Number: RS21993
Title: Spending Reconciliation Directives to the Senate Finance Committee in Congressional Budget Resolutions
Authors: Robert Keith and Bill Heniff, Jr., Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: During the more than 30 years that the congressional budget process has been in effect, the Senate Finance Committee has been subject to spending reconciliation directives in a budget resolution on 16 occasions. Fourteen instances involved directives to reduce spending, while the remaining two, for FY2002 and FY2004, instructed the committee to increase outlays (to accommodate related tax policy changes). In every instance but one, for FY1982, spending reconciliation directives to the committee were accompanied by revenue reconciliation directives. The spending reconciliation directives varied in their time frame, from single-year coverage (in the FY1981 and FY1990 budget resolutions) to 11-year coverage (in the FY2002 and FY2004 budget resolutions). Further, the amount of required spending changes ranged from about $100 million for a single year to about $530 billion over seven years. The largest spending increase was directed in the FY2004 budget resolution ($27.476 billion in outlays for 11 years, covering FY2003-FY2013), while the largest spending decrease was directed in the FY1996 budget resolution ($530.359 billion for seven years, covering FY1996-FY2002).
Pages: 5
Date: December 28, 2006