Federal Budgeting Process

The stability of the Congressional budget process that had been in place since the 1920s began to unravel in the mid-1960s. The process focused on passage of a series of appropriation bills, and the stability of the process had been based on the power of the appropriations committees. The chairman of these committees had considerable political power which allowed them to force elements of each house to compromise to assure passage of the appropriation bills. The chairman of these committees viewed their role as that of guardian, which fit their fiscally conservative philosophy and was in correspondence with their constituent interests. In addition, because of the micro-orientation of the budget, i.e., the focus on separate appropriation bills rather than a government-wide budget, the committee chairman were able to dole out enough benefits to members to allow them to accept compromises. Conflict certainly existed but it was kept “behind closed doors”…