the general public, and national organizations as it considers desirable in developing concurrent resolutions on the budget for each fiscal year;
- make all reports required of it by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974;
- study on a continuing basis those provisions of law that exempt Federal agencies or any of their activities or outlays from inclusion in the Budget of the United States Government, and report to the House from time to time its recommendations for terminating or modifying such provisions;
- study on a continuing basis proposals designed to improve and facilitate the congressional budget process, and report to the House from time to time the results of such studies, together with its recommendations; and
- request and evaluate continuing studies of tax expenditures, devise methods of coordinating tax expenditures, policies, and programs with direct budget outlays, and report the results of such studies to the House on a recurring basis.
Budget Act responsibilities
(f)(1) Each standing committee shall submit to the Committee on the Budget not later than six weeks after the submission of the budget by the President, or at such time as the Committee on the Budget may request—
(A) its views and estimates with respect to all matters to be set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget for the ensuing fiscal year that are within its jurisdiction or functions; and
(B) an estimate of the total amounts of new budget authority, and budget outlays resulting there from, to be provided or authorized in all bills and resolutions within its jurisdiction that it intends to be effective during that fiscal year.
(2) The views and estimates submitted by the Committee on Ways and Means under subparagraph (1) shall include a specific recommendation, made after holding public hearings, as to the appropriate level of the public debt that should be set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget.
Source: Committee website
Members
Republican Members (Majority)
Chair: Jodey Arrington, Texas
Ralph Norman, South Carolina
Tom McClintock, California
Glenn Grothman, Wisconsin
Lloyd Smucker, Pennsylvania
Michael Burgess, Texas
Buddy Carter, Georgia
Ben Cline, Virginia
Bob Good, Virginia
Jack Bergman, Michigan
Drew Ferguson, Georgia
Chip Roy, Texas
Blake Moore, Utah
David Valadao, California
Ron Estes, Kansas
Stephanie Bice, Oklahoma
Lisa McClain, Michigan
Michelle Fischbach, Minnesota
Rudy Yakym, Indiana
Josh Brecheen, Oklahoma
Chuck Edwards, North Carolina
Democratic Members (Minority)
Ranking Member: Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania
Brian Higgins, New York
Jan Schakowsky, Illinois
Earl Blumenauer, Oregon
Dan Kildee, Michigan
Scott Peters, California
Barbara Lee, California
Lloyd Doggett, Texas
Jimmy Panetta, California
Jennifer Wexton, Virginia
Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas
Ilhan Omar, Minnesota
David Trone, Maryland
Becca Balint, Vermont
Bobby Scott, Virginia
Adriano Espaillat, New York
Issues
Budget Basics
Budget Execution & Impoundment
Coronavirus Resource Page
Costs of Climate Change
Fiscal Outlook
Health Policy
Immigration
Income Security
Republican Tax Law
Source: Committee website
Budgets
Source: Committee website
History
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 created the Budget Committee to allow Congress to develop an independent means to analyze the Presidential budget, reconcile it with congressional plans, and develop a fiscal policy of its own. The Act established budget committees in both houses of Congress, as well as a Congressional Budget Office to provide Congress with independent, nonpartisan analyses.
Although the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 outlined the purpose and jurisdiction of the committee, four subsequent acts further shaped the Committee’s work. The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Reaffirmation Act of 1987 (also known as the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Acts of 1985 and 1987) required a gradual reduction of the federal deficit by setting target deficits within six years. If the projected deficit exceeded the target, the act provided for automatic cuts (or “sequestration”) in the federal budget to meet the target. The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, a compromise measure between congressional leaders and President George H. W. Bush, nullified the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings legislation. It instead placed yearly caps on all discretionary spending, required that any net reduction in revenues must be accompanied by an equal reduction in entitlement spending, and provided pay-as-you-go provisions for any new spending or revenue.
The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 later established a new budget enforcement mechanism to control and respond to the on-budget deficit effects of direct spending and revenue legislation enacted into law. The law requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to track the budgetary effects of direct spending or revenue legislation on scorecards covering five- and ten-year periods. If the annual OMB report shows a debit on the scorecard for the budget year, OMB is required to issue a sequestration order to offset the overage. Finally, the Budget Control Act of 2011 implemented further budget process changes. It included a mechanism allowing for an increase in the debt limit and required deficit reduction of $1.2 trillion over nine years, which is being implemented solely through spending cuts; non-exempt direct spending is cut automatically by sequestration each year, and the Act’s initial discretionary spending caps were lowered to cut discretionary spending.
Source: Committee website
Contact
Email: General Email
Locations
Committee on the Budget
U.S. House of Representatives
204-E Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-6065
Phone: 202) 226-7200
Fax: (202) 225-9905
Web Links
- Government Site
- House Telephone Directory
- OnAir Post: Budget Committee (House)
- Senate Committee on the Budget
- Chair, Jodey Arrington
- Ranking Member, Brendan Boyle
- Wikipedia
- YouTube
- Medium
Legislation
Bills – Markups
Source: Committee website
Hearings
Source: Committee website
Subcommittees
No subcommittees.
More Information
Resources
Source: Committee website
Campaign Finance
Source: Open Secrets webpages
Legislation
Bills – Markups
Source: Committee website
Hearings
Source: Committee website
