Latest News on budget process reform proposals in Congress

tHE jOINT sELECT cOMMITTEE ON bUDGET AND aPPROPRIATIONS pROCESS rEFORM

The Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform was established by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which was signed into law on February 9, 2018. A bipartisan and bicameral panel tasked with considering and recommending reforms to the current budgeting and appropriations processes in Congress, the committee is comprised of 16 members, equally divided between the House and Senate. Four members each were appointed by the Speaker of the House, the Senate Majority Leader, the House Democratic Leader, and the Senate Democratic Leader. House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack (R-AR) and House Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) were tapped to lead as co-chairs of this panel. Chairman Womack also serves on the House Appropriations Committee.

house

House Budget Committee Budget Process Reform Page

• “The budget process is outdated, cumbersome, needlessly complex, and almost impossible to understand. It encourages more government spending by default. And most disturbing, its shortcomings can lead to the erosion of Congress’ power of the purse, further ceding authority to the Executive Branch and diminishing the role of the legislature in our Constitutional framework. The degradation of budgeting impedes our ability to govern responsibly." - House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06)
  
• April 6, 2017: 'Ken Buck Introduces Bill to Increase Accountability and Transparency in Budgeting Process' 
  • Congressman Ken Buck introduced the Federal Budget Accountability Act. This legislation requires the Office of Management and Budget to begin tracking the revenue collected from budget offsets and then compile this information into an annual report to Congress.
    
• November 30, 2016: 'A Reform Agenda for the Federal Budget Process' 
  • n November 30, 2016, the House Budget Committee released a discussion draft on a proposed rewrite of the Congressional budget process. Below are links to the discussion draft, a summary of selected provisions, and a speech Chairman Price gave at the Brookings Institution updating the American people on the Committee’s reform efforts.
    • Full text of Chairman Price's comments
    • Short Summary of Budget Process Reform Proposals
    • House Budget Committee Paper on Budget Process Reform
      
• October 18, 2016 - Working Paper: 'Growing Risks to the Budget and the Economy' 
  • Three main areas: 
    1. An Unsustainable Fiscal Path
    2. An Economy Mired in Slow Growth
    3. Pro-Growth Reforms, Not More of the Same
         
• September 8, 2016 - Working Paper: 'Introduction to a Regulatory Budget'
  • Eight main areas: 
    1. The Proliferation of Rules and Regulations
    2. The Dampening Effect on the Economy
    3. History of Regulatory Budgeting
    4. Features of a Regulatory Budget
    5. Regulatory Pay-As-You-Go
    6. Pros and Cons of Regulatory Budgeting
    7. What Other Countries Are Doing
    8. Beyond Regulatory Budgeting
       
       
• August 30, 2016 - Working Paper: 'Alternative Approaches to the Federal Budget'
  • Four reform examples discussed:
    1. Performance-Based Budgeting
    2. Portfolio Budgeting
    3. Capital Budgeting
    4. Zero-Based Budgeting
       
• August 23, 2016 - Working Paper: 'Making Budget Enforcement More Effective' 
  • Four main themes:
    1. The Importance of Budget Enforcement
    2. Pre-1974 Federal Budgeting
    3. Basic Flaws in Current Practices and Potential Remedies
    4. Other Enforcement Models
       
• August 16, 2016 - Working Paper: 'The Need for Fiscal Goals' 
  • Six main themes:
    1. The Balanced Budget Principle
    2. Other Fiscal Norms and Targets
    3. Options for Primary Fiscal Goals
    4. Secondary Fiscal Target Options
    5. How Are Targets Codified?
    6. What Are Other Countries Doing?
       
• August 9, 2016 - Working Paper: 'The Need to Control Automatic Spending and Unauthorized Programs' 
  • Six main themes:
    1. The Dominance of Automatic Spending
    2. Spending and Debt
    3. Trends in Automatic Spending Programs
    4. Existing Controls on Automatic Spending
    5. Proposed Additional Controls on Automatic Spending
    6. Unauthorized Spending
       
• August 2, 2016 - Working Paper: 'Reclaiming Constitutional Authority Through the Power of the Purse'
  • Four main themes: 
    1. Restoring Constitutional Government
    2. How Current Budget Practices Undermine Congress’s Authority
    3. Constitutional Authority for the “Power of the Purse”
    4. Budgeting and Governing
       
• July 5, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Regulatory Budgeting' 
  
