A string of rail accidents dominates the news, and a Senate committee holds hearings before any bill is drafted. What stage of the policy process is this?

After a health problem reaches the national agenda, staff compare several plans and turn one solution into bill language. What stage is this?

The House and Senate pass identical clean-water legislation, and the President signs it. What stage has the policy reached?

After Congress creates a school-lunch nutrition program, an agency hires staff, opens applications, and sends instructions to districts. What stage is this?

Two years after a job-training law begins, auditors compare program costs with employment results and recommend changes. What stage is this?

A mayor asks Congress to address housing costs, but federal officials have not yet chosen a specific plan or written legislation. What stage is being pushed?

The federal government's fiscal year begins on what date?

During executive budget formulation, federal agencies send budget requests to which White House office before the President sends a request to Congress?

Federal law says the President submits the annual budget after the first Monday in January and no later than what deadline?

Congress agrees on a plan setting total spending and revenue targets, but it is not a law and is not signed by the President. What is it?

A department's program is authorized, but Congress must still provide full-year budget authority for salaries and contracts. What bill supplies that money?

Congress tells an agency to set safety standards but leaves the details to the agency. To begin ordinary notice-and-comment rulemaking, what does the agency publish?

An agency proposes an emission limit, receives comments, responds to major concerns, and issues text amending the CFR. What has it produced?

Under 5 U.S.C. §553, after notice of proposed rulemaking, interested persons may submit written data, views, or arguments. What step is that?

A final rule appears in the Federal Register and is later organized by subject title in the official compilation of agency regulations. What publication is that?

A bill creating a food-safety grant has passed the House, but the Senate has not voted. For the proposal to become law, what actor must act next?

Congress passes a law that creates a flood-mapping program and sets its rules, but the law gives the agency no money to spend. What kind of law is this?

It is September 30, and no regular appropriations act covers an agency for the fiscal year beginning tomorrow. What action avoids a funding lapse?

A statute says every person meeting age and work-history rules receives monthly payments, with spending set by eligibility formulas rather than annual caps. What output is this?

Congress sends funds to states for a narrow purpose, such as replacing lead pipes, and states must spend the money only on that program. What output is this?