The Power of the Purse Strings: Do Congressional Budget Procedures Restrain?

by Richard Forgette

Overview

In an era of unprecedented budget problems, can Congress establish legislative procedures to facilitate making politically difficult budget decisions? If we keep fixing the process, why are the policies and politics so fouled up? This book provides an extensive answer to these questions. Focusing exclusively on the House of Representatives, the author assesses whether current congressional budget procedures, namely the 302 process and reconciliation, have been created, designed, and maintained to achieve greater budget restraint. He defines the critical concept of procedural budget restraint as a procedural outcome in which spending decisions are less than what would have occurred in the absence of the procedure.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275947385
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/30/1994
Series:	Fiction and Fantasy; 59
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	1440L (what's this?)

About the Author

RICHARD FORGETTE is currently Assistant Professor of Political Science at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is the author of a number of articles on legislative policy making and congressional voting behavior.

Table of Contents

Preface
Congressional Budget Procedures and Restraint
Procedural Intent and the 302 Process
Procedural Intent and the Reconciliation Process
Procedural Design and Congressional Budget Procedures
Procedural Maintenance and the 302 Process
Procedural Maintenance and the Reconciliation Process
Conclusions
Bibliography
Appendix