“The budget process is outdated, cumbersome, needlessly complex, and almost impossible to understand.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)
The current Congressional budget process was established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. After 42 years, the process is due for a much-needed update. The House Budget Committee has called for an overhaul of the Congressional Budget Act and a return to Constitutional principles. A new process should reinforce a healthy balance of power between the different branches of government, so Congress restores its power of the purse and improves its oversight of the Executive Branch’s activities. The process should be modernized to give Congress tools to better and more completely understand how policies will impact the nation’s fiscal and economic trajectory.
On 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.
