THE NEW POLITICS OF THE BUDGETARY PROCESS

Transcription

1 THE NEW POLITICS OF THE BUDGETARY PROCESS Third Edition Aaron Wildavsky University of California, Berkeley Naomi Caiden California State University, Los Angeles LONGMAN An imprint of Addison Wesley Longman, Inc. New York Reading, Massachusetts Menlo Park, California Harlow, England Don Mills, Ontario Sydney Mexico City Madrid Amsterdam

2 Contents Biographical Note xiii Preface to the Third Edition xv Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition xxiii xix Acknowledgments xxxi Chapter One Budgeting as Conflicting Promises 1 Budgets Are Conflicting Commitments 6 Tax Preferences 9 Appropriations: The Power of Congress and Power within Congress 10 The President Is Both Rival of and Partner of Congress 14 Conflicting Promises: The Multiple Meanings of Budgetary Control 18 Chapter Two Budgets as Struggles for Power: The Evolution of Classical Budgeting 24 Colonial Origins 25 Turning Points: Civil War through World War I 29 The Executive Budget Movement 32 Dislocation and Continuity: Depression, War, and the Postwar Interlude 39 Chapter Three The Dance of the Dollars: Classical Budgeting 41 Calculations 43 Complexity 44 Aids to Calculation 44 Incremental Budgeting 45

3 viii CONTENTS Roles and Perspectives 49 The Agency 49 The Bureau of the Budget 53 The Appropriations Committees 55 Strategies 57 Be a Good Politician 57 Clientele 57 Confidence 59 Congressional Committee Hearings 61 ' Strategies Designed to Capitalize on the Fragmentation of Power in National Politics 62 Chapter Four The Collapse of Consensus: The 1970s 67 The Growth of Entitlements 68 Economic Activism 69 Priorities 71 Impoundment 74 The Budget Act: More Checks, More Balances, but Not More Control 75 Impoundment Again 75 CBO 76 SBC and HBC 77 Scheduling 77 Resolutions 77 Reconciliation 79 Complexity 79 A Congressional Budget, or Merely More Budgeting? 79 The Budget Process, : The Struggle to Relate Totals to Detail 80 Economic Management 82 Did die Budgetary Process Have a Pro-Spending Bias? 83 On Again, Off Again: Federal Credit 85 Polarization: Classical Budgeting Withers without Quite Disappearing 90 Chapter Five The Politics ofdissensus: The 1980s 92 Why Budget Decisions Became So Difficult 92 The End of Economic Management 95 Dominance of the Deficit 95 Polarization of the Parties 97 Evolution of the Congressional Budget Act 98 R and R: Resolution and Reconciliation 99 Deferral and Rescission Redux 101 The Shifting Budgetary Base 103 The Fazio Rule 105 Continuing Omnibus Resolutions 106 (

4 CONTENTS ix OMB in an Era of Perennial Budgeting 107 Dissensus in Congress 115 Role Reversal 116 Rolled on the Floor 120 Budgeting Penetrates Congress 122 Gimmicks 123 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings 126 Why GRH Passed 126 How GRH Was Supposed to Work 128 Why Didn't GRH Work? 131 The Importance of Considering Others: Enforcing Limits through Offsets 133 Chapter Six Changing: The Budget Summit of The Summit Versus OBRA 144 The Budget Enforcement Act of The Parts Versus the Whole 151 The Budget Equation and the Clinton Budget of Chapter Seven The Politics of the Entitlement Process 163 Grand Politics 163 Entitlements: Legal, Moral, and Budgetary 168 The Trend Is Up 170 The Importance of Being Entitled 173 Trust Funds 174 The Economy, Demography, and Uptake 176 Indexing: Trying to Transfer Uncertainty 177 Politics: The "Ought" and "Is" of Entitlements 179 Beekeepers and (Public) Purse Snatchers: Giving Entitlements a Bad Name 184 Chapter Eight The Rise and Fall of Entitlements 187 High Risers 189 Medicare 189 Medicaid 194 Holding Their Own 197 Black Lung 197 End-Stage Renal Disease 201 Riding for a Fall 204 Social Services Grants 205 Revenue Sharing 206 Entitlements Versus Appropriations 208 Head Start and Aid to Families with Dependent Children 208

5 x CONTENTS WIC Program Versus Food Stamp Program 214 The Fate of Entitlements 218 Chapter Nine Budgeting for Defense 219 The Internal Budgeting Process 221 Rivalry 224 Better Weapons 226 Cost Overruns 227 Waste 229 Defense Versus Domestic Budgeting 232 Reprogramming 236 Dissensus on Defense 238 Erosion of the Base 239 Micro-Management 241 Stretch-Outs 245 Defense Restoration? 249 Base Closings 251 Readiness 252 Modernization 253 Chapter Ten Reform 258 Norms of Budgetary Behavior 259 Forms of Budgeting 263 Reform Without Conflict 264 The Politics in Budget Reform 266 Unit of Measurement: Cash or Volume 267 Time Span: Months, One Year, Many Years 268 Calculation: Incremental or Comprehensive 270 Centralization and Decentralization 273 Limits 274 The Line-Item Veto 276 Credit Reform 280 Financial Management 281 Overloading Budgeting 282 Chapter Eleven The Deficit 283 Who Done It? 283 The Deficit Panic 287 Balanced Budget Hysteria 293 The Rise of Balanced Budget Hysteria 294 How Big Were the Deficits? 295 The Balanced Budget Agenda 296

6 CONTENTS xi Chapter Twelve The Politics of Radical Reversal 299 The Politics of Radical Reversal 299 Prologue: Constitutional Amendment and Rescission 303 Budgets and Counterbudgets: Rewriting the Budgetary Equation 305 The Budget and the Economy 305 Balancing Revenues and Expenditures 306 Mandatory and Discretionary Spending 307 Defense and Domestic Spending 308 Domestic Discretionary Spending 308 Substance Versus Rhetoric 309 Incrementalism in Mirror Image: Appropriations 309 Complex Coalitions 312 The Survival of Pork Balancing Acts 315 Economy and Ideology 315 Targeting Programs 318 Swallowing Whole Departments 319 Slash and Burn Budgeting? 320 Confrontation: Continuing Resolutions and the Debt Limit 323 Reconciliation and Intransigence 328 Unfinished Business 330 Glossary 337 Guide to Acronyms 343 Bibliography 345 Credits 359 Index 361