Lawmakers Now Three Months Past Budget Due Date
The Congressional Budget Act states that Congress must pass its concurrent budget resolution on April 15th of each year, but no action has been taken now three months past that deadline. The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:
Today marks three months, one-quarter of the year, or 91 days, where Congress has continued to drop the ball on one of their most important duties: budgeting. A budget sets a fiscal plan for our country and outlines the priorities of the government. A budget allows Congress and executive agencies to plan for the future. But a budget, it appears, isn’t coming anytime soon.
This failure to budget comes from a lack of political will and a clearly broken budget process. Despite contention between political parties, lawmakers should be able to do their most basic job and pass a budget on time, every year. In the last ten years, Congress has only passed a concurrent budget resolution five times. None of those were on time either. This is not how to run a country.
At a time when debt is as large as the economy and inflation is at a 40-year high, it’s time for lawmakers to step up and do their jobs. The Chairmen of the Budget Committees, the members of the Budget Committees, and every single member of Congress has a fiduciary responsibility to serve as a sound steward of the economy and the country, and this starts with passing a budget. The lack of a budget is a glaring abdication of leadership at a time when we certainly need it.
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For more information, please contact Kim McIntyre, Director of Media Relations, at mcintyre@crfb.org
