The Budget: A Primer on Spending

Statement

You've been hearing a lot recently about government spending. This debate is characterized using various terms such as debt, deficit, budget, appropriations, and continuing resolutions. We have a mess in Washington right now because over the past year, the usual federal budget process was abandoned as spending spiked higher and higher. If we're ever going to tackle our long-term fiscal problems, we need to get the short-term spending under control.

The process of government spending traditionally begins when the President submits an annual budget proposal to Congress for the upcoming fiscal year. This proposal is a comprehensive outline of how the President envisions funding executive agencies and collecting revenues. Typically, Congress then crafts its own budget resolution, defining broad parameters for how much our government will spend.

Congress must then craft 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal departments and agencies within the budget resolution's spending cap. Once both houses of Congress pass the appropriations bills and the President signs them into law, government spending may begin in the next fiscal year. This is how many of the things we're familiar with are funded: highway construction, national parks, border security, and education.

We were at the brink of a government shutdown earlier this month because this process broke down last year. The President offered a $3.5 trillion budget, but Democrat leadership in Congress never brought a budget resolution to a vote. The Senate then failed to consider a single appropriations bill. Instead, Congress chose to continue funding the government by passing a series of continuing resolutions, or short-term extensions to fund the government.

Relying upon a series of temporary extensions brings significant instability to the government and those we serve, and inevitably led to the possibility of a shutdown. The agreement to avert it, finally passed last Friday, is largely another temporary extension through September, though it cuts nearly $39 billion from prior appropriations levels. We now must correct our course, govern responsibly, and hold a serious discussion about spending instead of waiting to face another shutdown come September.

This discussion will have a lasting impact on the debt and the deficit. Our national debt -- currently more than $14.2 trillion -- is the result of a government that for too long has spent more money than it has brought in. Our current budget, for example, spends $3.8 trillion, while the government brings in only $2.17 trillion in revenue. The difference of $1.64 trillion is our annual deficit, which, when added to previous deficits, amounts to our total national debt. This is why taking a serious approach to our short-term spending is so important to our long-term fiscal future.

Next week, I'll expand the discussion on our national debt, and why it's important to our economy and job creation. We have many tough decisions to make, but reining in spending and bringing down the debt is essential if we want to pass on a healthy country to our children and grandchildren.

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