The Appropriations Process

The federal FY runs from October 1 through September 30. Planning for the upcoming FY begins as early as a year-and-a-half before the beginning of the FY.

President’s Budget Request

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Congressional Budget Resolution

Once the President submits a budget to Congress, the House and Senate Committees on the budget prepare a budget resolution. The budget resolution sets the overall framework for spending for a one-year fiscal term. The resolution includes a top-line spending figure for discretionary activities.

The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations use this figure as the maximum amount of funding that can be appropriated in the next FY. This new discretionary cap either increases or decreases the overall amount of funding that the Committees on Appropriations have available to allocate to Federal Agencies and Departments.

Even though the budget resolution establishes the overall spending level for the Fiscal Year, it does not go into detail as to how this funding will be allocated. The details are the job of the Committees on Appropriations, which begin their work after Congress agrees to a budget resolution.

The House and Senate then attempt to agree on a final budget resolution. Since this is a resolution and not a bill, it does not have to be signed into law by the president. Once Congress passes a budget resolution, the appropriations work begins.

Unlike the budget process, which is initiated by the Administration, the appropriations process rests entirely in the hands of Congress. After Congress passes a budget resolution, the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations divide the top-line figure for discretionary spending among their 12 respective appropriations subcommittees. The two appropriations subcommittees that provide the majority of funding for affordable housing and community development programs are the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) Subcommittee and the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food, and Drug Administration Subcommittee in each chamber of Congress. Each subcommittee must divide the amount of funding allocated by the Committee on Appropriations between the various priorities funded in its bill.

Each subcommittee must also determine the priority programs within each of their bills and provide sufficient funding for those priorities. In order to determine its priorities, the THUD subcommittees hold hearings, during which HUD or USDA officials testify regarding specific programs and initiatives included in the president’s request. Witnesses in these hearings provide a far greater level of detail on programmatic activity than witnesses testifying at budget committee hearings, which focus on overall proposed spending rather than particular activities.

After appropriations hearings are completed, the subcommittees craft their bills. The subcommittees then hold a markup of their draft bills and report out the bill they pass to their respective appropriations committees. The appropriations committees hold a markup of each bill and report out on those bills to Congress. The House and Senate must then negotiate final THUD and Agriculture bills. Once these bills are passed by Congress, they are signed into law by the President.

Senate & House Subcommittee	Areas of Responsibility
Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies	United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration
Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies	United States Department of Commerce, United States Department of Justice, and Science policy of the United States
Defense	United States Department of Defense
Energy and Water Development	United States Department of Energy and Water Development
Financial Services and General Government	United States Department of the Treasury and General Government (includes United States federal courts, the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and Washington, D.C. appropriations)
Homeland Security	United States Department of Homeland Security
Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies	United States Department of the Interior and the United States Environmental Protection Agency
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies	United States Department of Labor, United States Department of Health and Human Services, and United States Department of Education
Legislative Branch	United States Congress
Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies	Military Construction and United States Department of Veterans Affairs
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs	United States Department of State and Foreign Operations
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies	United States Department of Transportation and United States Department of Housing and Urban Development