Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and ranking member Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) have joined forces in trying to modify the 1974 budget act, which sets rules for Congress for creating and passing a budget.
Both senators have proposed under a new system that the president would submit a budget every odd year and Congress would then complete the appropriations process covering two years.
âYou know I used to be in the camp of favoring an annual budget,â Conrad said. âBut the hard reality is we arenât doing annual budgets.â
Conrad said that a two-year budget would allow Congress to focus on oversight functions in even election years. Currently the budget system allows an unlimited number of amendments causing serious time constraints when passage is necessary before its deadline.
The federal budget has only been agreed upon twice in election years over the last 13 years.