Who in Washington is actually responsible for pulling all of this together and fixing it?
This video answers that question, with the transcript that follows.
The surprising answer is: There really isn’t one person or committee in charge of the entire federal budget. And that helps explain why fixing our fiscal problems is so difficult.
Congress is supposed to create a budget
Every year, the President proposes a budget. Then the House and Senate Budget Committees are supposed to create an overall congressional budget framework — how much the government should spend, collect and borrow.
The House and Senate ultimately have to agree on the same budget resolution. But Congress frequently doesn’t even complete that step. From fiscal years 2010 through 2025, Congress adopted a budget resolution only seven times in sixteen years.
Meanwhile, a budget resolution isn’t actually a law funding the government. It’s essentially Congress agreeing with itself on a blueprint. The President doesn’t even sign it. If we even get this far, then the hard work begins.
Different committees control different pieces
For taxes and Social Security, the major committees are House Ways and Means and Senate Finance.
For Medicare and Medicaid, Senate Finance is extremely important. In the House, responsibility is divided largely between Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce.
Then the House and Senate Appropriations Committees divide annual discretionary spending among 12 separate appropriations bills covering defense, transportation, education, homeland security and most federal agencies.
Defense gets another layer because the Armed Services Committees authorize defense programs, while Appropriations provides the annual funding.
And interest on our debt? There’s no committee that can simply cut that bill. It’s largely the result of how much we’ve already borrowed and the interest rates we’re paying.
So who actually pulls all of this together?
Congressional leadership and the President ultimately have to do it.
Today that means Republican Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, and Republican John Thune, Senate Majority Leader.
But for a durable bipartisan agreement, the minority leaders matter too: Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic Leader, and Democrat Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic Leader. Of course, this can all change during the next election cycle!
So:
Leadership drives the deal.
Committees build the pieces.
Congress has to pass it.
The President has to sign it.
Leadership can make fiscal reform a priority, get the relevant committees working, negotiate compromises between the House and Senate, work with the President, assemble legislation and find the votes to pass it. But there is still no permanent CEO of America’s fiscal system with the authority to say:
“We’re going to fix Social Security, Medicare, taxes, defense and other spending — and make sure the whole thing adds up.”
It requires coordination among all of them.
Then why do we keep hearing about government shutdowns?
That’s actually a separate issue.
A shutdown does not happen because Congress failed to pass a budget resolution. It happens when Congress and the President fail to enact the appropriations needed to fund parts of the government. Ideally, Congress passes all 12 appropriations bills before the fiscal year begins October 1. It often doesn’t.
So Congress passes temporary funding called a continuing resolution, or CR. If that funding expires before another agreement is reached, affected parts of the government shut down.
The frustrating part is that Congress can spend weeks fighting over a government shutdown without fundamentally addressing Social Security, Medicare or our long-term debt problem.
What happens if we continue doing this?
Eventually our choices could become much worse. A fiscal crisis doesn’t necessarily mean America suddenly runs out of money. It could mean investors demand substantially higher interest rates to lend to us. Interest costs rise. Other spending gets squeezed. Economic growth could suffer. And Washington suddenly has to make difficult decisions under enormous pressure. Reforms that could have been phased in gradually over decades might have to happen much faster.
Taxes could rise sharply. Benefits could be cut more abruptly. Other spending could be cut.
Nobody knows exactly when or how such a crisis would occur. But that’s exactly why we should deal with this before we’re forced to.
So who should Americans (YOU!) pressure?
I’d put them into two groups.
First: the people who can actually pull a deal together.
Republican Mike Johnson — Speaker of the House.
Republican John Thune — Senate Majority Leader.
Democrat Hakeem Jeffries — House Democratic Leader.
Democrat Chuck Schumer — Senate Democratic Leader.
And, of course, the President.
Then there are the people leading the committees that would have to build the major pieces.
For the overall budget:
Republican Jodey Arrington and Democrat Brendan Boyle on House Budget.
Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Jeff Merkley on Senate Budget.
For taxes, Social Security and healthcare:
Republican Jason Smith and Democrat Richard Neal on House Ways and Means.
And Republican Mike Crapo — pronounced CRAY-po — and Democrat Ron Wyden on Senate Finance.
These are people I think Americans should be pressuring now, to get together and develop a comprehensive, bipartisan, long-term fiscal plan.
And what happens after the midterms?
The names can change, adding yet more complexity.
Right now (August, 2026) Republicans control both chambers. If Democrats take the House, Democrats will control the House committees and select their chairs. They would also have the votes to elect the Speaker. If Democrats take the Senate, Democrats will control the Senate committees and the Senate agenda. If Democrats take both, control of all these congressional institutions changes.
So don’t become too attached to the names.
Focus on the positions.
The Speaker of the House.
The Senate Majority Leader.
The minority leaders.
The Budget Committees.
Ways and Means.
Senate Finance.
And the President.
Those are the people and institutions we should be pressuring to stop governing from crisis to crisis and finally develop a long-term plan for America’s finances.
Because the longer we wait, the fewer good choices we’re likely to have.