What’s in the FY2018 House Legislative Branch Appropriation?
On June 29, the House Appropriations Committee approved fiscal year 2018 appropriations via voice vote. The bill calls for $3.58 billion of funding for House and joint-chamber… Read More
The Congressional Budget Office: “An Excellent Skunk at the Congressional Picnic”
At the Washington Post, Philip Joyce writes: “Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mick Mulvaney, recently said that ‘the time of CBO has probably… Read More
ICYMI: What CBO’s Score of the Health Insurance Bills Tells Us About the Budget Process
Yuval Levin writes at National Review: “The CBO is not politically biased. But its work is beset by challenges that run much deeper than that: They are structural, and… Read More
Want a Better Budget Process? Make It More Open and Deliberative
Source: Congressional Research Service. James Wallner writes at the Washington Examiner: “The budget process should be structured so that those interested in an outcome can freely participate in deliberations… Read More
One More Bit of Good News About Congressional Capacity
Within the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) was authorized to establish senior level positions “to meet critical… Read More
ICYMI: The Washington Post Takes Up Congressional Capacity
Max Ehrenfreund writes: “With so much work to do, even a veteran lawmaker steeped in the details of public policy could struggle to keep it all straight. For the… Read More
Omnibuses and the Power of the Purse
Don Wolfensberger writes in the Hill: “House Republicans are reportedly considering bundling all 12 regular appropriations bills into an omnibus measure and passing it prior to the August… Read More
How Omnibus Spending Bills Erode Legislator Accountability
Source: Congress.gov By Tony McCann Overview Staff plays an essential role in the appropriations process as in all legislation. The legislative process, however, requires members to cast a recorded… Read More
House Committee on Appropriations Announces Legislative Branch Hearings
House appropriators will hold hearings on spending next week (May 17 and 18). The schedule and invited witnesses may be seen at http://appropriations.house.gov/calendar/?CatagoryID=34776… Read More
House Legislative Branch Appropriations Open Hearing, May 3, 2017
To its great credit, the House’s legislative branch appropriations subcommittee held an open hearing where anyone with an interest in legislative branch spending could have their say. This is… Read More