Author: Paul Restuccia

Publisher:

Published: 2019-02-12

Total Pages: 824

ISBN-13: 9781796441161

The Congressional budget process is a multiplicity of laws and rules governing the consideration of legislation involving the spending of government funds -- which is to say most legislation. Becoming knowledgeable about the area is difficult, rendered near impossible without a working understanding of what those laws and rules actually are. The "Compendium of Budget Laws Annotated" is a document intended to serve as both a reference in that regard and to offer some explanation as to how they work. It is prepared and edited by Paul Restuccia, who worked for over two decades in Congress on the House Budget Committee as a counsel handling these issues. The laws are set out with annotations of the important concepts, and additional explanatory material from sources such as reports by the Congressional Research Service, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and committee reports and summaries. It includes the primary laws, certain important sections of the U.S. Code governing the President's budget submission, the budget-related Rules of the House, and also the GAO Glossary of Federal Budget Terms. It is a primarily oriented toward the House of Representatives, though it includes material helpful for an understanding of Senate procedures too, since the budget is essentially bicameral. The laws included are the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, and the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010. Sections 1101 through 1126 of title 31 of the U.S. Code are in the document, as certain Rules of the House such as the "Paygo point of order" and the earmark requirements. it contains the GAO "Glossary of Terms Used in the Federal Budget Process"(though not its appendices) which is essential for Federal budgeting, but nearly impossible to find in hard copy form.