Each year there is much talk about the Congressional Budget which must be passed to run all government activities and pay government workers. The process that is currently being utilized is something many individuals have come to expect on a yearly basis. The process includes reviewing the budget submitted to Congress by the President. Some parts may be acceptable to Congress and some may not. Part of the review process involves the Senate and the House of Representatives each creating their budget plan. It may not agree with the President’s plan and they may not agree with each other. Once this is accomplished the differences must be worked out between the two bodies of government. This involves creating a committee or focal points to work out the differences so the resulting budget will be accepted by both houses of Congress.
The past election results have had an impact on the budget process as it is today. New influx of Senators and Representatives sent a strong message that Congress is now hearing, “cut government spending!” Part of the impact of the elections has been a split in the political power in Washington. The Republicans control the House of Representatives and the Democrats control the Senate, though by a slim margin. The situation in the previous sentence has only occurred five times since 1945. This creates uncharted territory in many respects as there may be little if any knowledge of how Congress operated under those conditions. The present economic conditions that exist make this more relevant as the two parties must work together. Political parties that have the perception of being a stumbling block to progress may see the anger from the public the next time they are up for election.
There have been problems in recent weeks where these two bodies of government have not been able to agree on the final content of the Congressional budget. This has caused the need to enact legislation authorizing the continuation of government services to be initiated for a limited period. This allows the government to operate while the process of negotiation for the final budget goes forth between the Senate and House of Representatives.
While this type of legislation has occurred several times in the past, it creates a bad situation. Operating under a temporary budgetary move through legislation creates an unknown situation with regards to the operating budget for all government services. The expenses incurred during these temporary appropriations typically are subtracted from the final dollar amount for each department and organization.
Granted, the process in generating a Congressional Budget is difficult at best. There are many discussions within each political party and when they have generated their perspective on what should be funded, they collectively meet together to discuss each political party’s perspective. The current change in the balance of power in Congress as a result of the past election has brought new viewpoints with new Senators and Representatives on the current level of government spending. The message from the voting public appears to be clear that they want government spending to be reduced given the mounting debt we currently have and is projected to be in the future.
This past week, the whole world was aware of the threat of a US government shutdown due to the lack of agreement on budget issues. The issue is the difference between the House and Senate versions of the budget and the amount of cuts to government spending. While the amount of government cuts in the House version is not a large sum with respect to the current economic situation, it is a start. Some may feel the amount in the House version is not enough, while those in the Senate feel it is too much. Whether the public will be satisfied with the amount of government spending being reduced in the final budget version is an unknown factor. Other battles are still waiting in the future with respect to the budget for the next fiscal year.
The key in the efforts to reduce government spending will not be what is being reduced in the current budget. The key is the budget negotiations for the next fiscal year which begins October 2011. The public will be watching and listening to the negotiations between the two political parties and their perspective on the need to cut government spending. The voting public is smarter than some people give them credit. If there is an honest effort to reduce government spending in the next fiscal budget but one party is perceived as a hindrance, they will see the response by the public in the next election. Both political parties have been sent a message through the past election results. It is up to them to listen or to ignore it. The decision rests with each party.
