Incremental Thinking: "Congressional Debate on the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 (Excerpts)"

Editors' Note : The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 was designed to improve the budget-making process of the national legislature. Although this new process has been in use for less than a decade, proposals for a constitutional amendment to limit the budget powers of the federal government are advancing through Congress. In assessing the potential and problems of budget reform, it would be wise to recall the expectations that animated the introduction of presidential budgeting more than 60 years ago. The following excerpts from the October 1919 debate in the House of Representatives on the legislation that ultimately became the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 have a contemporary ring. The problems are not new, and one wonders whether the solutions are as easy as some claim.     

Congressional Budget Reform: Impact on the Appropriations Committees

The congressional budget process has undergone several major reforms in the last twenty years: the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and 1987 (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings I and II) and the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (BEA) that have had a direct impact on the Appropriations Committees and the appropriations process. This article evaluates that impact on the decision-making capacity and power of the Appropriations Committees.     

The 1990 Budget Package: Redefining the Debate

The debate of budgeting issues in the 1980s culminated in a dramatic change in 1990—the passage of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. The negotiations leading to this agreement considered the status of the deficit and the philosophical shift from "no new taxes" to "fair taxes." It led to changes in direct spending, enforcement of budget targets, timing of the budget, sequesters usage, tax increases, and entitlement reforms.     

The President's Fiscal Year 1992 Budget: Almost Quiet on the Budgetary Front

The Fiscal Year 1992 Budget was prepared under unusual conditions. The Persian Gulf War, the piesident's disinterest in domestic issues, the bitter debate over the fiscal year 1991 budget, and the upcoming re-apportionment all combined to make this year atypical The result is a document in which the most substantial change is the cover—a patriotic red, white, and blue Inside, it uses the "one book" format of fiscal year 1991 The budget examines different interpretations of the budget deficit, implements major changes in budgetary accounting, and outlines assumptions made in preparing the budget. Overall, the budget document consolidates the gains made in 1990     

The Budget Enforcement Act and Its Survival: Congress Hears from Experts

The unpopularity of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 grew in light of the recession, recent international events, and continuing record budget deficits. This prompted many Congress members and congressional committees to consider the future of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. Two hearings, held in October and November of 1991, exemplify the kinds of choices facing the Congress and the type of advice that Congress has been receiving. This article reviews the testimony given at the hearings by experts with established knowledge of federal budgeting.     

The Ups and Downs of State Budget Process Reform: Experience of Three Decades

From zero-base budgeting to the Government Performance and Results Act, state budgeting systems have been synonymous with budgeting reform for over 30 years. This article examines the trends, both long-term and short-term, which have been identified through analysis of state budgeting office practices. Particular emphasis has been placed on understanding the changes in performance measurement over the period of 1970 to 2000. The findings reveal trends such as changes in the makeup of budget office personnel, a lack of budget offices in moving toward cost accounting, and trends in budget preparation and budget documents. Some budget reforms seem to have plateaued, beginning in the mid-1990s, while other reforms have exhibited "backsliding." It is clear that the states are not all marching in unison in reforming their budget systems. As with earlier phases of this study, the 2000 data raise many questions that will be explored in future research.     

The Policy Constraints of Deficit Reduction: President Clinton's 1995 Budget

The federal budgeting process is now limited by deficit reduction policy constraints. This article examines the FY 1995 budget requests within the context of long term budget trends, changes in the federal budget process, and the recently established political and fiscal budget constraints. It further examines enactment of the Omnibus Budget Enforcement Act of 1993, the policy changes it contained, and its further tinkering with the process of budgeting. Finally the article evaluates the first budgeting process of the Clinton administration and their initiatives in deficit reduction following these policy constraints.     

The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990: The Path to No Fault Budgeting

The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, included in the controversial and comprehensive budget legislation passed by Congress in October, makes a number of significant changes in federal budgeting. It shifts the focus of the budget process from deficit reduction to spending control, provides five-year spending totals and mini-sequesters for defense, international and domestic appropriations, and puts entitlements and revenue expenditures on a pay-as-you-go basis. The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings deficit targets have been raised substantially, Social Security surpluses taken out of the deficit calculation and allowance made for further adjustments for inflation, Operation Desert Shield, and other emergency spending, minimizing the prospect for general sequestration. OMB has been given important new estimating authority and the roles of the congressional committees involved in budgeting have been altered.     

