The most underused resource in the appropriations process. Here's how to mine it for the kind of information that doesn't show up anywhere else. FY 2027 budget hearing are in full swing. Months after the hearing room empties, a bound book lands on GovInfo with everything
This is a supplement to our series on how to read appropriations bills. 1. Where to start? 2. Structure 3. Account Text 4. General and Administrative Provisions 5. Reports and Explanatory Statements 6. Stages of Consideration The earlier posts in this series taught you how to read an enacted appropriations
The budget resolution gave the orders. The committees produced their titles. The Budget Committee stapled them together. Now there's a bill. Here's how to read it — and the surprising thing about most of it is, it doesn't have a dollar figure anywhere in sight.
The budget resolution we covered in Part 1 wasn't just a fiscal plan. If it included reconciliation instructions, it was also marching orders — directing specific committees to produce specific legislation by specific deadlines. Here's how to read those orders. In Part 1, we covered the budget
Reconciliation
Buried in the budget resolution are instructions that unlock one of the most powerful, yet complicated, tools in Congress: reconciliation. Here's what it is, why it exists, and how it's evolved from a deficit-reduction mechanism into the primary vehicle for party-line policy. In Part
Budget Process
The President's budget just dropped. Congress will ignore much of it and enact some of it. But before Congress can write its own spending and tax bills, it needs a plan — and that plan is the budget resolution. We just finished a four-part series on the President&
Budget Request
The Appendix has the numbers. The CBJs have the why. But buried on OMB's supplemental materials page are five documents that most people skip — and they're some of the most useful tools in the entire budget release. In Part 1, we covered the Budget Appendix — account-
Budget Request
It's Friday, April 3, 2026. The White House just released the President's FY 2027 Budget Request. Your inbox is blowing up. Here's what you need to know right now. The 60-Second Version Question Answer What just dropped? The 2027 Budget Fact Sheets Is
Budget Request
Last week, the Budget Appendix told you the President requested $8.7 billion last year for Federal Prison System, Salaries and Expenses. Two pages of numbers. No explanation. The Congressional Budget Justification for the Bureau of Prisons? That's where you'll find out exactly why. In Part
Budget Request
The FY 2027 President's Budget Request could drop as early as next week. The Appendix is the heart of the request: 1,200+ pages of account-level detail. This is the document that matters. Let's get into it. The 60-Second Version Question Answer What is
The bill tells agencies what they can spend. The report tells them what Congress actually expects. This is the final part of our series on how to read appropriations bills. 1. Where to start? 2. Structure 3. Account Text 4. General and Administrative Provisions 5. Reports and Explanatory Statements The
The accounts appropriate the money. The provisions set the rules. This is the fourth part of our series on how to read appropriations bills. 1. Where to start? 2. Structure 3. Account Text 4. General and Administrative Provisions 5. Reports and Explanatory Statements The 60-Second Version Question Answer What