Title 2 › Chapter CHAPTER 17A— - CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET AND FISCAL OPERATIONS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET PROCESS › § 634
A budget resolution must be agreed to before Congress can consider most budget-related bills. In the House, until the budget resolution is agreed for its first fiscal year, members cannot take up bills or changes that first create new budget authority, first change revenues, or first change the public debt limit for that fiscal year. In the Senate, until the resolution is agreed for any fiscal year it covers, members cannot take up bills that first create new budget authority, first change revenues, first change the public debt limit, or (in the Senate only) first create entitlement authority or first change outlays. There are some exceptions. In the House, bills that give advance discretionary budget authority first available in the first or second fiscal year after the budget year, bills that change revenues in later years, general appropriation bills after May 15, and only bills reported by a committee are allowed. In the Senate, no appropriation bills may be considered until the budget resolution is agreed and an allocation is made to the Senate Appropriations Committee under section 633(a), except for advance appropriations for the first or second fiscal year after that allocation.
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2 U.S.C. § 634
Title 2 — The Congress
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73