PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 9, 2019
Bipartisan Budget and Appropriations Reform Act of 2019
This bill modifies the federal budget process to require biennial congressional budget resolutions, instead of the annual budget resolutions required under current law. The bill retains the existing annual process for budget reconciliation and appropriations bills.
The bill also modifies the budget process to
allow budget resolutions that have bipartisan support, establish a target for the ratio of the public debt to the gross domestic product, and meet other specified requirements to be considered in the Senate using expedited procedures;
require the congressional budget committees to hold joint hearings to hear testimony from the Comptroller General regarding the audited financial statements of the executive branch and the financial position and condition of the federal government;
allow budget resolutions to include the total combined outlays and revenues for tax expenditures; and
require the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to serve on the Senate Budget Committee.
People & committees
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI] · D–RI
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.63 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.63 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.63 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.63 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.