Key Issues and Threats in the House Budget Process Debate

Publication Date: June 2004

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Richard Kogan; Robert Greenstein

Research Area: Banking and finance

Keywords: Federal budget; Fiscal future; Economic projections; Tax code

Type: Report

Abstract:

The House is expected to consider major budget process legislation in June. The legislation that will come to the House floor (H.R. 3973), which the House Budget Committee reported in March, would reinstitute pay-as-you-go rules for entitlement programs but exempt tax cuts from those rules. The legislation also would establish five-year caps on discretionary programs. These caps would likely force substantial reductions in domestic discretionary programs in the years ahead.

The Budget Committee’s bill could be expanded. Other measures could be added in the House Rules Committee, which has jurisdiction over some aspects of the budget process. In addition, a number of amendments could be offered on the House floor.