Fedweek

The annual budget “resolution” is only an outline, not a law, and even its passage in the past has left uncertainty as to whether Congress would seriously try to put its assumptions into law. While the House has passed such plans consistently, it may not this year; there is a dispute over whether to stick to a late-2015 budget agreement that raised the spending limits for the upcoming fiscal year above those set in an earlier agreement. Even if the House acts, the Senate already has signaled that it might not move its own version and would simply rely on that agreement as the basis for writing appropriations bills. That can be done–in a number of years before last year the Senate did not produce a budget resolution. Some Republican leaders have said they want to bring all 12 of the regular appropriations bills to floor votes, which would be a rare feat and especially challenging this year, with a short working year scheduled. A more common outcome is a wrapup measure passed late in the year because only some or even none of those bills have reached enactment by then.