Do Politicians Listen to Experts? The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 and The Capacity to Budget

Last year offered a unique opportunity to compare the ideas of experts and politicians. The 1990 Budget Enforcement Act changed the federal budget process. Allen Schick's 1990 book, The Capacity to Budget, included ideas on how to improve budgeting at the federal level. A comparison is made between the new law and the new ideas in several areas of the budgetary process: deficit reduction; resource rationing; adjustment to changing expenditures; increasing budget honesty; decreasing conflict; rou-tinizing the process; integrating the parts of the budget; and balancing claims and resources.     

The Hard Road to Fiscal Responsibility

The paper describes the current fiscal problems of the United States showing that without significant changes in revenue and spending policies, the country is headed for a sovereign debt crisis similar to that afflicting countries in Southern Europe. Numerous committees and commissions have offered policy options that would stabilize the debt–GDP ratio in the long run. The proposals of the President's National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and the Bipartisan Policy Center's Deficit Reduction Task Force are described in detail. Elected politicians have not been enthusiastic about the work of these bodies. Only the House has passed a budget that would stabilize the debt and that proposal is analyzed as is the president's response. The paper goes on to describe the Budget Control Act that was passed after the debt limit debate in the summer of 2011.     

Introduction: Reflections on Two Decades of Congressional Budgeting

Even casual observers of federal policy making cannot help but notice the increasing preeminence of the Congressional budget process. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which created this process, brought forth profound changes in budgeting practices, both within Congress and between Congress and the president. In addition, the last decade has seen numerous attempts to use the process for deficit control. The goal of this special symposium is how congressional procedures-adapted over time-have affected the federal budgeting process. Each article examines the original purpose of the 1974 statute and analyzes the statute's impact over more than two decades.     

Is The National Budget Controllable?

Previous scholarly analyses of national spending have shown a penchant for incre-mentalism in interpreting changes. They have also focused almost exclusively on annual national outlays or annual expenditures. This article argues that, in many cases, budget authority figures provide a better basis for analyzing the national budget. The author gathered annual budget authority (BA) figures from fiscal years 1969 to 1993 and used this BA data for an empirical test of budget controllability. If the national budget has or has not been controlled in the recent past, then it should help us to judge whether or not it is controllable now. Five potential major budget interventions from fiscal year 1980 to 1993 were tested using an interrupted time-series and two regression models. Different intervention results are anticipated depending upon whether one has a policy perspective that is incrementalist, international systemic, or domestic political. The analysis provides more support for the domestic political perspective than for incrementalist or international systemic views. Budget authority was found to be superior to outlays for linking budget results to policy decisions. The national budget responded appropriately to policy decisions in the recent past. In this sense, the budget was controlled and we should view it as controllable.     

Managerial Necessity and the Art of Creating Surpluses: The Budget-Execution Process in West Virginia Cities

Budget execution traditionally has been defined as a straightforward process of implementing the budget as approved. Research into the process has been limited, particularly with regard to local government budgets. This article examines the rebudgeting process using a case study of 15 West Virginia cities. Rebudgeting displayed a consistent pattern for the various budget categories—personnel, contracts, commodities, capital, and contributions—closely resembling the "increase-then-decrease" pattern seen in the overall budget. Empirical data on budgetary adjustments and structured interviews with city finance officials helped to describe budget changes and explain probable causes and effects of behavior during budget execution for these smaller cities. Budget changes were found to be the result of managerial necessity and the exercise of discretion to generate and distribute surpluses.     

The Evolution of the Office of Management and Budget Under President Reagan

This article introduces a series of retrospective articles on the Reagan administration. The Office of Management and Budget became a major actor in the budget debate over the last eight years. The Reagan administration has seen a change in OMB's role from that of an advisor to the president, to an agency with a central role to play in the development of the president's foreign and domestic policy within budgetary constraints. The article focuses on how OMB has reacted to these changes producing budget conventions and techniques unique to the 1980s.     

