S. 181 (119th)Bill Overview

A bill to require agencies submit zero-based budgets.

Economics and Public Finance|AppropriationsBudget deficits and national debt
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 22, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p>This bill requires federal agencies to submit zero-based budgets to the Office of Management and Budget and the congressional budget committees<em>.&nbsp;</em>Under the bill, a<em>&nbsp;zero-based budget</em> is a systematic budget analysis in which managers (1) examine current objectives, operations, and costs; (2) consider alternative ways of carrying out programs or activities; and (3) rank different programs or activities by order of importance.</p><p>The bill also requires federal agencies to submit recommendations to reduce spending by at least 2% from the previous year's levels. The Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration are exempt from this requirement.</p>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.

<p>This bill requires federal agencies to submit zero-based budgets to the Office of Management and Budget and the congressional budget committees<em>.&nbsp;</em>Under the bill, a<em>&nbsp;zero-based budget</em> is a systematic budget analysis in which managers (1) examine current objectives, operations, and costs; (2) consider alternative ways of carrying out programs or activities; and (3) rank different programs or activities by order of importance.</p><p>The bill also requires federal agencies to submit recommendations to reduce spending by at least 2% from the previous year's levels.

The Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration are exempt from this requirement.</p>

Passage38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood38/100

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for A bill to require agencies submit zero-based budgets..

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

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