Prentice Hall PoliticalScience Interactive

1. Prentice HallPoliticalScienceInteractive Thomas R. Dye Politics in America Special Topic Chapter 12 The Budgetary Process

2. The Budgetary Process

3. The Office of Management and Budget Responsibilities of the OMB • budget preparation • Improving the organization and management of executive agencies • Coordinating the statistical services of the federal government • Analyzing and reviewing proposed legislation

4. The President’s Budget December The president and the OMB director prepare The Budget of the United States Government Each budget is named for the fiscal year in which it ends Late January President presents Congress with the Budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1st

5. House and Senate Budget Committees The president’s budget is sent initially to the House and Senate Budget Committees, which rely on the Congressional Budget Office for review Budget Resolution Congressional bill setting forth target budget figures for appropriations to various government departments and agencies

6. The Budgetary Process Authorization Act of Congress that establishes a government program and defines the amount of money it many spend Continuing Resolution Congressional bill that authorizes government agencies to keep spending money for a specified period at the same level as in the previous fiscal year; passed when Congress is unable to enact final appropriations measures by October 1

7. The Budgetary Process Outlays Actual dollar amounts to be spent by the federal government in a fiscal year Appropriations Act Congressional bill that provides money for programs authorized by Congress Obligational Authority Feature of some appropriations acts by which an agency is empowered to enter into contracts that will require the government to make payments beyond the fiscal year in question

8. The Budgetary Process

9. The Budgetary Process The 2005 Budget showed total outlays of $2.4 trillion, with a deficit of nearly $365 billion

10. The Budgetary Process Uncontrollable Spending The portion of the federal budget that is spent on programs, such as Social Security, that the president and Congress are unwilling to cut Entitlement Program Programs such as unemployment insurance, disaster relief, or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens

11. Incremental Budgeting Method of budgeting that focuses on requested increases in funding for existing programs, accepting as legitimate their previous year’s expenditures Zero-based Budgeting Method of budgeting that demands justification for the entire budget request of an agency, not just its requested increase in funding The Politics of Budgeting

12. Nonprogrammatic Budgeting Budgeting written in an intentionally ambiguous manner in order to obscure policy decisions behind meaningless phrases like “personnel sevices,” “travel,” “supplies,” etc. Program Budgeting A budget written in such a way that items in the budget are identified according to the functions and programs they are to be spent on Budgeting is Nonprogrammatic

13. Bureaucratic Budget Strategies • Spend it all • Ask for more • Put vital programs on the ‘base’ • Make new programs appear “incremental” • Give them something to cut • Make cuts hurt

14. The Federal Deficit