Part 1: Starting on Time with the President’s Budget Request and CBO’s Baseline

This post is part of a series on better budgeting. Return to the landing page to see the rest of the series here.

President Trump should have given Congress a budget request for Fiscal Year 2027 today. He did not. 

The broken system bears much of the blame. Proposing a budget with the prior fiscal year’s appropriations still in limbo raises technical issues. It would also be bad politics to make bold new proposals during a shutdown while Congress is trying to drag the remaining appropriations bills over the finish line. 

Another important input to start the process is the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) baseline. CBO expects to publish it on February 11, 2026.  

Congress needs timely information 

The Budget and Accounting Act, 1921, as amended, says, “On or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year, the President shall submit a budget of the United States Government for the following fiscal year.”  

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 affirms this requirement and instructs CBO to give Congress a fiscal policy report “on or before February 15 of each year,” which is supposed to characterize “proposals in the budget submitted by the President.” 

Congress enacted these due dates to support its annual budgeting and programmatic legislation. Legislators need a coherent and complete outline of budget information and the administration’s policy proposals. Appropriations bills and the annual national defense authorization act depend critically on agency-provided details. 

Delayed information ripples through Congress’ work. 

Imagining a healthier start to the budget process 

Let us suppose that Congress received the president’s budget request today with CBO’s report following soon. 

The Appropriations committees could start reviewing annually appropriated accounts in the context of administration proposals for levels, restrictions, and other parameters.  

Authorizing committees could compare the president’s proposals to their priorities. They could identify common ground and other realistic opportunities. These objectives would inform their views and estimates reports to the Budget committees, which would contribute to the budget resolution. With a comprehensive congressional budget process that paralleled the president’s budget request and CBO’s projections, acting on shared priorities would be far easier. 

The Budget committees would find out about other committees’ expectations by mid-March. They could then consult with relevant stakeholders on a budget resolution setting up a responsible, holistic budget process that aims to optimize across and involve all committees.  

CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook and its analysis of the president’s budget request would give Congress an independent assessment of the fiscal effects of proposals. In particular, the Budget committees could help the authorizing committees plan by parsing out baseline direct spending line items into committee jurisdictions. Speaking of the baseline, the law that tells CBO how to build it is due for updates. 

Further, if FY2026 appropriations had been enacted in July, or even by October, committees would have been able to focus on laying the groundwork for this year’s policy priorities. This includes soliciting members’ ideas, engaging interested parties, drafting legislative options, and getting cost estimates. Members and committees would be more prepared.

Conclusion: An effective regular order starts on time 

Members of Congress need an annual schedule with a regular cadence. Shared expectations support policy development, coalition building, and healthy competition on a wide range of priorities.  

Congress must receive the president’s budget request and CBO’s Budget and Economic Outlook on schedule. Wrapping up the prior fiscal year’s work sooner would help. So would directing the Office of Management and Budget support a president-elect during a transition year. Congress could also withhold the invitation for the president to give the State of the Union address until it gets the president’s complete budget request, as some states do. 

Timely reports can help Congress start on a predictable schedule. 

Kurt Couchman is a Senior Fiscal Policy Fellow at Americans for Prosperity.