Dear Smo,
The annual Budget Process, if you are referring to the political
process, is a process within which the budget is approved. It is
based, first and foremost, on the Budget and Accounting Act (1921),
and on the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974,
which established timetable for the process.
It begins with a submission of the budget by the President to the
Congress. Accodring to the Budget Act, the President's budget proposal
should be presented to the Congress on or before the first Monday in
February. The President's budget is quiet detailed: it contains a
"detailed outline of the Administration's policy and funding
priorities" (see [1]).
In the next step, the Congress discusses the budget. The process is
set by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (mentioned before). In
this step, the House and Senate Budget Committees Report the Budget
Resolution (see more here [2]). The Congress review the Presidential
Budget and may or may not adhere to it. However, since the Budget
reflectsthe President's agenda and priorities, and requires his
ultimate signature to implement spending, a dialectics of discourse
between the two sides developes - each side has something to lose.
The Congressional budget resolution provides the Congerss with an
opportunity to lay out it's fiscal and economic goals. Hearing on the
budget are ebing held at the The Budget Committees of the House and
the Senate. Experts on the subject, administration officials and
members of the congerss give testimony to the Committees. The
Comittees formate an initial text, based on these discussions. The
testimonies and views of other (Congessional) Committees must be heard
by February 25th. The law also specifies that the Senate Budget
Committee should hand out its version of the budget by April 1st;
there is no similar request from the House udget Committee, but it is
generally understood that "that House Budget Committee action will
proceed concurrently with that in the Senate." [1].
The budget resolution should include spending limits for discretionary
spending that serve as an internal control on spending through the
Appropriations process (see mroe here -
http://www.house.gov/rules_bud/app.htm). It may also include
instructions to Congressional committees to make changes in laws to
achieve the goal of a balanced budget.
After the budget resolution has been completed, full House and Senate
discuss the budget. After a separate discussions, the Hosue and Senate
meet to bridge over their differences in the resolutions. After its
approval, it doesn't have to be approved by the Presidential
sugnature.
Allocations are included in the bidget resolution, and sub-allocations
are then discussed by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees ,
and are accordingly developed into 13 different spenmding bills. The
13 bills are then discussed in Full House/senate settings. The House
discussions take place between May 15 and June 10. By June 30, final
House action on conference agreements for the 13 spending bills should
occur.
The appropriation bills are then brought to the President's approval
or Veto.
Reconcilliations (see http://www.house.gov/rules_bud/reconcil.htm),
created by the need to effect changes in existing law to modify
entitlement programs or tax policy, must be also discussed separately
by the House and the Senate, then together and then be approved by the
President, signed into a law.
Evaluation and scrutiny are important tools in any budget system.
Evaluation may be done using fiscal calculations; it adherence with
the administration's agenda. You can see a very bright explanation
here - http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2002/guide02.html
There are also means to monitor the budget, which is the other side of
evaluation . See more about it here -
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2002/guide03.html#Monitoring%20the%20Budget
Individuals can influence the budget in several levels. The first is
influence on the President or the Congress, by organizing and
lobbying. The other is direct action of individual or a group with
specific Members of the Congress. The third is an attemp to influence
the administration, even before the proposal reaches the President, as
Smith (2002)[3] writes, "While individual citizens and national
organizations often devote a great deal of attention to trying to
influence the Congressional budget and appropriations process, many
forget that several months of internal budget negotiations occur
within the Administration before the budget request is ever presented
by the President to Congress."
Sources:
[1] House.gov (US House of Repersentatives), "The Annual Budget
Process" http://www.house.gov/rules_bud/annual.htm
[2] House.gov (US House of Repersentatives), "Budget Resolution"
http://www.house.gov/rules_bud/budres.htm
[3] Smith, Toby, (2002) "FY02Research Spending Levels Being Set, FY03
Budget Process Nears Kickoff" Research Reporter, Research Information
from the University of Michigan,
http://www.research.umich.edu/news/research_reporter/fy02/jan2002/update.html
Further Reading
---------------
www.senate.gov/~budget/republican/reference/cliff_notes/clifftoc.htm
http://www.thisnation.com/budget.html
http://www.political-tips.com/TipCat.asp?id=9322
My search terms included:
------------------------
budget process
influence budget process
impact budget process
evaluation budget process
evaluating budget process
I hope that helped, please contact me for any further information |
