Giving the Budget Process Teeth

Publication Date: November 1983

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): John M. Palffy

Research Area: Banking and finance

Keywords: Budget

Type: Report

Abstract:

Federal spending has more than tripled in the past ten years. Real spending is 50 percent higher in FY 1983 than it was in FY 1973. The budget process alone cannot be expected to harness this spending explosion, but it can help. By establishing a clear link between spending programs and the taxes or debt that finance them, it can eliminate an institutional bias towards ballooning budgets. The budget process cannot change congressional interests, but it can restrain them through institutional checks and balances.