The federal budget is a legal document. It includes the planned expenses and the incomes of the whole country for a specific period of time. The budget develops the rules of expenditures by the executive authority and the administration depends on it. However, the federal budget is not merely a document mentioning the income and the expenses of the country. Rather, it demonstrates the actions to be taken by the government of the United States during the timeline of the budget.
In this regard, the federal budget serves as an estimate deed and is approved for a period of one fiscal year. Moreover, it may be amended over the course of that year. It is a document of authorization that the federal government utilizes to authorize the state governments to spend the funds as stated and collect the revenues and incomes as mentioned. Furthermore, the federal budget is a legal document that remains valid for the period of a fiscal year and is a representation of the policy that the government wants to implement.
Involved Parties
As per the Constitution of the United States, the Congress holds the power over the federal budget. The Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution specifically mentions that money cannot be withdrawn from the treasury, but only in the case that the law approves it.
The foremost party that is involved is the President of the United States. He is the one responsible for submitting the proposal for the budget to the Congress. Furthermore, all the federal agencies are required to submit the request of their budgets to the President. These budget requests are formulated by the budget and management office. After the submission of the budget requests to the President, he then submits these requests to the Congress. The Congress then develops a federal budget using the budget request provided by the President as a guideline and hence an appropriations bill is formed. Through it, the funds are allocated to the various agencies of the government. However, the appropriations bill has to be first approved by the House of Representatives in order to be implemented. After approval, the House submits it to the President who signs it into the law.
The process takes almost eighteen months and is defined in the Budget Control Act of 1974. If the process is not followed, then a continuing resolution is submitted by the Congress and the government continues to run until the approval of a budget. However, the government would shut down if it does not happen.
