The Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform held its first public hearing on April 17, 2018, with members of both chambers and parties expressing frustration with the current process that requires short-term continuing resolutions and leaves government funding in peril.

Established by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 enacted on February 9, the Committee must vote by the end of November on a report that contains a detailed statement of findings, conclusions, and recommendations, as well as proposed legislative language. Approval of the report requires support by a majority of Republicans on the Committee and a majority of Democrats. House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack (R-AR) and Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) are co-chairs of the budget process Committee, which is comprised of eight Senators and eight House members, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats.

In an opening statement, Womack said, "Perhaps the most visible sign of dysfunction is that Congress has not followed regular order for the budget process for more than 20 years. Fiscal year 1995 was the last time Congress passed a budget conference agreement, followed by all of the separate appropriations bills, before the beginning of the fiscal year." He said the goal is to encourage budget and appropriations work to be done on time, and for the Joint Select Committee to reach agreement sooner than the November deadline on process reforms that will work no matter which party is in control.

Lowey bemoaned the practice of enacting spending bills halfway through the fiscal year. She said the root cause of the devolution of the current process is deep policy disagreements — often over issues that shouldn't be part of appropriations bills — calling into question how effective process reforms would be.

Other members delivered opening statements reflecting a tumultuous year for appropriations, with short-term funding patches, shutdowns, a bipartisan agreement, and a large omnibus spending bill. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) said "what we are doing now is not working," in that the omnibus goes beyond appropriations to become a "big legislating bill," with too many of the decisions made by a small group of congressional leaders, and members given only one vote on all the matters that the bill includes.

Witnesses at the hearing, titled "Opportunities to Significantly Improve the Federal Budget Process," were Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former CBO director and now president of the American Action Forum, and Martha Coven, formerly at OMB and now a professor at Princeton. Coven said the panel's proposals should be politically neutral and allow future Congresses to make decisions about appropriate funding, setting aside rigid targets or enforcement mechanisms that would lock the nation onto a fiscal path without knowing what the future holds.

Senator David Perdue (R-GA), who has put forward budget process proposals in the past, said he agreed with Coven's recommendations for biennial budgets and eliminating the debt ceiling. Perdue referenced press reports that Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) has suggested his own panel may be increasingly irrelevant because mounting deficits make it difficult to craft budget resolutions.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sought recommendations for putting reconciliation, which has been used in recent years for major health and tax legislation, "back in the cage." Coven said one approach is to allow reconciliation only to reduce deficits.

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) mentioned repealing the federal debt ceiling, which he has previously proposed. Some members defended the debt ceiling, including Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) and Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA), who suggested it gives the minority leverage.

Womack's opening statement is attached.

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ATTACHMENT

Womack Statement