• June 20, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Effective Budget Enforcement' 
  
• June 13, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Fiscal Norms and Targets' 
  
• June 6, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Controlling Automatic Spending and Unauthorized Programs'
  
• May 23, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Reclaiming the Power of the Purse' 
  
• May 16, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Time to Reform the Budget Act' 
  
• April 18, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Budget Enforcement' 
  
• March 21, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Fragmentation, Overlap, and Duplication in Government Programs' 
  
• February 29, 2016 - Budget Digest: 'Unauthorized Appropriations' 

SENATE

Senate Budget Committee's 'Broken Budget' Page

"America’s budget process no longer fits the problems facing our nation today. In fact, it actually prevents Congress from tackling the pressing fiscal challenges facing our country, including the government’s out of control spending and skyrocketing national debt." - Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY)

• Sen. Johnny Isakson: 'Biennial Budgeting: A Positive Idea for America’s Bottom Line' 
  
• April 6, 2017 - 'Budget Committee Unanimously Approves Reforms to Broken Budget Process'
  • The rules approved by the Senate Budget Committee:
    • Early Release of Budget Proposal and Amendments
    • No More “Gotcha” Amendments
    • Bar Meaningless Amendments
      
• December 7, 2016 - 'Fixing America's Broken Budget Process' 
  • Chairman Enzi released his proposals for reforming the federal budget process - the key points include: 
    • Fixing Congressional Budgeting
    • Fixing the Annual Spending Process
    • Fixing America’s Automatic Spending and Long-term Debt Crisis
      
• November 17, 2016 - Budget Bulletin - 'The Regulatory Cliff: Regulatory Reform Outlook'
  • Missing Cost Estimates
  • Regulatory Budget – One-in-One-Out
  • Economic Analysis – SCORE Act
  • Congressional Review Act
  • Budget Speak: Unfunded Mandate Enforcement
    
• September 19, 2016 - 'Budget Process Reform - Senate Perspectives' 
  • Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget's Better Budget Process Initiative hosted Budget Process Reform - Senate Perspectives on Capitol Hill. The event featured a keynote speech from Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) focused on his recommendations to fix the budget process. A panel discussion followed, moderated by Ben Weyl, Editor of Politico's Budget and Appropriations Brief, that included:
    • Charles S. Konigsberg, Principal at the Federal Budget Group
    • Ed Lorenzen, Senior Advisor at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
    • Dr. Roy T. Meyers, Professor of Political Science and Affiliate Professor of Public Policy at University of Maryland, Baltimore County
    • Dr. F. Stevens Redburn, Professorial Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University
      
• September 15, 2016 - Budget Bulletin - 'Accounting for Federal Credit Programs'
  • FCRA vs. Fair-Value Accounting
  • Broad Budgetary Impacts
  • Case Study: Federal Student Lending
    
• July 13, 2016 - 'Enzi: Time to Unstick Washington's Budget Gridlock' 
  • Reforms Discussed:
    • Bipartisan improvements to budget procedures
    • Modernize government's outdated accounting concepts
    • Address America's long-term debt crisis
    • Add predictability to appropriations
      
• June 16, 2016 - 'Options to Fix the Broken Federal Budget Process' 
  • Process Reform Ideas under Discussion in Congress BudgetSpeak – “314(e)” Point of Order Explained
    
• May 25, 2016 - 'Enzi Pushes for Regulatory Budget' 
  •  Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (R-WY) today joined Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to push for legislation to establish a regulatory budget, which would calculate the costs of federal regulations on hardworking families and small businesses for the first time.
    
• April 28, 2016 - 'Senate Considers Fixes to America's Broken Budget Process' 
  • Broken Budgets and Out-of-Control Spending Senate Budget Committee Hearings – Options for Fixing the Process BudgetSpeak – “311” Explained
    
• February 24, 2016 - 'President's Budget: Budget Process Proposals' 
  • Reforms discussed: 
    • Replace a portion of the sequester
    • Fully fund and extend existing program integrity caps
    • Extend the discretionary cap adjustment for disaster relief
    • Create a new discretionary cap adjustment for wildland fire suppression
    • Create a new discretionary cap adjustment for the 2020 census
    • New program integrity cap adjustments
    • Reclassify transportation infrastructure spending
    • Reclassify certain bureau of Indian Affairs spending
    • Renew request for expedited procedures to consider certain rescission requests
    • Establish unified PAYGO scoring for Postal Service (USPS)