Committee Allocation in the United States

Committee Allocation in the Federal Budget Process

Meaning of Committee Allocation in the congressional and executive budget processes (GAO source): The distribution of total proposed new budget authority and outlays, as set forth in the concurrent resolution on the budget, among the congressional committees according to their jurisdictions. The allocations are set forth in the joint explanatory statement of managers included in the conference report on the congressional budget resolution. House and Senate committees receive allocations of total new budget authority and total outlays. House committees also receive allocations of total entitlement authority, and Senate committees also receive allocations of Social Security outlays. Allocations are committee specific, but not program specific.

Under section 302(a) of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. § 633(a)), committee allocations are limits, not simply recommendations. (See also Allocation; Concurrent Resolution on the Budget; Entitlement Authority.)

Resources

See Also

• Federal Appropriations
• Entries about the United States Budget Process in the Encyclopedia (including Committee Allocation)
• Public Debt

Further Reading

• Legislatures and the budget process: the myth of fiscal control

  (J Wehner, 2010)

• Reconcilable Differences?: Congress, the Budget Process, and the Deficit (JB Gilmour, 1990)
• Fiscal institutions and fiscal performance

  (JM Poterba, J von Hagen, 2008)