Understanding Resolutions, Reconciliation, and Other Budgetary Rules of the Road

The budget season is upon us. The Congressional Budget Office’s January 2005 “Budget and Economic Outlook” provides an overview of where Congress will start, and the President’s budget request will arrive next week. The journey down the sometimes bumpy, sometimes difficult-to-understand road to a federal budget for FY 2006 is beginning.

What are the basic steps in the budget process, and how are budgetary levers used to shape health policy? Who are the key actors at the various stages of the process? If there is a reconciliation bill, how will it be considered in the House and in the Senate? And if there is an effort to reduce the deficit by half over five years, what might this mean for major health programs?

To help address these and related questions, the Alliance for Health Reform and the Kaiser Family Foundation sponsored a February 11 briefing. Panelists were: William Hoagland, director of budget and appropriations for Sen. Frist, Sue Nelson, deputy staff director for the Senate Budget Committee’s Democratic staff, and Stan Collender, manager of Financial Dynamics Business Communications and author of a weekly column, “Budget Battles,” that is published in National Journal. Ed Howard of the Alliance and Diane Rowland of Kaiser moderated the discussion.

Transcript

Full Transcript (Adobe Acrobat PDF)

Speaker Presentations

William Hoagland Presentation (Adobe Acrobat PDF)