How the Federal Appropriations Process Works

The federal appropriations process is the annual procedure through which Congress allocates funding for the operations of the United States government. It begins with the President’s budget request, submitted to Congress each February, which outlines the administration’s spending priorities for the upcoming fiscal year beginning October 1. While the President’s budget is a proposal rather than binding legislation, it sets the framework for congressional deliberations.

Congress then develops its own budget resolution, a concurrent resolution that sets overall spending limits for broad categories of government activity known as budget functions. The budget resolution does not require the President’s signature and does not have the force of law, but it establishes the spending framework within which the Appropriations Committees operate. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees each have 12 subcommittees, and each subcommittee is responsible for drafting one of the 12 annual appropriations bills that fund different areas of government.

Each appropriations bill goes through subcommittee and full committee markup, followed by floor debate and a vote in each chamber. When the House and Senate pass different versions, a conference committee reconciles the differences. The final bills must be signed by the President before the start of the fiscal year to avoid a funding lapse. In practice, Congress frequently fails to complete the process on time, relying instead on continuing resolutions to maintain government operations until full-year appropriations can be enacted.

This article is part of the How Congress Works series from Republican Leaders, an educational resource on the structure and function of the United States Congress.