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Congress passed two mammoth appropriations bills providing for about $1.8 trillion in spending, spanning the entire federal government’s discretionary budget.
America’s biggest fiscal challenge lies in the unchecked growth of federal health care and old-age entitlement programs.
Last month, Congress passed a sweeping budget deal that increased the 2011 Budget Control Act’s discretionary spending caps by $296 billion for fiscal years (FYs) 2018 and 2019.[REF] Now, nearly six months into FY 2018, Congress is poised to debate a $1.3 trillion spending bill that would provide funding to the federal government for the rest of the year at those levels.
Budget season is officially upon us.
For about two decades, Congress has not consistently produced budgets or completed the annual spending process on time. Even though fiscal year (FY) 2019 began on October 1, the federal government is currently operating without congressional passage of a FY 2019 budget resolution, and many agencies are operating under a “continuing resolution.”