Submitted February 9, 2016 Submitted to 114th Congress | Submitted by Barack Obama | |
Total expenditures $4.147 trillion (requested)
21.5% of GDP Deficit $503 billion (requested)
2.6% of GDP Debt $19.95 trillion (requested) | ||
The 2017 United States federal budget is the United States federal budget for fiscal year 2017, which lasts from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. President Barack Obama's budget proposal was submitted to the 114th Congress on February 9, 2016. The 2017 fiscal year overlaps the end of the Obama administration and the beginning of the Trump administration, with final appropriations legislation expected to pass during the beginning of the latter.
Contents
Background
The federal budget outlines the government’s plans for spending and revenue. In the United States, the federal budget request is first introduced by the president. The federal budget and all appropriations must then be written and approved by the United States Congress. In Congress the process begins with the House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee creating their own budget. After both houses pass a budget resolution, representatives and senators come up with a conference report negotiating between both the House and Senate versions. Budget resolutions do not go to the president for a signature or veto. This budget does not directly enact the actual spending of the federal government, but it sets the amounts that each congressional committee is allowed to spend on the programs, agencies and departments for which it is responsible. Actual spending is driven by the final appropriations bills.
The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) had established spending caps on defense and non-defense spending, which were first applied in FY2013. Just before midnight on October 26, 2015, Republican and Democratic leaders reached an agreement, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, to increase the budget caps imposed by the BCA for fiscal years by $50 billion in FY2016 and $30 billion in FY2017, and temporarily suspend the debt limit until March 15, 2017. The increased spending was to be offset by changes in Medicare, Social Security disability insurance, selling off oil from the strategic petroleum reserves, and other changes.
Budget proposals
The President’s proposed budget for 2017 proposes spending 4.2 trillion and raising 3.6 trillion in tax revenue. The President's stated priorities are creating jobs, building 21st century transportation, investing in medical research, addressing climate change, and increased funding for national security.
Congress did not pass a regular budget resolution for the 2017 fiscal year during the 114th Congress.
114th Congress
On September 28, 2016, Congress passed a continuing resolution which extended funding at previous years levels up to December 9, 2016. The continuing resolution avoided a government shutdown and directed funding specifically for protection against the Zika virus and flood relief in Louisiana. The resolution did not include funding some members of Congress requested for the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan. The continuing resolution was named as the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act.
In November 2016, shortly after the 2016 presidential election, the incoming Trump administration advocated for a second continuing resolution funding the government only until the end of March, to allow the incoming administration influence over the 2017 budget. The House Republican leadership acceded to this plan, although some lawmakers expressed concern that delaying the final appropriations legislation would distract Congress from other priorities during the beginning of Trump's administration. The final bill, the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017, extended funding through April 28, 2017. It was passed by the House and Senate on December 8 and 9, 2016, respectively. The passage of the bill in the Senate was delayed after Democrats objected to the fact that an extension of health benefits for retired miners would not last until the end of the year, but a compromise was made to take up the matter in January.
115th Congress
On January 12, 2017, the Senate voted 51 to 48 to pass a FY2017 budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 3, that contained language allowing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act through the budget reconciliation process, which disallows a Filibuster in the Senate.