FIXING AMERICA’S BROKEN BUDGET PROCESS
The last time Congress reformed the budget process was in 1974. Times have changed and the 40-year-old process has only grown more dysfunctional and antiquated. Recent years have shown that budget dysfunction creates crippling uncertainty and leads to bad federal fiscal policy.
It is time for Congress to fix America’s broken budget process. The following proposals are bipartisan, common-sense solutions that will place our country on a better, more sustainable fiscal path:
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Bipartisan Improvements to Budget Procedures. Make congressional budgets easier to pass and harder to ignore. Encourage regular order in the normal funding process. Improve congressional oversight of previously enacted taxes and spending.
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Modernize Government’s Outdated Accounting Concepts. Update and improve the rules that determine the accuracy and quality of the budget information Congress receives.
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Address America’s Long-Term Debt Crisis. Create long-term, enforceable fiscal targets with guideposts along the way that ensure revenues and spending are moving in the right direction. Create a BRAC-style commission to recommend to Congress policy options that will achieve those targets.
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Add Predictability to Appropriations. Move to a biennial spending cycle to provide federal agencies, businesses, and the American people with certainty and predictability.
