Deeming Resolutions
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Background on Deeming Resolutions
In years when the House and Senate have not reached agreement on a Budget Resolution, or years in which the budget resolution has been sidelined by a bipartisan budget agreement or debt limit politics, the House and Senate typically adopt “deeming resolutions” (or deeming provisions in statutes) to serve in place of the annual budget resolution for purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels and committee allocations.
Deeming resolutions are generally “simple resolutions” that deem specified levels to be budget resolution spending and revenue aggregates and committee allocations for purposes of 1974 Budget Act points of order.
While deeming provisions are generally adopted by simple resolution, they have also been incorporated in other legislative vehicles such as appropriations bills or, in recent years, Bipartisan Budget Acts, such as the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023.
Deeming resolutions are so named, because they have the legal effect of “deeming” specified numbers to be budget resolution levels for purposes of 1974 Budget Act points of order. For example, in the 117th Congress, the House deeming resolution provided, in part:
(a) Fiscal Year 2023.—For the purpose of enforcing the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 621 et seq.) for fiscal year 2023, the allocations, aggregates, and other budgetary levels provided for in subsection (b) shall apply in the House of Representatives in the same manner as for a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2023 with appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal year 2023 and for fiscal years 2024 through 2032.
(b) Committee Allocations, Aggregates, And Levels.—The chair of the Committee on the Budget shall submit a statement for publication in the Congressional Record as soon as practicable containing—
(1) committee allocations for the Committee on Appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for new discretionary budget authority of $1,602,901,000,000 and the outlays flowing therefrom, and for current law mandatory budget authority and outlays, for the purpose of enforcing section 302 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 633);
(2) for all committees other than the Committee on Appropriations, committee allocations for fiscal year 2023 and for the period of fiscal years 2023 through 2032 consistent with the most recent baseline of the Congressional Budget Office, as adjusted…
Other deeming resolutions have incorporated budgetary levels by reference to a budget resolution adopted by that chamber, but without a conference agreement between the Houses:
Pending the adoption of a concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2003, the provisions of House Concurrent Resolution 353, as adopted by the House, shall have force and effect in the House as though Congress has adopted such concurrent resolution.
Since enactment of the 1974 Budget Act, there have been 13 years in which Congress did not come to agreement on a budget resolution. In most of those years, one or both chambers adopted a deeming resolution, or a bill including deeming provisions, to enable 1974 Budget Act points of order.
For additional background on Budget Resolutions, Deeming Resolutions, Budget Reconciliation, and the Budget Process see TRILLIONS: A Primer on Federal Spending, Taxes, the U.S. Debt Ceiling, and Fiscal Law.
We will soon be adding a chart with links to all budget and deeming resolutions back to FY 1976.