A Possible Future for Federal Budgeting

What is it about?

To develop a federal budget process that delivers better fiscal outcomes for the nation consistently over an extended period would require new information and analysis, applying these to decisions through properly designed procedures, and strengthening the institutions that support wise fiscal choices. Changes in each of these process components intended to contribute to good fiscal outcomes are described, and obstacles to their adoption and use are noted. Such reforms could yield budgets that deploy public resources today to carry out strategies promising to increase the nation’s ability to survive inevitable social and fiscal shocks and to take advantage of expected and unexpected opportunities for its citizens to thrive, grow, and fulfill their dreams.

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Why is it important?

Budgeting should not be approached as merely a grim exercise in slicing a limited pie, but as a means by which the dreams of leaders and voters are translated first into specific plans to create a possible future and then into practical decisions about how to achieve that future by protecting our gains and fulfilling our greatest shared ambitions.