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This report briefly discusses private bills, which are bills providing benefits to specified individuals (including corporate bodies). Individuals sometimes request relief through private law when administrative or legal remedies are exhausted, but Congress seems more often to view private legislation as appropriate when no other remedy is available, and when enactment would, in a broad sense, afford equity.

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This report provides a select chronology and resource guide concerning congressional and presidential actions and documents pertaining to the budget for FY 2005, which runs from October 1st, 2004, through September 30, 2005. The budget actions and documents referenced in this report relate to the President's FY 2005 budget submission, the FY 2005 Congressional Budget Resolution, reconciliation legislation, debt-limit legislation, and FY 2005 appropriation measures.

Throughout its history, Congress has engaged in oversight of the executive branch — the review, monitoring, and supervision of the implementation of public policy. The first several Congresses inaugurated such important oversight techniques as special investigations, reporting requirements, resolutions of inquiry, and use of the appropriations process to review executive activity. Contemporary developments, moreover, have increased the legislature’s capacity and capabilities to check on and check the Executive. Public laws and congressional rules have measurably enhanced Congress’s implied power under the Constitution to conduct oversight.

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