The Many Faces of Congressional Budgeting

Budgeting has been a demanding business on Capitol Hill and in the White House in recent years. ¹ Approximately 70 percent of the Senate's roll call votes in 1981 and 50 percent of the House's pertained to the federal budget. ² In 1982, Congress adopted only one budget resolution (rather than the two called for in the Congressional Budget Act), and it failed to act on a number of the regular appropriation bills. Hence, budgetary business dropped to 60 percent of the Senate's and 40 percent of the House's roll calls. Nevertheless, budgeting was the largest component of congressional activity.