National Congress of American Indians

November 2000

Budget Process Primer

In order to have the greatest impact on federal funding decisions affecting Indian Country programs, tribal leaders should have a full understanding of the federal budget process - from its earliest stages of development by the Executive Branch through the enactment of the 13 appropriations bills by the Congress. What follows is a timetable and brief description of the federal budget process, as well as a more detailed description of the steps that the Indian Health Service (IHS) takes to develop its annual budget request. The IHS process is a more formalized version of the basic procedures that most federal agencies follow with respect to working with the constituencies they serve.

The Budget Timetable

February 15 - Congressional Budget Office submits report to House and Senate Budget Committees.

Not Later Than 6 weeks After The President Submits His Budget - House and Senate Authorizing Committees submit their views and estimates to Budget Committees. Frequently, the House Budget Committee sets own date based on Legislative Calendar.

April 1 - Senate Budget Committee reports concurrent resolution on the budget.

April 15 - Congress completes action on the concurrent resolution on the budget, which does not have the force of law because it is not signed by the President.

May 15 - Annual appropriations bills may be considered in House.

June 10 - House Appropriation Committee reports last annual appropriation bill.

June 15 - Congress completes action on budget reconciliation legislation, if the earlier budget resolution requires it.

June 30 - House completes action on annual appropriations bills.

October 1 - Fiscal year begins.

The IHS Budget Process - A Walkthrough

Each of the twelve IHS Areas has a budget team who initiate the annual budget formulation process with local meetings where area-wide health, program and budget priorities. IHS holds training for the twelve area Regional teams, which usually meet in late February and early March.

From early March through mid-April, the IHS holds Area-wide meetings to develop budget recommendations. The Area budget teams submit two sets of recommendations for the national IHS budget, based on need and on Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rules.

From the end of April to the first week in May, the IHS holds a budget fiscal year National Work Session for all twelve regions. Then, IHS in the first week of May holds a Budget Workgroup Meeting to refine and finalize budget FY National Work Session recommendations.

In early June, a 12-member tribal and urban budget workgroup, along with the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), National Council on Urban Indian Health (NCUIH) and the Tribal Self Governance Advisory Committee (TSGAC) leadership, present the national need based budget to the DHHS and advocate for Indian health care needs. This meeting occurs prior to the official submission of the budget by the IHS to DHHS, which occurs no later than mid- June.

By end of August, DHHS submits its to OMB. After the Department submission of the IHS budget request to OMB, the budget workgroup and the national Indian organizations meet with OMB to advocate for the pending IHS budget request.

In mid-September, there is a budget workshop at the NIHB Annual Conference.

Finally, the IHS budget is submitted to Congress as part of the President's overall budget request on the first Monday in February. The budget workgroup, NCAI, and other Indian organizations maintain active roles after the President submits the official budget request to Congress by testifying at budget and appropriations hearings and by meeting with top level Executive Branch officials to ensure that the Indian health budget priorities are addressed in the final budget agreements.

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