respective versions . A final compromise budget resolution is supposed to be approved by both chambers by April 15 of each year . ( This rarely happens .) Because the final product is a resolution rather than a bill , the budget does not go to the President to sign or veto .
The annual appropriations process kicks off May 15 , when the House may start considering the 12 annual spending bills for the fiscal year that begins Oct . 1 . By tradition , spending bills originate in the House , although sometimes , if the House is delayed in acting , the Senate will take up its own version of an appropriation first . The House is supposed to complete action on all 12 spending bills by June 30 , in order to provide enough time to let the Senate act , and for a conference committee to negotiate a final version that each chamber can approve by October 1 .
That October 1 deadline is the only one with consequences if it is not met . Unless an appropriations bill for each federal agency is passed by Congress and signed by the President by the start of the fiscal year , that agency must shut down all “ non-essential ” activities funded by discretionary spending until funding is approved . Because Congress rarely passes all 12 of the appropriations bills by the start of the fiscal year ( the last time was in 1996 , for fiscal year 1997 ), it can buy extra time by passing a “ continuing resolution ” ( CR ) that keeps money flowing , usually at the previous fiscal year ’ s level . CRs can last as little as a day and as much as the full fiscal year and may cover all of the federal government ( if none of the regular appropriations are done ) or just the departments for the unfinished bills . Congress may , and frequently does , pass multiple CRs while it works to complete the appropriations process .
While each appropriations bill is supposed to be considered individually , to save time ( and sometimes to win needed votes ), a few , several , or all the bills may be packaged into a single “ omnibus ” measure . Bills that package only a handful of appropriations bills are cheekily known as “ minibuses .”
Meanwhile , if the budget resolution includes reconciliation instructions , that process proceeds on a separate track . The committees in charge of the programs requiring alterations each vote on and report their proposals to the respective budget committees , which assemble all of the changes into a single bill . At this point , the budget committees ’ role is purely ministerial ; it may not change any of the provisions approved by the authorizing committees .
Reconciliation legislation is frequently the vehicle for significant health policy changes , partly because Medicare and Medicaid are mandatory programs . Reconciliation bills are subject to special rules , notably on the Senate floor , which include debate time limitations ( no filibusters ) and restrictions on amendments . Reconciliation bills also may not contain provisions that do not pertain directly to taxing or spending .
Unlike the appropriations bills , nothing happens if Congress does not meet the Budget Act ’ s deadline to finish the reconciliation process , June 15 . In fact , in more than a few cases , Congress has not completed work on reconciliation bills until the calendar year AFTER they were begun .
A ( Very Brief ) Explanation of the Regulatory Process
Congress writes the nation ’ s laws , but it cannot account for every detail in legislation . So , it often leaves key decisions about how to interpret and enforce those laws to the various executive departments . Those departments write ( and often rewrite ) rules and regulations according to a very stringent process laid out by the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act ( APA ). The APA is intended to keep the executive branch ’ s decision-making transparent and to allow public input into how laws are interpreted and enforced .
Most federal regulations use the APA ’ s “ informal rulemaking ” process , also known as “ notice and comment rulemaking ,” which consists of four main parts :
Publication of a “ Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ( NPRM )” in the Federal Register , a daily publication of executive branch activities .
Solicitation to the public to submit written comments for a specific period of time ( usually from 30 to 90 days ).
Agency consideration of public reaction to the proposed rule ; and , finally
Publication of a final rule , with an explanation including how the agency took the public comments into account and what changes , if any , were made from the proposed rule . Final rules also include an effective date , which can be no less than 30 days but may be more than a year in the future .
In situations where time is of the essence , federal agencies may truncate that process by issuing “ interim final rules ,” which can take effect even before the public is given a chance to comment . Such rules may or may not be revised later .
Not all federal interpretation of laws uses the APA ’ s specified regulatory process . Federal officials also distribute guidance , agency opinions , or “ statements of policy .”
18 HEALTHCARE GUIDE 2025 NEWS AND TRIBUNE