The Federal Budget Politics, Policy, Process

by Schick, Allen

• ISBN13: 9780815777267
• ISBN10: 0815777264
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

The U.S. government takes in and spends almost $2 trillion annually, and setting the budget that guides federal spending is an enormously complex undertaking. The federal budget entails the active participation of the president, key advisers, and many members of Congress, the efforts of thousands of staff in the executive and legislative branches, and the attention of numerous interest groups. It consists of thousands of big and small decisions, complicated rules and procedures, and debate over the composition and amount of public revenue and spending. With so much at stake, it is not surprising that budgeting is often a difficult, conflict-laden process. As big as the budget is, there is never enough money to satisfy all demands. As the budget has grown and become more prominent in U.S. political and economic life, the scope for conflict has expanded. In some years the budget is the centerpiece of the president's agenda as well as the vehicle for enacting much of Congress's legislative output. This revised and significantly expanded edition of The Federal Budget concerns the politics and processes of federal budgeting and the policies that emerge from them. It describes how budgeting works at each stage of executive and legislative action --from preparation of the president's budget through the appropriation and expenditure of funds --and assesses the impact of budget rules on policy decisions. It explains how the budget was transformed from deficit to surplus over the past five years and discusses various proposals to change the rules. It analyzes the changes in the appropriations process, friction between the president and Congress, and the reliance on omnibus legislation to resolve budget impasses. In addition to vital statistics and extracts from important documents, the book also features case studies that dramatize contemporary budgetary politics, providing readers with a "you are there" appreciation of how budgeting decisions are made in Washington.

Author Biography

Allen Schick is a visiting fellow in Governmental Studies at the Brookings Institution and a professor of public policy at the University of Maryland.

Table of Contents

Conflict and Resolution in Federal Budgeting	1	(7)
Conflict	2	(2)
Resolution	4	(1)
The Two Worlds of Budgeting	5	(3)
The Evolution of Federal Budgeting: From Surplus to Deficit to Surplus	8	(28)
Legislative Dominance: 1789--1921	9	(5)
Presidential Dominance: 1921--74	14	(4)
Congress versus the President: 1974--2000	18	(8)
How the Budget Was Balanced	26	(4)
Overview of the Annual Budget Cycle	30	(4)
Conclusion	34	(2)
The Budget's Shifting Boundaries	36	(12)
Receipts, Budgetary Resources, and Outlays	36	(2)
Scope of the Budget	38	(6)
Measuring the Budget	44	(3)
Conclusion	47	(1)
The Political Rules and Arithmetic of Budgeting	48	(26)
Budget Enforcement Rules	49	(1)
Discretionary and Direct Spending	50	(4)
The Politics of Budgetary Arithmetic	54	(2)
Baseline Projections	56	(4)
The Politics of Scoring	60	(10)
Economic Arithmetic	70	(2)
When Politics Meets Economics	72	(1)
Conclusion	73	(1)
The President's Budget	74	(31)
Presidential Roles and Styles	75	(4)
Changes in Presidential Budgeting	79	(2)
Formulating the President's Budget	81	(5)
The Office of Management and Budget	86	(4)
The President's Budget in Congress	90	(3)
The Veto Power	93	(4)
Information in the President's Budget	97	(1)
Conclusion	98	(7)
The Congressional Budget Process	105	(34)
Why Congress Has a Budget Resolution	106	(4)
Structure and Content of the Budget Resolution	110	(8)
Formulating the Budget Resolution	118	(1)
Floor Action	119	(4)
Why the Resolution Is Rarely Adopted on Schedule	123	(2)
The Reconciliation Process	125	(4)
Enforcing Congressional Budget Decisions	129	(5)
Scoring and Scorekeeping	134	(3)
Conclusion	137	(2)
Revenue Legislation	139	(24)
Revenue Legislation in Congress	140	(6)
PAYGO Rules	146	(1)
Impact of PAYGO on Congressional Behavior	147	(1)
Tax Expenditures	148	(2)
Rates versus Breaks: The 1980s versus the 1990s	150	(2)
Trends in Federal Revenue	152	(2)
Sources of Federal Revenue	154	(3)
Who Pays Federal Taxes?	157	(3)
User Charges	160	(1)
Offsetting Collections	161	(1)
Conclusion	161	(2)
Authorizing Legislation	163	(23)
Types of Authorizing Legislation	164	(8)
Authorizing Legislation in Congress	172	(3)
The Relationship of Authorizations and Appropriations	175	(6)
Direct Spending Legislation	181	(4)
Conclusion	185	(1)
The Appropriations Process	186	(55)
Types of Appropriations Acts	187	(2)
Tradition and Change	189	(4)
The Appropriations Committees and Their Subcommittees	193	(9)
Procedures and Politics of Committee Action	202	(13)
Procedures and Politics of House and Senate Action	215	(8)
Supplemental and Continuing Appropriations	223	(6)
Structure and Content of Appropriations Measures	229	(6)
Legislation and Limitations in Appropriations Acts	235	(1)
Interpreting Appropriations Measures	235	(3)
Conclusion	238	(3)
Managing Federal Expenditures	241	(26)
Spending Budget Resources	242	(13)
Managing Agency Finances	255	(11)
Conclusion	266	(1)
The Self-Correcting Budget Process	267	(18)
The Adequacy of Budget Controls	270	(2)
The Future of Self-Correction	272	(6)
Improving Self-Correction	278	(7)
Federal Budget--Related Internet Sites	285	(2)
Glossary	287	(12)
Index	299