Articles Posted in Legislative Information

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The legislative branch of the United States government (embodied in Congress, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate) is the cornerstone of the federal lawmaking process and a central pillar of the constitutional system of checks and balances. Through its exclusive powers to enact laws, oversee the executive branch, and shape national policy, Congress functions within a broader framework of shared authority known as the separation of powers.

In this posting, we explore key questions surrounding the legislative process, followed by overviews of congressional powers beyond lawmaking, the practical operation of separation of powers, and the exercise of war powers in a divided government. Our goal is to provide material that will be useful to law and legislative librarians, the legal profession at large, and anyone whose work or civic responsibilities require engagement with these fundamental issues.

I. Lawmaking Authority

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From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), June 12, 2025:*

OVERVIEW:

“This interactive tool illustrates the distributional effects of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. It allows users to explore how H.R. 1, as passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025, would affect the economic resources available to households grouped on the basis of their income. (See CBO’s estimate of the budgetary effects of the bill.)

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Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Report, June 5, 2025.

CBO estimates that debt-service costs under H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, would total $551 billion over the 2025–2034 period—increasing the bill’s cumulative effect on the deficit to $3.0 trillion.

Summary:

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As ordered by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on March 25, 2025.

From the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) :

H.R. 1295 would reauthorize and expand through December 2026 the authority for the President to develop a government reorganization plan and submit that plan to the Congress under an expedited legislative procedure. Under the bill, such a plan could include reducing the federal workforce, decreasing the cost and burden of regulatory compliance, and eliminating government operations that are not in the public interest. The bill also would expand the number of agencies subject to such a reorganization.

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Congressional Budget Office’s  transparency efforts are intended to promote a thorough understanding of its work, help people gauge how estimates might change if policies or circumstances differed, and enhance the credibility of its analyses and processes

SUMMARY:

Transparency is a top priority for the Congressional Budget Office, and the agency continues to bolster its efforts to be transparent. Those efforts are intended to promote a thorough understanding of CBO’s work, help people gauge how estimates might change if policies or circumstances differed, and enhance the credibility of the agency’s analyses and processes.

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Report-April 11, 2025.

The Congressional Budget Office* “(CBO) provides an overview of federal tax credits that support investment in wind and solar electric power. The agency also explains how it assesses the credits’ budgetary and economic effects and how its baseline reflects JCT’s revenue estimates.”

SUMMARY:

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April 10, 2025, Report

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analyzed the effects of an alternative budget scenario in which certain provisions of the 2017 tax act were extended permanently and revenues were reduced by additional amounts.

SUMMARY:

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)* analyzed the effects of alternative budget scenarios in which provisions of the 2017 tax act were extended and the average interest rate on federal debt increased.

Summary:

This letter responds to a request for an analysis of projected deficits and debt under alternative scenarios for the budget and interest rates. Specifically, Congressman Schweikert asked how CBO’s baseline projections of deficits and debt—which reflect the scheduled expiration of certain provisions of the 2017 tax act (Public Law 115-97) under current law—would change if all provisions of that act were extended permanently. Congressman Schweikert also asked how the projections would change further if interest rates were higher than expected.

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)* has created a workbook to allow users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables relative to the values underlying CBO’s January 2025 projections.

SUMMARY:

This workbook allows users to define and analyze alternative economic scenarios by specifying differences in the values of four economic variables—productivity growth, labor force growth, interest rates, and inflation—relative to the values underlying the Congressional Budget Office’s most recent projections. Those projections were published in The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2025 to 2035.

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From: Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Posted by Phil Swagel, CBO Director on February 24, 2025.

Fifty years ago today, Alice Rivlin was appointed to lead the Congressional Budget Office as the agency’s first director. Gathering in a single room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building (CBO’s original home), Rivlin and a few assistants began the process of standing up a new nonpartisan agency dedicated to supporting the Congressional budget process.

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