Is anyone noticing that we don't have a budget this year?

[Warph]

How many times during the 80's was the federal government put on hold because a budget had not been passed by Oct. 1?  I can remember being sent home from work and told to not come in because the budget hadn't been passed and there wasn't any money to pay us.  This happened several times during the 80's and who was our president at that time?  Now, 3 months before the end of the fiscal year and someone is already ranting about not having a budget for 2011?  NONSENSE and a few four lettered words that I can't spell.

Wilma..... there has always been a budget since 1974 passed by congress.  There were budgets in the '80's.  You were probably sent home because Ronald Reagan didn't like you.  If that wasn't the case... then the federal job you held, that department had exceeded their budget.  And if that wasn't the case, also, blame it on the democratic congress for holding up your hard earned money.  Simple as that.  Now that your president Obama is saying he isn't submitting a budget to congress nor a budget resolution is because he doesn't want to be held down by one and not be able to spend tax payers money on the asinine things he has in mind.  By not having a budget to control spending, means he can keep spending America into bankruptcy, which he is doing a great job at!  Wouldn't you agree?  So, you can say hello to much higher taxes on the middle class, which will effect you, your neighbors, small businesses and any thing else that gets in his way.  Going to the supermarket and seeing higher prices for less volume of food is bad right now, wait until 2011.  btw.... you might want to use your spell checker on those words you can't spell.

That was my point too. What I saw is the one that will be probably be passed after everyone gets done dancing around and shaking their tail fathers for while. I thought WARPH meant one hadn't been written. It's not like this hasn't happened many, many times before. Why is anybody surprised? It's nothing new.

The budget director, Peter Orzag, did write the budget but was told it wouldn't be submitted to congress so with that and the broken promise of not taxing the middle class, he quit.  I Don't blame him.  So, Sorry.... It is NEW.  No budget or budget resolution to congress for appoval..... Its never happened before, Diane.

[Wilma]

Sure there were budgets but until they were signed into law, they didn't exist.  I was a federal employee during the 80's and my branch wasn't the only one that was sent home.  If the budget wasn't signed at the beginning of the new fiscal year, there was no budget and no money to pay employees.  Other branches of federal government were given a furlough, also.  Maybe this situation is different now, but we still have three months of this fiscal year.  Anything can change.  Maybe Obama will be presented with a budget that he can send to Congress.  Just because someone got his Hanes twisted because his version of the budget wasn't acceptable and quit doesn't mean that there won't be one.  I can't see getting upset over something that might not happen.  There will be a budget.  Without one, the president and none of the Congress will get paid either.  How long do you think our greedy Congressmen will let that go on?  Does the budget really have to be submitted by the president?  Tell me how this really works.  Who prepares the budget?  Where does it go from there?  What does the president have to do with it until he is asked to sign it?  Seems to me that this is something that should be done by our representatives that are elected to serve us.

[W. Gray]

Under the Constitution, Congress has absolute power of the purse.

Under the provisions of a law called the Antideficiency Act, no agency will spend any money unless Congress has provided the authority to spend that money.

The Executive branch prepares the annual federal budget and the President submits it to Congress for approval. He recommends the amount of the federal budget be the amount as set by his budget. This budget is required to be submitted to Congress in February of each year. Congress thus has about eight months to pass the new budget.

The federal budget process is complicated and involves 13 major appropriations in the President's budget. Congress separately approves each of the 13 appropriations rather than approving the budget as a whole. Until a budget is passed by Congress for any of these 13 appropriations, there is no new fiscal year funding available for that appropriation. To confuse the situation, Congress can approve some of the 13, leaving the balance not approved.

Congress looks at each program in each appropriation budget and agrees, or changes the scope and dollar figure of the program to suit its own concept of what the spending should be in that area. Through a political wheeling and dealing process, Congress members also tack on many earmark extras, such as the bridge to nowhere, more aircraft production for jobs purposes, more money for Senator Byrd's state, etc., etc., etc. In rare instances, Congress will slash entire programs from the budget.

The first time I was involved in one of these budget crises was in the late 70s. One party or the other in Congress refused to approve an appropriation budget that happened to also fund military and civilian pay. On September 30, word was sent down through Executive branch finance channels that no funding would be available to pay salaries for the new fiscal year beginning October 1 and, therefore, no payrolls would be processed until such time as Congress approved the funding. Civilian personnel were to be furloughed. (Military personnel could be retained on duty without pay under an old law affecting the military called the "food and forage act.")

The nonpayment action brought much derision against the Executive branch for refusing to pay military personnel and civilian employees when it was only doing what it had to do in the face of no budget.

I received a call from a local Wichita Congressman's office asking by what authority the McConnell Finance Office would refuse to pay salaries for the new fiscal year. This Congressional aid had no clue as to what the law required of Congress, or his boss. When advised that Congress would have to approve the budget first, he said he would look into it.

Up until about 1976, the federal fiscal year ran from July 1 to June 30. Congress was taking so much time to pass a budget that it was pushing the end of June each year. The Congressional solution was to change the fiscal year to run from October 1 to September 30, theoretically providing an "extra" three months to pass a budget. In the 35 or so years since that time, the "extra" three months has essentially provided little help with the budget process.

All is not lost though if an appropriation budget has not been approved by Congress come September 30. Congress now temporarily solves the problem by providing emergency makeshift Continuing Resolution Authorities in limited dollar amounts to the Executive Branch that fund salaries and essential operations until Congress gets its act together and approves a budget.

[Diane Amberg]

Thanks, I knew I wasn't wrong entirely. I'm sure if I stated the sun set in the west WARPH would try to prove me wrong.

[Wilma]

Thank you, Waldo.  This more facts than has been presented any where else in this thread.