SCONRES 22119th CongressIntroduced

A concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2026 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2027 through 2035.

Introduced: Sep 15, 2025

Economy & Taxes

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

This bill is a Senate concurrent resolution that sets the congressional budget for fiscal year 2026 and establishes the budgetary levels to guide Congress through fiscal year 2035. It lays out numeric targets for federal revenues, new budget authority, and total outlays, as well as the resulting deficits and debt levels over a 10-year window. The resolution also assigns specific budget-shaped allocations to major functional categories (like National Defense, Health, Education, Social Security, etc.) and provides Senate-specific revenue/outlay rules for Social Security and the Postal Service. In addition, it creates reserve funds aimed at deficit reduction and health savings accounts, and it outlines budget-process rules designed to constrain legislation and enforcement (including emergency spending treatments and points of order). Important to note: as a concurrent resolution, this bill does not become law or directly appropriate funds. Instead, it sets a framework and targets that guide the annual appropriations process and budget discipline for both chambers of Congress, affecting how future bills are evaluated and scored against the budget plan.

Key Points

1Sets comprehensive 10-year budget targets (fiscal years 2026–2035) for:
2- Federal revenues, new budget authority, total outlays, deficits, and public debt (overall and debt held by the public), creating a framework for budget discipline.
3- Detailed dollar-by-dollar levels by major functional category (e.g., National Defense, Health, Medicare, Social Security, Education, Energy, Transportation, etc.).
4Establishes reserve funds:
5- Deficit Reduction Fund for efficiencies, consolidations, and other savings.
6- Reserve fund relating to health savings accounts.
7Budget-process rules (Title III) to strengthen enforcement:
8- Voting threshold for points of order: covered budget points of order can only be waived by a two-thirds vote in the Senate; appeals of Chair rulings on these points also require a two-thirds vote to sustain.
9- Emergency legislation provisions: allows designation of certain provisions as “emergency” with a two-thirds vote, with special treatment for such provisions under budget enforcement rules.
10- Provisions for enforcement, breakdowns of cost estimates by budget function, and procedures for adjustments or reductions of appropriations.
11Senate-specific budget details (Title II):
12- Social Security: specified revenue and outlay levels for the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds; administrative expense levels for the Senate.
13- Postal Service: discretionary administrative expenses in the Senate.
14Budget integrity tools:
15- Provisions for new efficiencies and offsetting receipts, including undistributed offsetting receipts and transfers, to influence the net effect on deficits and debt.

Impact Areas

Primary impact: Federal budget and appropriations process- The bill provides a 10-year budget framework that would guide Congress in crafting annual appropriations and policy changes, potentially constraining or shaping how much can be spent in each policy area.- It affects how new spending and tax policy are evaluated for deficit impact (pay-as-you-go considerations) and how emergency spending is treated.Secondary impact: Federal programs and beneficiaries- Specific functional categories (Health, Social Security, Medicare, Education, Defense, Transportation, etc.) have assigned target levels that could influence policy decisions, program funding, and benefit levels if the framework guides subsequent legislation.- Senate-specific Social Security and Postal Service provisions could more directly affect funding and administrative structures for those areas.Additional considerations: Fiscal health and legislative process- The resolution shows a trajectory for debt and deficits (including years with deficits and years with surpluses per the plan) and a path for debt held by the public.- The enhanced budget rules (two-thirds thresholds, emergency designations, and enforceable allocations) are designed to tighten discipline in the budgeting process, potentially slowing or altering the passage of legislation that would otherwise expand deficits or reallocate funds outside the framework.“Revenues” are the amount the government is projected to collect; “new budget authority” is the authority to incur obligations (commit funds); “outlays” are actual spending of those funds.“Deficits” are when outlays exceed revenues in a given period (a positive deficit). Negative deficit figures indicate a surplus.“Public debt” is the total debt outstanding held by the public; “net debt held by the public” is a subset of that debt held by non-governmental entities.“Major functional categories” are broad spending areas used by the budget to organize funding (e.g., National Defense, Health, Medicare, Social Security, etc.).A concurrent resolution expresses the will of both chambers and is not a law; it does not itself appropriate funds or set policy but provides the framework for Congress to operate within.

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