(I know I could Google this, but I thought it might be interesting to discuss.)
What are the mechanics of forming a US budget? Presumably, since the US tradition grows out of the English one, Congress has the formal power of the purse; but how exactly is it implemented? Who proposes a budget, what committees have power over it, and who has to approve it?
Further, what is the purpose (if any!) of setting it up that way, and is it doing its job?
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Budgets always start in the House of Representatives. It's up to the Byzantine rules of Congress as far as whch committees are in control of the budget. Both Houses of Congress need to approve it, and the president must sign it into law (or his veto overruled by a two-thirds vote in both Houses).
I think it is good, insofar as originally designed to diffuse the ability of any one person from appropriating monies from the government coffers, but there are lots of procedural things done that seem to take a bunch of the teeth out of it.