Budget
The budget: Questions of the budget: should money stay in the hands of businesses and individuals without taxation or should people be taxed for potentially beneficial programs? ... Congressmen should base their decision on the assumption that no more revenue will come in or that a larger deficit will not be accepted Have to fund entitlement programs such as SS b4 funding others Federal budget: - executive budget created by the President and his staff and approved by the congress and executed by the president o b4 1921 it was a legislative matter but people thought that no president should be forced to enforce something he or she had not created - Budget and accounting act of 1921: - Budgetary power in the executive branch and in the Executive Office of the President o In large part to the dominance of the OMB (office of management and budget) - CBO: provides congress with the analytical of the exec branch o Has had more say in budgetary decision including the balanced budget of 1998 - Line item:The final document appropriating funds allocates those funds into categories such as wages and salaries, supplies, travel, equipment and so forth o This forces those managers to use the money in very specific ways even if it might be cheaper to do it in other ways o Form of congressional oversight - annual budget is the federal budget but agencies are required to provide 5 yr expenditure forecasts - war, recession, etc influence the budget, which influences the programs that will be funded with that money - first step is to prepare how large the budget will be o budgets are prepared 16 months in advanced o fiscal year begins in oct.