1 / 23

Political Science 345: The Legislative Process Class 17: Budgetary Politics II

Political Science 345: The Legislative Process Class 17: Budgetary Politics II. Professor Jon Rogowski. Reconciliation. Optional part of the budget process Instructions from Budget Committees to one or more committees are contained in the budget resolution

stevie
Download Presentation

Political Science 345: The Legislative Process Class 17: Budgetary Politics II

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Political Science 345:The Legislative ProcessClass 17: Budgetary Politics II Professor Jon Rogowski

  2. Reconciliation • Optional part of the budget process • Instructions from Budget Committees to one or more committees are contained in the budget resolution • Instituted as part of the 1974 Budget Act • Committees recommend changes to entitlement spending and revenues to meet targets set in budget resolution • Budget Committee merges recommendations and sends to the floor • Passes under simple majority • In the House: considered under special rule • In Senate: • 20 hour time-limit for measure • 10 hour time-limit for Conference Report • Germaneness rule applies to both • No filibusters

  3. The Byrd Rule • Applies to Senate consideration • Named for Senator Robert Byrd (D, WV) • First used in 1985-86 • Made law in 1990 (Budget Enforcement Act) • Reconciliation bills must be consistent with instructions • No material outside of the committee(s) jurisdictions • No extraneous material • No provisions that increase deficit • Applies to both bill & amendments • Presiding Officer rules on objection • Advised by Parliamentarian (Alan Frumin) • Waiver requires 60 votes (3/5ths of members sworn)

  4. Impoundments, Deferrals, Recissions • What they are • Presidential notification to Congress of recissions and deferrals required • Acceptance requires both chambers to pass resolution within 45 days • Questionable constitutionality in light of INS v. Chadha(1983) • Declared legislative vetoes unconstitutional

  5. Beyond the Budget Resolution:Budgets and Appropriations in Normal Times

  6. The Ins-and-Outs of Budget Politics • Discretionary vs. Direct Spending • The Power of the Authorizing Committees • Budget Authority vs. Budget Outlays • Multi-year Outlays vs. Multi-year Authority

  7. Authorizations and Appropriations • Formal 2-step procedure by which money is allocated • Authorization Bill: describes programs and recommends funding levels • Appropriations Bill: allocates funding to the programs • Authorizations are intended to precede appropriations • Standing, multi-year, and single-year authorizations • Most appropriations for single year only

  8. Authorization-Appropriation Process • House Rule 21 prohibits intermingling of legislation and appropriations • Frequently waived by special rule • Also cannot appropriate for unauthorized programs • Senate Rule XVI requires that amendments to general appropriations bills be germane • But appropriations can be added to non-appropriations bills as amendments • Filibuster is a threat for all bills

  9. Why a “two step” budget process? • Early Legislatures tried to separate policy and spending. • Intermingled bills are often delayed longer • Policy should be debated with “cool minds,” etc. • Intermingling of the two is inevitable.

  10. Failure of the Two-Step • Bargaining: bundling policy and money • Logrolling/coalition building • Appropriations bills are “must-pass" • Authorization bills often die in Senate • Appropriations bills are better protected in the Senate • Authorizing committees require special rules in House

  11. Details of the Process • 12 Regular (“General") Appropriations Bills • - 1 for each Appropriations subcommittee • Several “emergency” supplemental appropriations bills per year • “Continuing resolutions" when needed • - 1995 showdown with Clinton • These deal with the approximately 30% of spending that is ”directly controllable."

  12. Other Dimensions of Budget Politics • Off-Budget status (e.g., Highway Trust Fund) • Borrowing & Contract authority (Obligations clause of U.S. Constitution) • Entitlements • automatic eligibility for federal benefits • “Tax expenditures" (tax breaks/incentives) • Limitation Riders • Allow Congress to forbid agencies from spending money for specific purposes

  13. Limitation Riders • Prohibitions on spending • ”None of the funds provided in this Act shall be used for…“ • Making Policy with Money • A tool for Congressional oversight of agencies • Limits on limitations under House Rules: • Cannot impose additional duties on agency officials • Cannot interfere with discretionary authority • Cannot require officials to make new determinations

  14. Examples of Limitation Riders

  15. Direct Spending • Not funded through the authorization-appropriation process, but through authorizing committee directly (bypassing appropriations); 3 types: • Contract authority: Agencies have power to enter into contracts that subsequently must be covered • Borrowing authority: Agencies can borrow money from the public or the Treasury • Mandatory Entitlements: Establish legally enforceable rights without reference to dollar amounts (over 1/2 all federal spending)

  16. Earmarks • What are they? • Congressionally directed spending • No-bid contracts • Choice of location or type of good • Limited tax benefits • Where are they? • Bills • Conference Reports • Committee and subcommittee reports

  17. Deficit Reduction Attempts, Briefly • Gramm-Rudman-Hollings (1985): triggered automatic sequesters if the deficits exceeded fixed targets; but mostly a series of accounting gimmicks • Budget Enforcement Act (1990): set of caps on annual appropriations and PAYGO • Undermined by “emergency spending“ • Disasters? Yes. • Wars? Maybe. • 2000 Census? Probably not. • Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) provisions • Budgetary proposals must be deficit neutral • FY1991-FY2002

  18. Deficit: Annual difference between revenues and spending Obama

  19. Continuing Resolutions and Budgetary Standoffs • If Congress and the president cannot agree on a budget, there are no funds for the government to operate • Clinton-Gingrich 1995-1996 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/government-shutdown-what-happened-in-1995-13317250

  20. Continuing Resolutions • Provide a way to avoid government shutdowns by funding agencies at their current levels until the resolution expires or new funding is passed • Increasingly common • FY 2011 budget • 1st: Oct 1 through Dec 3, 2010 • 2nd: December 3-18, 2010 • 3rd: December 18-21 • 4th: December 21, 2010-March 4, 2011 • 5th: March 4-18 • 6th: March 18-April 8 • 7th: April 8-15 • April 15: “Dept of Defense and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act”

  21. Political Economic Cycles?

  22. Budgetary Politics and Electoral Incentives • Budgets allow MCs and the president to reward/punish supporters/enemies • MCs and the president rewarded/punished for the country’s economic conditions • How does this affect their incentives in budgeting? • Incentives for pandering?

  23. Write your own budget! http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html?hp

More Related