Once agreed to by both chambers in the exact same form, the budget resolution creates parameters that may be enforced in two primary ways: (1) by points of order, and (2) by using the budget reconciliation process. The budget resolution reflects an agreement between the House and Senate on a budgetary plan for the upcoming fiscal year. When the House and Senate do not reach final agreement on this plan, the budget process for the upcoming fiscal year may become complicated. Without an agreement on budgetary parameters, it may be more difficult for Congress to reach agreement on subsequent budgetary legislation, both within each chamber and between the chambers. Second, in the absence of agreement on a budget resolution, Congress may employ alternative legislative tools to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. These substitutes are typically referred to as "deeming resolutions," because they are deemed to serve in place of an agreement between the two chambers on an annual budget resolution for the purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels for the upcoming fiscal year (or multiple fiscal years). While referred to as deeming resolutions, such mechanisms are not formally defined and have no specifically prescribed content. Instead, they denote the House and Senate, often separately, engaging legislative procedures to deal with enforcement issues on an ad hoc basis. As shown in Table 1 , since the creation of the budget resolution, dates of adoption have varied, and there have been 10 years in which Congress did not come to agreement on a budget resolution. As shown in Table 2 , in each of those years, one or both chambers employed at least one deeming resolution to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. Similarly, the House passed a budget resolution for FY2007 on May 18, 2006, and agreed to a deeming resolution the same day.
The budget resolution reflects an agreement between the House and Senate on a budgetary plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Once agreed to by both chambers in the exact same form, the budget resolution creates parameters that may be enforced by (1) points of order and (2) using the budget reconciliation process.
When the House and Senate do not reach final agreement on this plan, it may be more difficult for Congress to reach agreement on subsequent budgetary legislation, both within each chamber and between the chambers.
In the absence of agreement on a budget resolution, Congress may employ alternative legislative tools to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution. These substitutes are typically referred to as "deeming resolutions," because they are deemed to serve in place of an annual budget resolution for the purposes of establishing enforceable budget levels for the upcoming fiscal year.
Since the creation of the budget resolution, there have been 10 years in which Congress did not come to agreement on a budget resolution. In each of those years, one or both chambers employed at least one deeming resolution to serve as a substitute for a budget resolution.
While referred to as deeming resolutions, such mechanisms are not formally defined and have no specifically prescribed content. Instead, they represent the House and Senate, often separately, engaging legislative procedures to deal with enforcement issues on an ad hoc basis. As described below, the mechanisms can vary significantly in content and timing. This report covers the use of deeming resolutions pertaining to fiscal years for which the House and Senate did not agree on a budget resolution.
While neither the House nor Senate have yet adopted a budget resolution for FY2020, they may still do so. In the meantime, on April 9, 2019, the House passed a deeming resolution for FY2020, H.Res. 293.