The Congressional Budget Act of 1974: The next 50 years

Congress passed the Congressional Budget Act in 1974 to take back some of its power over federal spending from the White House. Among other things, the act created the House and Senate budget committees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the reconciliation process that has evolved into a key way to pass major legislation. The 50th anniversary of the act provides an opportunity not only to look back but also to look ahead. On June 6, 2024, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal & Monetary Policy and the Governance Studies program at Brookings examined the challenges the nation is facing over the next 50 years and how well-equipped the congressional budget process is to deal with them.

Philip Joyce, a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland, summarized his paper on the lasting influential features of the act. Following that, a panel discussed how to better equip Congress to confront major challenges of the next 50 years—things like financing investments (including in children), stabilizing the finances of Social Security and Medicare, measuring the benefits and costs of immigration, and combating climate change. Participants included Anna Aizer of Brown University, Doug Elmendorf of Harvard, and Sanjay Patnaik of Brookings, moderated by David Wessel. Then Sarah Binder and Molly Reynolds of Brookings and John Sides of Vanderbilt took part in a panel on the challenges that political polarization and rising party conflict pose to the congressional budget process, moderated by Lisa Desjardins of PBS NewsHour.

Viewers joined the conversation and ask questions of the speakers by emailing [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @BrookingsEcon and/or @BrookingsGov using the hashtag #CBO.

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