The budget sets guidelines for discretionary spending which is approximately one-third of all federal spending. The President’s budget proposal released on February 7th serves as a starting point; Congress is not required to adopt any of the President’s recommendations.
Over the next several weeks the U.S. House and Senate budget committees will write their own budget resolutions which will then go to the full House and Senate to be amended and voted on.
Next, a committee of members of both houses will meet to compromise on a conference report that will go back to both houses for final approval by April 15th. The House and Senate will use the vision agreed to in the budget resolution conference report to divide the pot of discretionary funding into 13 separate appropriations bills.
These appropriation bills will also go through conference committees to compromise between the House and Senate versions and, when passed, are sent to the President who is allowed to veto any of the bills. The appropriations process should be completed before October 1st when the new fiscal year begins.