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Opinion for March 22: Status of the Budget - Has anything changed?
 | It is time to look at what is going on for appropriations for FY 2001, see if anything
has changed from the past, and point out some tools you can use to keep score. I
have concluded that nothing basic has changed, and that the process will
again play itself out along the lines of the last few years.
Brinkmanship will prevail, the majority in Congress will attempt to cut domestic programs,
the President will have the upper hand, and the only real hope for shortening the time it
will take for action is that the elections are coming up. |
| There is no reason to expect anything else given the actions so far. The overall
budget numbers approved by the House imply cuts in domestic programs.
But such cuts are not acceptable to the President. I will not restate what
was stated last year about this same issue; a repeat of the basic events can be foreseen.
If you want to read the statements from last year, they are:
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| If you want to do your own score keeping, the places to go for the necessary information
are:
 | The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities does
analysis of the effects of various budget and appropriations actions. The Center
throws light onto the effects of budget actions on domestic programs, unraveling the
obfuscation into which the official actions are wrapped. Highly recommended
if you are interested in the effects of Congressional actions on the budget and
appropriations. |
| The House and Senate Majority Budget
Committee sites. (There are no minority sites; at least the Senate is
honest about what they do.) These committees set the overall amounts for the
budget, as well as what will be provided for defense and domestic programs. These
sites also provide insights into the political spin imposed by the
majority party. |
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| The process will play itself out, and some sort of appropriations will be passed.
Watching it will provide opportunities for fun, as well as for becoming appalled at how
our government works. Meanwhile we will have plenty of work related to performance
management and to study the agency performance reports required by GPRA. |
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