Title III of the Congressional Budget Act (CBA) of 1974 (P.L. 93-344), as amended, establishes the points of order that are used to enforce congressional budget procedures and substantive provisions of a budget resolution. These points of order prohibit certain congressional actions and consideration of certain legislation.

A PRIMARY AVENUE FOR EXERCISING CONGRESS'S POWER OF THE purse is the authorization and appropriation of federal spending to carry out government activities. While the power over appropriations is granted to Congress by the U.S. Constitution, the authorization-appropriation process is derived from House and Senate rules. The formal process consists of two sequential steps:

The congressional budget process, in the broadest sense, consists of the consideration and adoption of spending, revenue, and debt-limit legislation within the framework of an annual concurrent resolution on the budget. Under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (TitlesI-IX of P.L. 93-344, 2 U.S.C. 601-688), the House and SenateBudgetCommittees develop the budget resolution, assisted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Two groups -- the President's Task Force on U.S. International Broadcasting (December 1991) and the Commission on Broadcasting to the People's Republic of China (September 1992) -- have both recommended that the United States increase broadcasting to China and other Communist countries in Asia, although the panels split on significant points for implementing their recommendations

This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development Appropriations. It summarizes the current legislative status on the bill, its scope, major issues, funding levels, and related legislative activity. The report lists the key CRS staff relevant to the issues covered and related CRS products.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development Appropriations.

Appropriations are one part of a complex federal budget process that includes budget resolutions, appropriations (regular, supplemental, and continuing) bills, rescissions, and budget reconciliation bills. This report is a guide to one of the 13 regular appropriations bills that Congress passes each year. It is designed to supplement the information provided by the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Energy and Water Development Appropriations.

This is a report about the USDA budget for food and nutrition programs in the fiscal year 1997.

This report provides information about the Congressional Oversight of implementation and administration has occurred through out the history of United States government under the constitution.

Congressional oversight of policy implementation and administration, which has occurred throughout the U.S. government experience under the Constitution, takes a variety of forms and utilizes various techniques. These range from specialized investigations by select committees to annual appropriations hearings, and from informal communications between Members or congressional staff and executive personnel to the use of extra congressional mechanisms, such as offices of inspector general and study commissions. Oversight, moreover, is supported by a variety of authorities—the Constitution, public law, and chamber and committee rules—and is an integral part of the system of checks and balances between the legislature and the executive

Congressional Research Service: Issue Brief October 20, 1993 Chinese Missile and Nuclear Proliferation: Issues for Congress By Shirley A. Kan, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Divisi

This report consists of a brief introduction to the federal budget process.

This report provides a brief introduction to the federal budget process. Key budget concepts and terminology are defined and explained. The separate procedures that make up the federal budget process are identified and their salient features described. While a complete understanding of federal budgeting probably can be obtained only after much observation and study of the process in operation, broad exposure to its rudiments is a useful first step. Various resources “for additional reading” are identified at the end of this report, which the reader may find helpful in exploring the subject in greater depth.

President Clinton signed two reconciliation acts into law in August 1997 as part of a plan to balance the budget by FY2002. To ensure compliance with this goal, enforcement procedures were included in one of the acts in a title referred to separately as the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1997. The BEA of 1997 extends procedures under the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA) of 1990 through FY2002

This report contains the summary and legislative history of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1997.

This report briefly discusses federal funding gaps. The routine activities of most federal agencies are funded annually by one or more of the 13 regular appropriations bills. When action on the regular appropriations bills is delayed, a continuing resolution (CR) is used to provide interim funding. During the past 48 years, CRs have been enacted for all but four fiscal years (FY1953, 1989, 1995, and 1997). For some fiscal years, a series of as many as six CRs have been enacted.

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This report examines the current alcohol fuels Federal tax incentives. Part I describes the statutory provisions of each of the five incentives. Part II examines the major public policy and economic issues of concern to policymakers: potential revenue effects, effectiveness, and economic efficiency.

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EPA appropriations are included in the annual VA-HUD-Independent Agencies Appropriation Bill. Two major issues were whether Superfund cleanups should be accelerated in the absence of statutory reforms and whether the requested state assistance funds are adequate. Because the House and Senate were in agreement on not granting the requested 50% increase in Superfund and in passing increased state funds, the chief conference issue was expected to focus on the roughly $225 million difference between the House and Senate versions. However, a veto threat over Superfund program funding made this a key conference issue.

State and local wastewater and drinking water capital needs were the most prominent budgetary issues. Senate and House authorizing and appropriating chairmen expressed concern over the requested 17% decrease in the State and Tribal Assistance Grants account from $3.41 billion in FY1999 to $2.84 billion in FY2000. The conference agreement on H.R. 2684 provides a total of $3.47 billion. For clean water state revolving funds, the conference committee approved the Senate's level of $1.35 billion, about $175 million more than the House approved and roughly $550 million more than requested. The conference agreement included $332 million for special project grants, about $73 million more than the House's proposal, roughly $232 million more than the Senate approved, and about $304 million more than requested. For drinking water state revolving funds, the conference committee approved $820 million, $45 million more than the House's amount and $5 million less than the Senate approved and the President requested. The conference committee also approved the Administration's request of $885 million for state and tribal administrative grants, which is roughly the same as the amount enacted for FY1999.

In recent years, global environmental concerns have figured prominently on the American political agenda. In particular, tropical deforestation and its implications for global climate change and biological diversity loss have prompted public outcry. Concerns have since grown to include other forest types as well. The Congress has considered a variety of legislation to stem the tide of increasing deforestation and the United States has supported a number of bilateral and multilateral initiatives to assist other countries in managing their forest resources.

This report discusses two Clean Air Act provisions that can result in denial of federal highway funding to local areas: sanctions and the lapse of what is called "conformity." Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency is required to impose highway fund or other sanctions on areas that have not submitted or not implemented adequate plans to attain air quality standards. In addition, federal agencies may not provide financial support to transportation improvements in areas that have not attained air quality standards, unless the improvements conform with the State Implementation Plan for achieving air quality. This report provides information concerning the authority to impose sanctions and to make conformity determinations, lists the areas that have been subject to sanctions determinations since 1990, describes their current status, and discusses the role of sanctions and alternatives under the Act. This report will be updated as developments warrant.