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Increases. There have been very few true "cuts" at the Federal level in the last few generations. The secret is Baseline Budgeting[1]. If your agency got $100
by caseysoftware 11y ago
Increases. There have been very few true "cuts" at the Federal level in the last few generations.
The secret is Baseline Budgeting[1].
If your agency got $100 this year, you ask for $110 next year and that becomes the "baseline." Now when the actual budget negotiations happen, you may only get $105. Most people would call this a 5% increase but instead they consider it a (roughly) 5% cut from the baseline.
This is how the government can claim they're "cutting the budget" while still spending more than last year.
For a bonus, imagine the above agency is sympathetic - like the food stamp program - and requests $200 next year. When some Congressperson says "No wait, you only need $110," they're accused of "cutting food stamps in half" and "wanting people to starve!" It's effective for tearing apart the other person, not effective for actually getting things done.
1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(budgeting) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseline_(budgeting)
- rgbrenner 11y agoyou make it sound like the numbers are out of thin air.. but your link says: Baseline budgeting uses current spending levels as the "baseline" for establishing future funding requirements and assumes future budgets will equal the current budget times the inflation rate times the population growth rate. Sounds reasonable to me.
- caseysoftware 11y agoThat's the idealized definition, yes. But in practice, that's not how it works. There are one-time projects, ongoing programs, an ever-changing list of agency priorities, and - like any negotiation - groups start higher than they need so they have wiggle room. And yes, many of those things are out of thin air or completely arbitrary.
- rgbrenner 11y agojust so we're clear, you're claiming that the Congressional Budget Office -- which creates baseline budgets twice per year -- is operating outside of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (which requires it to create baseline budgets), and is instead creating budgets that are completely arbitrary. That's quite a claim. EDIT: Now that I think about it, you're clearing confusing budget requests with baseline budgets. Everything you've said applies to budget requests.. none of it applies to baseline budgeting.
- caseysoftware 11y agoI've specified "agencies" since my first comment, not the CBO. In the US, those are separate branches - executive vs legislative respectively - and use different approaches to build their "baselines." CBO assumes the government continues current operations and applies the effects of new laws to create their baseline. Agencies include discretionary spending to create their baseline. All of this is noted on the Wikipedia page.
- rgbrenner 11y agoyes, I read the entire wikipedia article. Did you read it? Because it does not support what you're saying. You've made up a definition of baseline budgets that does not exist... it sounds like your version combines baseline budgets -- which are created by the CBO; and budget requests -- which are submitted by the various departments of the executive. Baseline is defined by law. There's no made up definition or arbitrary budget. Budget requests are not baseline budgets. These are two completely different things.