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985

This article briefly describes the legislative history of the old-age, survivors, and disability insurance (OASDI) and supplemental security income (SSI) provisions, as well as related Medicare and Medicaid provisions, of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (Public Law 99-272). It includes a chronology outlining the interaction of the budget reconciliation process with the development of the OASDI minor and technical changes bill (H.R. 2005) and the development of other social security related legislation resulting in proposals that ultimately combined in the overall Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985. The article also provides a detailed summary of the provisions of the legislation.     

The Bush Administration's Proposal for Credit Reform: Background, Analysis, and Policy Issues

Large recent and forecasted federal outlays to cover losses on deposit insurance and federally-assisted credit have increased concern in the executive and legislative branches about potential future liabilities of the federal government. These potential liabilities include federal credit; consequently, this renewed interest in federal credit reform. Credit reform would have to change the budgetary treatment of federal direct loans and federal guaranteed loans. Currently, the unified budget measures the cost of federal credit on a cash flow basis. Critics (including the Bush Administration) maintain that the appropriate budgetary measure of the costs of federal credit is the present value of the subsidies to credit recipients in the fiscal year that the credit is advanced. The Bush Administration's proposal for credit reform is presented in most detail in the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1989 (the Act), which was proposed but not enacted. The Act would have had federal officials estimate credit subsidies based on the equivalent interest rates in private credit markets. These subsidies would have been used to measure the budgetary cost of federal credit and would have required annual appropriations. Two credit revolving funds would have been established in the Treasury to finance credit flows. Many of these credit reform practices were included in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 though.     

地方治理中的参与式预算——关于浙江温岭市新河镇改革的案例研究

参与式预算是一种公民直接参与决策的治理形式,是参与式民主的一种形式.实施参与式预算,能够促进公共学习和激发公民的权利意识,通过改善政策和资源分配,实现社会公正,以及改革行政机构.在这种直接的、自愿和普遍参与的民主过程中,人们能够平等讨论和决定公共预算、各项政策以及政府管理.在充分吸收国外参与式预算实践的基础上,浙江省新河镇基于国家既有的法律框架,以及民主恳谈的制度平台,开始实施预算改革,扩大了公民参与政府决策的广度和深度,深刻地影响着中国基层民主的发展.在理论分析和实地调查的基础上,运用比较分析的方法,初步探讨了参与式预算在中国地方治理中的兴起与发展,力图为中国地方治理,以及基层民主政治建设提供新的观察视角.     

From analyst to negotiator: The OMB's new role

Dramatic changes in the executive and legislative budget processes over the last ten years have elevated the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to a new position of power and importance. Within the executive branch the budget process has become more highly centralized in the president's office; and within the Congress a similar centralization has occurred. In both branches the OMB has become the key institution for coordinating the actions of the budget-making powers. At the same time, the much-discussed “iron triangles” explored by analysts of the budgetary system have lost much of their power to control the process. Although the OMB's active involvement in the congressional budget process diminished in 1983, the institutional relationships necessary for a more centralized budget process remain and can be reactivated to deal with the predicted enormous deficits.     

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974: Restraining or Reviving Presidential Power?

The power to impound allows the president to cancel or postpone the spending of appropriated funds. Over the years Congress has struggled with the challenge of maintaining some control over impoundment actions while still allowing sufficient discretion for the president during budget implementation. This article examines the events leading up to the passage of the Impoundment Control Act as Title X of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, and the framework established by the law. It provides some analysis of data on rescissions and deferrals in the period from 1975–1995 and reviews efforts to grant the president expanded impoundment authority, culminating in the passage of the Line Item Veto Act of 1996. On April 10, 1997, the new law was found unconstitutional by a district court, but on June 26 the Supreme Court set aside that earlier decision on jurisdictional grounds, ruling that the plaintiffs (six members of Congress) lacked proper legal standing to bring the case ( Raines v. Byrd , 96–1671). However, the Supreme Court decision was confined to this technical issue and did not address the underlying constitutional questions. Whatever the further legal developments relating to the Line Item Veto Act, the article suggests that the issue of restraining or reviving presidential impoundment power will remain unsettled.     

Reflections on Budget Systems

Several prominent budget systems of past years, such as the Planning Programming Budget System and Zero-Base Budgeting, are no longer popular as comprehensive systems, each system has had a continuing effect on current practices. This article comments on the usefulness of several features of budget systems particularly from a management perspective. It also offers several criteria for design of budget systems which, it is hoped, would help prevent some of the problems that have been encountered in the past.