Congressional Budget Act of 1974

Budget Act of 1974

Long title	An Act to establish a new congressional budget process; to establish Committees on the Budget in each House; to establish a Congressional Budget Office; to establish a procedure providing congressional control over the impoundment of funds by the executive branch; and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 93rd United States Congress
Effective	July 12, 1974
Citations
Public law	93-344
Statutes at Large	88 Stat. 297
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 7130 by Al Ullman (D-OR) on April 18, 1973 Committee consideration by House Rules Passed the House on December 5, 1973 (386-23) Passed the Senate on March 22, 1974 (80-0, in lieu of S. 1541) Reported by the joint conference committee on June 11, 1974; agreed to by the House on June 18, 1974 (401-6) and by the Senate on June 21, 1974 (75-0) Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 12, 1974
Major amendments
Budget Control Act of 2011
United States Supreme Court cases
Train v. City of New York

The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (Pub.L. 93–344, 88 Stat. 297, 2 U.S.C. §§ 601–688) is a United States federal law that governs the role of the Congress in the United States budget process.

Titles I through IX of the law are also known as the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Title II created the Congressional Budget Office. Title III governs the procedures by which Congress annually adopts a budget resolution, a concurrent resolution that is not signed by the President, which sets fiscal policy for the Congress. This budget resolution sets limits on revenues and spending that may be enforced in Congress through procedural objections called points of order. The budget resolution can also specify that a budget reconciliation bill be written, which the Congress will then consider under expedited procedures.

The act has been amended several times, including provisions in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The original 1974 legislation, however, remains the basic blueprint for budget procedures today.

The limitation on debate that prevents a budget reconciliation bill from being filibustered in the Senate (requiring a three-fifths vote to end debate) led to frequent attempts to attach amendments unrelated to the budget to the reconciliation bills. In response, the budget reconciliation acts of 1985, 1986, and 1990 adopted what is known as the Byrd Rule (Section 313 of the Budget Act). The Byrd Rule allows Senators to raise points of order (which can be waived by a three-fifths majority of Senators)) against provisions in the reconciliation bills that are "extraneous." Provisions are considered extraneous if they:

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