Obama submits budget. Why did he bother?
| Washington
Why do presidents bother to submit budgets to Congress nowadays? They鈥檝e become starting points for political fights as much as the first draft of the nation鈥檚 fiscal plan.
The opposition party reaction to President Obama鈥檚 fiscal 2015 budget plan is typical. Before it had even been released the National Republican Congressional Committee was gleefully bashing it, issuing a series of press releases asking whether individual Democratic lawmakers would support Obama鈥檚 outline.
鈥淗igher taxes? More spending? Sounds right to [insert name of vulnerable House Democrat here],鈥� read the NRCC鈥檚 e-mails.
Of course, if budget submissions are now always dead on arrival, Obama鈥檚 2015 plan is deader than most. To paraphrase , it鈥檚 kicked the bucket, shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the choir invisible.
That鈥檚 because, with the 2014 elections looming, the White House is looking to keep Democrats unified, not compromise with Republicans. It鈥檚 dropped from the budget a plan to reduce the growth in Social Security benefits by changing the way they are adjusted for inflation. And it seeks billions in new spending for such Democratic priorities as expanded preschool education and job training for laid-off workers.
Plus, last year鈥檚 government shutdown delayed the budget鈥檚 finalization. This year the administration missed its chance to link its budget submission to the State of the Union speech, a typical move that ensures greater attention to particulars.
This doesn鈥檛 mean the president missed a chance to have his plan whooped through Congress. As this from the Washington Post shows, presidents never get the spending totals they want. Democrats get less than requested. Republicans get more.
The paper exercise has become such a kabuki play that veteran budget expert earlier this month that it may be time to eliminate the president鈥檚 budget submission entirely.
鈥淣o matter who has been president and which political party controlled Congress, the budget has become so unimportant that its release essentially is now a nonevent,鈥� writes Collender, now a national director of Qorvis Communications.
Presidential budgets no longer serve as the starting point for the serious business of planning the US government鈥檚 year, according to Collender. Instead they鈥檝e become a 鈥減olitical liability, something to criticize and reject out of hand.鈥�
However, there is one big reason why administrations keep up this cycle of submit-and-get-hammered. It鈥檚 the law. It鈥檚 been a legal requirement since the passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.
Of course, it鈥檚 also the law that Congress is supposed to pass its own budget resolution to establish spending category top lines. That seldom happens. Last year, the House and Senate manage to get together to pass a two-year resolution. (D) of Washington, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has already said she鈥檒l rely on that document to set this year鈥檚 spending goals, and won鈥檛 write a 2015 budget resolution.
As a congressional staff member, Mr. Collender helped write the laws governing the congressional budget process, so he knows the pitfalls. His solution is simple: change the law so that the president is not required to submit a budget the year after Congress fails to adopt its budget resolution.
鈥淚n the meantime we should all save a few trees or bytes of memory when the president鈥檚 budget is released. It鈥檚 just not going to mean very much and should not be taken that seriously,鈥� he writes.
