Maya macguineas it has a very set calendar. Step number one, the president put out a budget in february. Host is that by law . Maya macguineas it is. For those who like the budget, we know about the budget act. It lays out basically a calendar of events. Following the president s budget, which interestingly is not required to be the starting point, but after he puts it out, the Congress Moves into action and another budget is put out. How much they think about the budget, to be political, it depends on which party it is. There are statements of the parties on what they want to do, less on realistically how we will move forward. The house and senate each put forth a budget, then they reconcile them. Then they have to put forward numbers. If you think about the budget, one third of it is discretionary, so it goes through the appropriations process and every year is determined how it will be spent. Two thirds of the budget is already set in law. Mandatory programs like medicaid and medica