When President Richard Nixon began to refuse to spend funds that Congress had allocated, they adopted a more formal means by which to challenge him.
The Act passed easily while the administration was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and was unwilling to provoke Congress.
As of 2019, there are 12 appropriations bills which need to be passed each fiscal year in order for continued discretionary spending to occur.
A continuing resolution is often passed if an appropriations bill has not been signed into law by the end of the fiscal year.
In principle, committees with jurisdiction to authorize programs make policy decisions, while the Appropriations Committees decide on funding levels, limited to a program's authorized funding level, though the amount may be any amount less than the limit.
The President's budget request constitutes an extensive proposal of the administration's intended revenue and spending plans for the following fiscal year.
However, the CBO also computes a current-policy baseline, which makes assumptions about, for instance, votes on tax cut sunset provisions.
The House and Senate each consider these budget resolutions, and are expected to pass them, possibly with amendments, by April 15.
This process was modified somewhat by the Budget Control Act of 2011, which is in effect though FY2021, which sets two overall caps for defense and nondefense spending that the 302(a) allocation must adhere to.
[11] The budget resolutions specify funding levels for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and their 12 subcommittees, establishing various budget totals, allocations, entitlements, and may include reconciliation instructions to designated House or Senate committees.
When there is a final budget, the spending available to each appropriations committee for the coming fiscal year is usually provided in the joint explanatory statement included in the conference report.
[12] A conference committee is typically required to resolve differences between House and Senate appropriation bills.
In practice, the separation between policy making and funding and the division between appropriations and authorization activities are imperfect.
[citation needed] In addition, policy language, which is legislative text changing permanent law, is included in appropriation measures.
The budget resolution may also specify that a reconciliation bill may be introduced, which is subject to restrictions in its content but cannot be filibustered in the Senate.
Apportionment is the process by which the Office of Management and Budget specifies the funding level for specific agencies and programs within the constraints of the appropriations bills after they have passed.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates costs of mandatory spending programs on a regular basis.
This is a convention rather than a substantive distinction, since the programs, such as Food Stamps, would continue to be funded even were the appropriation bill to be vetoed or otherwise not enacted.