The congressional budget resolution establishes spending priorities by setting an overall spending limit for the government and dividing that spending among the 20 major functional categories of the federal budget.  Committees with jurisdiction over these functions must operate within these amounts, which are called 302(a) allocations, in order to stay within the overall spending limit established by the budget resolution.

The budget resolution sets the 302(a) allocation for the Appropriations Committee, which is the overall cap on discretionary spending.  For FY14, the 302(a) allocation is $967 billion.