Who conducts hearings and draft and submit the Appropriations Bills that provide budget authority for the Government?

Who conducts hearings and draft and submit the Appropriations Bills that provide budget authority for the Government?

• A. House and Senate Appropriations Committee (HAC/SAC)
• B. Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• C. Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
• D. Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT)

Answer: (A)

The agents responsible for hearings and for drafting and submitting the annual funding bills are the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Each chamber has its own appropriations committee, with subcommittees that hold hearings to scrutinize agency requests and program needs, then mark up and report appropriations bills that set the actual funding levels and budget authority for each area. Those bills then move through the legislative process toward passage and signing into law. The other entities operate in different parts of the budget process: the Office of Management and Budget belongs to the Executive Branch and develops the President’s budget proposal and oversees agency spending; the Congressional Budget Office provides nonpartisan cost estimates and budget analyses; the Joint Committee on Taxation focuses on tax policy and revenue effects. They do not draft or submit the annual appropriations bills that authorize government spending.

The agents responsible for hearings and for drafting and submitting the annual funding bills are the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. Each chamber has its own appropriations committee, with subcommittees that hold hearings to scrutinize agency requests and program needs, then mark up and report appropriations bills that set the actual funding levels and budget authority for each area. Those bills then move through the legislative process toward passage and signing into law. The other entities operate in different parts of the budget process: the Office of Management and Budget belongs to the Executive Branch and develops the President’s budget proposal and oversees agency spending; the Congressional Budget Office provides nonpartisan cost estimates and budget analyses; the Joint Committee on Taxation focuses on tax policy and revenue effects. They do not draft or submit the annual appropriations bills that authorize government spending.