Amending Requests After Transmittal of the Budget: Supplementals and Amendments 61.1. General policies. After the President's budget has been transmitted to Congress, appropriations requests may be transmitted separately to revise the original budget request for the current or budget year or to provide proposed appropriations language for legislative initiatives (e.g., items included in the budget as proposed for later transmittal). All proposed revisions must conform to the policies of the President. The requests may be for additional amounts or in the form of proposed changes in appropriations language that do not affect amounts previously requested, such as a change in a limitation on the use of revolving or trust funds. These requests may be either supplementals or amendments depending upon when they are transmitted (see section 61.2). Agencies should make every effort to postpone, until the following fiscal year, actions that would require supplemental appropriations. However, proposals that decrease or eliminate amounts will be submitted whenever such changes are warranted. Requests for supplementals and amendments that increase the amounts contained in the budget will be accompanied by proposals for reductions elsewhere in the agency (e.g., rescission proposals). Requested supplementals and amendments, including proposed changes in administrative expense limitations or authorizations of Government corporations and trust funds, will be considered only when: --existing law requires payments within the fiscal year (e.g., pensions, entitlements); --liability accrues under the law and it is in the Government's interest to liquidate the liability as soon as possible (e.g., claims on which interest is payable); --an emergency situation arises that requires unforeseen outlays for the preservation of life or property; --increased workload is uncontrollable except by statutory change; or --new legislation enacted after the submission of the annual budget will require additional funds within the fiscal year. Consideration of agency proposals for supplementals or amendments that are not transmitted in the annual budget normally takes a minimum of three weeks in OMB and the White House; agencies should allow for this timing when making requests. 61.2. Definitions. Supplementals are new appropriations requests that are transmitted after completion of action on an appropriations bill by the Appropriations Committees of both Houses, whether or not the appropriations have been enacted. They may be transmitted prior to or subsequent to transmittal of the succeeding annual budget document. These supplementals may be: --New supplementals, requesting additional amounts not previously anticipated; or --Supplementals covering deficiencies, requesting additional amounts necessary to cover an overobligation of funds. Amendments are proposed actions, including revisions to pending supplementals, that revise the President's budget request and are transmitted prior to completion of action on the budget request by the Appropriations Committees of both Houses of Congress. This would include appropriations language for activities authorized since transmittal of the President's budget that were included as a legislative proposal. 61.3. Materials required. An original and two copies of the materials listed below are required. Data will be revised, as appropriate, to reflect Presidential decisions. (a) Appropriations language.--The text of the appropriations language proposed for enactment should be prepared in accordance with section 31. Supplemental requests will be submitted in the format of exhibit 61A. Budget amendments will be submitted in the format of exhibit 61B. For amendments, the language proposed for the budget year in the President's budget, not the current year appropriation, is to be used as the base, i.e., changes are to be made to the original budget year proposed language; material that was shown in brackets is to be omitted, and changes to the language related to the proposed amendment are to be shown in brackets for deletions or underlined for new text. (b) Justification.--A justification should be prepared in accordance with applicable requirements of section 15.2. It should also include: --the reason why additional funds are required in the fiscal year requested, identifying specifically which of the circumstances described in section 61.1 applies; --an explanation of proposed language provisions, if necessary; --pertinent data concerning the effect on Federal civilian employment; and --for supplemental requests only: --the date when requested funds are needed for obligation, and --a statement of actual and estimated obligations for the year prepared on a quarterly basis and actual obligations by month for the previous three months. (c) Explanation of request.--A short explanation, including the effect of the request on outlays, suitable for transmittal to Congress as part of the President's proposal, is required. If appropriate, the explanation may be a synopsis of the major points that appear in the justification. (d) Budget schedules and receipts data.--The following materials will be prepared on letter size paper and submitted for affected accounts, if requested by OMB: --program and financing schedule, see section 32. If only a few items in a lengthy program by activities section are affected, the activity items not changed may be grouped in a single line. However, the "Financing" and "Relation of obligations to outlays" sections must be shown in full; --object classification schedule, see section 35; --personnel summary, see section 36.1, where appropriate; --receipts estimates, see section 21, when a supplemental or amendment will affect payments to a receipt account; and --schedules on status of direct loans or status of guaranteed loans, see section 33, when a supplemental or amendment affects the level of direct loan obligations or loan guarantee commitments. Column headings for these materials will be modified as follows: --For supplementals. The seventh digit of the account identification code, i.e., the transmittal code, will be entered as "1". Amount columns will be retitled as illustrated in exhibit 61C and used as indicated below: (1) Presently available (column 1).--Enter the amount available under previous appropriations enacted for the current fiscal year. (2) Proposed supplemental (column 2).--Enter the additional amount requested. (3) Revised estimate (column 3).--Enter the revised estimate of the total amounts needed for the year (column 1 plus column 2). --For amendments. The transmittal code will be entered as "0". Amount columns will be retitled as illustrated in exhibit 61B and used as indicated below: (1) Request pending (column 1).--Enter the amount of the estimate currently pending before Congress. Amounts included in the budget as items proposed for later transmittal should not be included. (2) Proposed amendment (column 2).--Enter the proposed change to the amount of the request currently pending before Congress, including amounts in the budget for items proposed for later transmittal. (3) Revised request (column 3).--Enter the total amount to be considered by Congress (column 1 plus column 2). (e) Letter from agency head.--The submission to OMB will be accompanied by a letter from the head of the agency that will include a statement concerning the validity of obligations, as required by 31 U.S.C. 1108 (see section 11.7). 61.4. Data to be furnished to Congress. Unless otherwise directed by the respective Committees, 15 copies of the following information will be furnished to each Appropriations Committee and 5 copies will be furnished to the Congressional Budget Office as part of the agency's justification to Congress of budget amendments and supplemental requests approved by the President: --program and financing schedule; --object classification; and --personnel summary. Column headings will be modified as appropriate (see section 61.3). When an agency requests two or more supplemental items, the submission should be assembled, with appropriate tabs identifying each item.