Steve Redburn and Demian Moore

This past fall, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (popularly, the “Supercommittee”) created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 tested the possibility that our fiscal challenges could be met by bypassing the regular budget process.  The Supercommittee talks’ collapse just before Thanksgiving has pointed everyone back to the drawing board.  We now must reconsider whether it is possible to reform the regular budget process, to help support those leaders prepared to make the tough choices needed to put the federal budget on a sustainable course.

It will not be easy to fix the federal budget process.  Nor will process reforms magically produce agreement on a multi-year budget that is both supportive of economic growth and sustainable over the decades ahead.  Effective political leadership that forges public support for adherence to a fiscal rule is essential. 

What Federal Employees Can Do

Unless directly involved in budgeting for their agencies, there is little that federal managers can do to repair the federal budget process.  However, they can approach their work in the same spirit and apply some of the same principles guiding budget reforms as those recommended by the Peterson-Pew Commission. 

The prolonged period of austerity and fiscal consolidation we now face is perhaps unprecedented in our history.  In that environment, decisions about how to use limited program resources must be more disciplined so that vital services are maintained.  Administrators need to be prepared to reengineer their business processes, forge voluntary partnerships, and continually search for ways to work smarter.  And perhaps most important for budgeting, managers and their staff must be transparent and open in their reporting to stakeholders and up the line about what is working and what is not.  

Tough budget choices will then be informed with strong evidence on performance – giving policy makers the opportunity to maintain and improve results. That will help restore the public’s confidence in them and in government.   

To feel better about budgeting in government get a free download of "How the Congressional Budget Office Earned Its Clout" - a review of Philip G. Joyce's book in the winter Public Manager. And learn more at www.budgetreform.org.