Kansas GOP Senator Marshall wants to revise federal budgeting process, change CBO estimates

As lawmakers scramble to assemble the 12 appropriations bills providing money for federal agencies to spend on programs each year, one lawmaker is calling for major reforms to the process.

The Budget Reform Act of 2025, introduced Tuesday by U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., would change the appropriations schedule from annually to every two years and establish strict, penalty-carrying budget deadlines for Congress and the president.

Even though the federal funding process is supposed to follow a regular schedule with specific deadlines, the last time Congress completed the process on time was in 1997.

“With the U.S. national debt exceeding $36 trillion, it’s clear that the federal budgeting process is a dysfunctional mess. Congress continues to lurch from crisis to crisis without any long-term vision or accountability,” Marshall said in a statement. “Rather than continue to repeat the same missteps that have burdened us and our grandchildren with debt they can never repay, we need radical change.”

Lawmakers in 2024 never passed a fiscal year 2025 budget, instead passing three consecutive Continuing Resolutions to keep government funding on cruise control until the end of the current fiscal year, Sept. 30.

Marshall's bill also would require the Congressional Budget Office to publicly publish the fiscal models used for its budget forecasts, as well as revise its baseline.

Currently, CBO treats automatic renewal of federal spending as having no impact on the debt and deficit but does not use the same assumption for tax cut renewals. This creates a bias towards spending increases rather than spending cuts in budget projections, encouraging a fiscally irresponsible government, Marshall said.

Under the legislation, no federal program except Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security would be able to use prior year funding as a baseline.

“These fundamental changes will hold the President, Congress, and federal agencies accountable, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent appropriately and transparently,” Marshall said. “At a minimum, this is what the American people deserve. It’s beyond time for a fix; it’s time for the Budget Reform Act of 2025.”