Reps. Hurd and Moore Introduce Legislation to Reform Congressional Budget Process

WASHINGTON - Representatives Jeff Hurd (R-CO) and Blake Moore (R-UT) introduced legislation to reform the budget process and provide accountability to taxpayers.

The Comprehensive Congressional Budget Act reforms the annual budget and appropriations process by requiring Congress to vote on the entire Congressional budget each year, rather than only on the 12 appropriations bills that cover one quarter of all federal spending.

"Washington's broken budget process is a big reason we keep piling up debt without ever having an honest debate about priorities," Rep Hurd said. "Congress budgets in pieces, hides the real costs, and then acts surprised by the results. This legislation forces Congress to do what the Constitution expects: look at the entire budget at once and take responsibility for every dollar we spend and every dollar we borrow. It's a serious reform that strengthens Congress and restores accountability to the process."

"The Constitution grants Congress the power of the purse to allocate taxpayer dollars in the interests of the American people. Yet Congress has slowly surrendered this role to mandatory or "autopilot" spending programs that account for almost 75% of the budget and are renewed without any Congressional oversight," Rep. Moore said. "This bill requires Congress to vote on the whole budget every year, rather than just one quarter, allowing greater accountability to the taxpayer for how their dollars are spent."

"Congress needs an effective regular order for budgeting. It's important to update annual appropriations, but they are only one-quarter of spending, and for decades, an appropriations-only process has barely limped along. A bottom-up, holistic framework to weigh all spending and revenue priorities together would give Congress many more ways to solve problems. We are thrilled to support Representative Blake Moore's Comprehensive Congressional Budget Act, a bill that would empower legislators to deliver much greater value for the American people," said Kurt Couchman, Senior Fellow for Fiscal Policy at Americans for Prosperity.

Background:

Each year, Congress considers its discretionary budget through the annual appropriations process. In 1974, discretionary appropriations included 50% of all federal spending, but that share has shrunk to 26% as of 2025. Mandatory spending programs have ballooned on "autopilot" without Congressional input or reauthorization. Because Congress does not vote on most spending, Members have little opportunity to offer changes to programs and spending and therefore cannot exercise the power of the purse.

The Comprehensive Congressional Budget Actwould reform the federal budgeting system by:

• Allowing the House and Senate appropriations committees to continue managing discretionary spending;
• Requiring each committee with direct spending or revenue jurisdiction to submit line items for each spending or revenue account along with any proposed changes to the House and Senate appropriations committees;
• Requiring the House Budget Committee to compile the 12 appropriations bills and submissions from other committees and send the complete budget to the House floor; and
• Requiring the House Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee to report a budget baseline level if Congress fails to agree to a concurrent resolution on the budget by April 15th of each year.

Full bill text can be found here.

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