Is the Outgoing or Incoming President Required to Submit the Budget? The deadline for submission of the budget, first set in 1921 as "on the first day of each regular session," has changed several times over the years:
in 1950, to "during the first 15 days of each regular session"; in 1985, to "on or before the first Monday after January 3 of each year (or on or before February 5 in 1986)"; and in 1990, to "on or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year." The 1990 change in the deadline made it possible for an outgoing President to leave the annual budget submission to his successor, an option which the three outgoing Presidents since then (George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush) took. Similarly, the budget for FY2002 was submitted by the incoming President George W. Bush, rather than by outgoing President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush indicated early on that he would not submit a budget for FY2010. President Barack Obama submitted an overview of his budget, "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise" on February 26, 2009, two days after delivering an address on his economic and budget plan to a joint session of Congress. Six incoming Presidents chose to modify their predecessor's budget by submitting revisions shortly after taking office: Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan. Two incoming Presidents during this period (Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan) submitted budget revisions and one (George H.W. Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush submitted the original budgets for FY1994 and FY2002 (on April 8, 1993, and April 9, 2001, respectively), and President Obama submitted the FY2010 budget on May 7, 2009. Special Messages to Congress

Although Presidents Reagan, Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama did not submit detailed budget proposals until April or May of their first year in office, each of them advised Congress regarding the general contours of their economic and budgetary policies in special messages submitted to Congress in February.
At the time of a presidential transition, one question commonly asked is whether the outgoing or incoming President submits the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
Under past practices, outgoing Presidents in transition years submitted a budget to Congress just prior to leaving office, and incoming Presidents usually revised them. Six incoming Presidents—Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan—revised their predecessor's budget shortly after taking office, while only two Presidents during this period, Lyndon Johnson and George H. W. Bush, chose not to do so.
The deadline for submission of the President's budget, which has been changed several times over the years, was set in 1990 as "on or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year." The change made it possible for an outgoing President, whose term ends on January 20, to leave the annual budget submission to his successor.
The three outgoing Presidents since the 1990 change—George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush—exercised this option. Accordingly, the budget was submitted in 1993, 2001, and 2009 by the three incoming Presidents (Bill Clinton for FY1994, George W. Bush for FY2002, and Barack Obama for FY2010).
Before President Barack Obama, the last three incoming Presidents that submitted a budget or revised their predecessor's budget (Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush) did not submit detailed budget proposals during their transitions until early April; however, each of them advised Congress regarding the general contours of their economic and budgetary policies in a special message submitted to Congress in February concurrently with a presentation made to a joint session of Congress.
President Barack Obama followed a comparable approach. He delivered an address on his economic and budget plan to a joint session of Congress on February 24, 2009, and submitted an overview document two days later. He submitted his detailed budget proposal on May 7, 2009, and submitted additional supplemental volumes four days later, on May 11, 2009.
This report will be updated as developments warrant.