United States Senate Committee on the Budget

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Senate Budget Committee
Standing committee
Active
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United States Senate
119th Congress
Senate Budget Committee.png
History
Formed1974
Leadership
Chair Lindsey Graham (R)
Since January 3, 2025
Ranking member Jeff Merkley (D)
Since January 3, 2025
Structure
Seats21
Political partiesMajority (11)
  •   Republican (11)
Minority (10)
Jurisdiction
Policy areas Budgetary policy and process, Fiscal policy, Government spending, Public debt, Tax expenditures
Oversight authority Congressional Budget Office
House counterpart House Budget Committee
Meeting place
608 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Website
www.budget.senate.gov
Rules

    The United States Senate Committee on the Budget was established by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. It is responsible for drafting Congress's annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal Government. The committee has jurisdiction over the Congressional Budget Office. The committee briefly operated as a special committee from 1919 to 1920 during the 66th Congress, before being made a standing committee in 1974. [1]

    Contents

    The current Chair is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, and the Ranking Member is Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley.

    Contrasted with other committees

    The Budget Committee should not be confused with the Finance Committee and the Appropriations Committee, both of which have different jurisdictions: The Finance Committee is analogous to the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives; it has legislative jurisdiction in the areas of taxes, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and some other entitlements. The Appropriations Committee has legislative jurisdiction over appropriations bills, which provide funding for government programs.

    While the budget resolution prepared by the Budget Committee sets out a broad blueprint for the Congress with respect to the total levels of revenues and spending for the government as a whole, these other Committees prepare bills for specific tax and spending policies.

    119th Congress

    Majority [2] Minority [3]

    Chairs, 1975–present

    ChairsPartyStateYears
    Edmund S. Muskie Democratic Maine 1975–1980
    Ernest F. Hollings Democratic South Carolina 1980–1981
    Pete Domenici Republican New Mexico 1981–1987
    Lawton Chiles Democratic Florida 1987–1989
    James Sasser Democratic Tennessee 1989–1995
    Pete Domenici Republican New Mexico 1995–2001
    Kent Conrad Democratic North Dakota 2001 [b]
    Pete Domenici Republican New Mexico 2001
    Kent Conrad Democratic North Dakota 2001–2003 [c]
    Don Nickles Republican Oklahoma 2003–2005
    Judd Gregg Republican New Hampshire 2005–2007
    Kent Conrad Democratic North Dakota 2007–2013
    Patty Murray Democratic Washington 2013–2015
    Mike Enzi Republican Wyoming 2015–2021
    Bernie Sanders Independent [a] Vermont 2021–2023
    Sheldon Whitehouse Democratic Rhode Island 2023–2025
    Lindsey Graham Republican South Carolina 2025–present

    Historical membership rosters

    118th Congress

    Majority [4] Minority [5]

    117th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    Source: [6]

    116th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    115th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    114th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    113th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    112th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    111th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    110th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    109th Congress

    MajorityMinority

    Notes

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Senator is formally an independent but caucuses with the Democrats.
    2. At the beginning of the 107th Congress in January 2001 the Senate was evenly divided. With a Democratic president and vice president still serving until January 20, the Democratic vice president was available to break a tie, and the Democrats thus controlled the Senate for 17 days, from January 3 to January 20. On January 3 the Senate adopted S. Res. 7 designating Democratic senators as committee chairs to serve during this period and Republican chairs to serve effective at noon on January 20, 2001.
    3. On June 6, 2001, the Democrats took control of the Senate after Senator James Jeffords (VT) changed from the Republican Party to Independent and announced that he would caucus with the Democrats.

    References

    1. Walter Stubbs (1985), Congressional Committees, 1789–1982: A Checklist, Greenwood Press, pp. 16–17
    2. S.Res. 16 (119th Congress)
    3. S.Res. 17 (119th Congress)
    4. S.Res. 30 (118th Congress)
    5. S.Res. 31 (118th Congress)
    6. "Committee Members | U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget".