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Federal Appropriations

Published: August 11, 2020

Finding Publications
Bills and related documents for fiscal year 2021

Appropriations Measures

The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have jurisdiction over the annual appropriations measures. Each committee is organized into 12 subcommittees, with each subcommittee having responsibility for developing one regular annual appropriations bill to provide funding for departments and activities within its jurisdiction.

The three types of appropriations measures are regular appropriations bills, continuing resolutions, and supplemental appropriations bills.

Regular Appropriations Bills

Regular appropriations bills provide most of the funding that is provided in all appropriations measures for a fiscal year and must be enacted by October 1, the beginning of the fiscal year. Often, regular appropriation bills may be packaged together in omnibus or minibus bills. According to the Congressional Research Service, "there is no agreed upon definition of omnibus appropriations measure, but the term minibus appropriations measure has sometimes been used to refer to a measure including only a few regular appropriations bills, while omnibus appropriations measure refers to a measure containing several regular bills."

FY21 Regular Appropriations Bills and Reports


Continuing Resolutions

If regular bills are not enacted by the beginning of the new fiscal year, Congress adopts continuing resolutions to continue funding, generally until regular bills are enacted.

Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act

Search for past continuing resolutions in Public Laws and Statutes at Large collections.


Supplemental Appropriations Bills

Supplemental appropriations provide additional appropriations to become available during a fiscal year.

Search for past supplemental appropriations bills in Public Laws and Statutes at Large collections.


Budget of the U.S. Government

The annual Federal appropriations process begins with the publication of the Budget of the United States Government. Issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Budget of the U.S. Government is a collection of documents that contains the budget message of the President, information about the President's budget proposals for a given fiscal year, and other budgetary publications that have been issued throughout the fiscal year. According to the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the president must annually submit a budget to Congress by the first Monday in February.

See Budget of the U.S. Government for FY21 | Browse previous year budgets | Learn more about the Budget of the U.S. Government


Budget Resolution

A Budget Resolution is "legislation in the form of a concurrent resolution setting forth the congressional budget. The budget resolution establishes various budget totals, divides spending totals into functional categories (e.g., transportation), and may include reconciliation instructions to designated House or Senate committees." (Source: Senate.gov )

The drafting of the annual concurrent resolution on the budget is the chief responsibility of the House Committee on the Budget and the Senate Committee on the Budget. Each chamber introduces its own resolution, which, when jointly agreed to by the House and the Senate, becomes the so called “budget resolution."

S. Con. Res. 12, April 1, 2019, set forth the congressional budget for the U.S. for fiscal year 2020 and the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2021 through 2024.


Visit crsreports.congress.gov to view an Appropriations Status Table.