Federal budget process under way

April 20, 2012

The federal budget process for fiscal 2013 is well under way in Washington, and its outcome will have a wide-reaching impact on state and local programs that rely on federal funding and on federal programs that, if inadequately funded, will create unmet needs for services in communities across the country.

The president filed his $3.8 trillion budget plan with Congress in February, and the House passed its budget bill in late March. The House budget would cut the president’s projected 10-year deficit roughly in half.

In a preliminary move toward meeting the spending reductions outlined in the House budget plan, the House Committee on Agriculture voted in April to cut the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) by $33 billion over the next decade. This cut is part of an effort to maintain current levels of defense spending, which are subject to mandatory cuts under last year’s Budget Control Act.

If defense spending is maintained at current levels, and deeper cuts are made to non-defense spending to stay within the total spending limits prescribed by the Budget Control Act, then communities will face increased and unfunded demands for services like food assistance, among others.

The White House has indicated that the president will not sign any appropriations bills until the House recommits to both the defense and non-defense spending limits of the Budget Control Act.

If appropriations bills are not signed into law by Oct. 1, the beginning of the federal fiscal year, then Congress will be required to pass a stopgap funding provision to avoid a government shutdown.

Written by J. Catherine Rollins