1788

The United States Constitution is ratified and states that “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequences of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.” (Article I, section 9, clause 7).

1842

President John Tyler signs into law legislation setting the fiscal year of the federal government to begin July 1 and end June 30, rather than aligning with the calendar year.

1865

The House Appropriations Committee is established on December 11, 1865.

1867

The Senate Appropriations Committee is established on March 6, 1867.

1905

Congress passes a new law stating that the total annual appropriations for an agency not be given all at once at the beginning of the fiscal year, but rather in equal allotments spread throughout the fiscal year, such as by month. This was to curtail agencies from requesting additional funding in the middle of the year after they had already spent their entire year’s worth of appropriations, which had become commonplace.

1906

Congress directs each head of a department or agency to include the total amount necessary for the upcoming year of operation in its first request, rather than in piecemeal as had been the practice.

1909

The Sundry Civil Appropriation Act makes the president “responsible for recommending to Congress the methods by which annual expenditure estimates might be brought within the estimated revenues.”

1920

President Woodrow Wilson vetoes the Budget and Accounting Act, despite agreement with the necessity of budget reform, on the grounds that it would have allowed the president to appoint but not remove the comptroller general, a power traditionally held by the president.

After decades of gradual decentralization of appropriations authority, the House returns appropriations authority to the House Appropriations Committee

1921

President Harding signs into law the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which (1) required the president to annually submit to Congress a budget proposal, (2) created the Budget Bureau within the Treasury Department, and (3) established an independent auditing agency called the General Accounting Office (GAO). A Senate Appropriations Committee Report described it as the “most far-reaching single fiscal reform measure promulgated since the establishment of the Republic.” (p. 13)

1922

The Senate returns appropriations authority to a Senate Appropriations Committee.

1939

The Budget Bureau is transferred from the Treasury Department to the Executive Office of the President (EOP).

1970

The Budget Bureau is retitled Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the name it retains today.

1974

Under pressure from Congress, President Richard Nixon signs into law the Congressional Budget Act and the Impoundment Control Act.

• The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 established (1) the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, (2) a Budget Committee in both the House and Senate, (3) the process of the concurrent budget resolution, (4) procedures for relating individual appropriation actions to the budget totals, and (5) clear definitions of key budget terms.

• The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 restricted the president’s authority to impound (or withhold) funds already appropriated. The Act required the president to notify Congress whenever funds were being impounded and to follow certain rules when doing so. It also defined the two types of impoundments: “the temporary deferral of funds and rescission proposals to permanently reduce spending.”

1982

The Antideficiency Act was enacted to update a law originally enacted in 1884, last updated in 1950. The Act (1) prohibits spending funds not yet appropriated, (2) prohibits spending more than what had been appropriated, (3) places the responsibility for funding executive agencies on the OMB, (4) outlined internal agency controls for preventing infractions of the Act, and (5) outlined penalties for deficiencies should they arise.

1985

The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act (BBEDCA), also known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act, was an amendment to the 1974 Congressional Budget Act that created (1) targets for reduced federal deficits moving forward and (2) a new tool to control spending called sequestration, which was the automatic cancellation or across-the-board reduction of appropriated funds triggered when total appropriations exceeded the overall budget total.

1990

The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA of 1990) “modified procedures and definitions for sequestration and deficit reduction, reformed budgetary credit accounting, maintained the off-budget status of the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds, and removed Social Security trust fund receipts and outlays from deficit and sequestration calculations through fiscal year 1995.” The Act amended the 1985 BBEDCA and 1974 Budget and Impoundment Control Act.

1993

President signs into law the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), which created a procedural framework in which agencies could report on the progress in achieving their stated mission. The GPRA also extended through fiscal year 1998 (1) sequestration from the 1985 Act, (2) discretionary spending limits, and (3) a pay-as-you-go (or PAYGO) system.

1997

The Budget Enforcement Act of 1997 (BEA of 1997), enacted as part of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, extended through fiscal year 2002 the budget enforcement mechanisms from the BEA of 1990. The BEA of 1997 also added new categories of discretionary spending and made technical and conforming changes to correct drafting errors in the BEA of 1990. The sequestration and enforcement mechanisms of BBEDCA, as amended by the BEA of 1990, expired or became ineffective, at the end of fiscal year 2002.

2004

The General Accounting Office is retitled the Government Accountability Office to reflect the broader, more varied responsibilities it had acquired since inception.