HR7295-119

What This Bill Does

The Comprehensive Congressional Budget Act responds to rising deficits, debt, unreviewed direct spending and revenue policy, outdated authorizations, and trust fund depletion by creating a more comprehensive annual congressional budget process. It defines an annual budget Act as an Act itemizing all federal budget authority and revenue through appropriations and other committee contributions. It rewrites the timetable so committees submit views and estimates, spending and revenue line items, and recommended changes before the House Budget Committee reports an annual budget Act by June 10 and the House completes action by June 30. If Congress misses the April 15 budget resolution deadline, Budget Committee chairs must report baseline levels within three legislative days. Authorizing committees must compile direct spending and revenue projections and legislation for recommended policy changes, while budget committees return inconsistent submissions. The House Budget Committee must include appropriations subcommittee authority and all other committee line items without substantive revision, using baseline line items for committees that fail to submit. The bill also adjusts budget-related points of order and removes an exclusion for certain off-budget activities other than Social Security and disability trust funds.

Who Benefits and How

House and Senate Budget Committees benefit because they receive a statutory process for assembling appropriations, direct spending, revenue projections, and committee policy changes into one annual budget Act. Rank-and-file Members and authorizing committees benefit from a more regular route to propose fiscal changes rather than leaving most annual fiscal action to appropriations bills. Taxpayers and fiscal watchdogs benefit from line-item budget visibility across spending accounts, revenue policies, tax expenditures, and trust-fund pressures. Congressional leadership benefits from a calendar that ties committee work, reconciliation, and the annual budget Act to set dates before the fiscal year starts.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Appropriations committees, authorizing committees, the Senate Finance Committee, and House Ways and Means Committee must submit line items, baseline projections, revenue statements, tax expenditure budgets, and policy-change legislation on a compressed schedule. Budget Committees must police consistency with the budget resolution, return inconsistent submissions, include baseline line items when committees fail to submit, and report the annual budget Act by June 10 in the House. Federal programs and revenue policies face more regular congressional review, and committees may lose flexibility because budget-related legislation is tied to adopting a concurrent budget resolution and using the annual budget Act process.

Key Provisions

• Defines an annual budget Act that itemizes federal budget authority and revenue through appropriations and other committee contributions.
• Revises the budget timetable to require committee views, line-item submissions, reconciliation action, House Budget Committee reporting by June 10, and House action by June 30.
• Requires authorizing committees to submit direct spending and revenue projections plus legislation for recommended policy changes to Budget Committees.
• Directs the House Budget Committee to include appropriations authority and other committee line items without substantive revision, using baseline line items when committees fail to submit.