Number: RS20752
Title: Submission of the President's Budget in Transition Years
Authors: Robert Keith, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: At the time of a presidential transition, one question commonly asked is whether the outgoing or incoming President submits the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Under past practices, outgoing Presidents in transition years submitted a budget to Congress just prior to leaving office and incoming Presidents usually revised them. Six incoming presidents - Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan - revised their predecessor's budget shortly after taking office, while only two Presidents during this period, Johnson and George H. W. Bush, chose not to do so. The deadline for submission of the President's budget, which has been changed several times over the years, was set in 1990 as the first Monday in February. The change made it possible for an outgoing President to leave the annual budget submission to his successor. The two outgoing Presidents since the 1990 change - George H. W. Bush and Clinton - exercised this option. Accordingly, the budget was submitted by the two incoming Presidents (Clinton for FY1994 and George W. Bush for FY2002). The last three incoming Presidents that submitted a budget or revised their predecessor's budget (Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush) did not submit detailed budget proposals during their transitions until early April; however, each of them advised Congress regarding the general contours of their economic and budgetary policies in a special message submitted to Congress in February concurrently with a presentation made to a joint session of Congress. President George W. Bush has indicated that he will not submit a budget for FY2010, which is subject to a deadline of Monday, February 2, 2009. The Office of Management and Budget will prepare a current services baseline from which the incoming Administration can develop its budget proposals.
Pages: 6
Date: September 15, 2008