President Richard Milhouse Nixon got a lot done before he was forced to resign in disgrace over the Watergate scandal cover up--an offense that would be pretty much shrugged off almost four decades later. He was able to finally begin disengaging us from Vietnam, made great strides on the international front to open up new markets for American goods and services, and he signed the EPA into law as well as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
But then in 1974, before he resigned that same year, he gave us the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Budget Act that, among other things, took the U.S. government from zero base budgeting to a baseline budget system.
What is zero base budgeting you say? It is each department head starting with a blank page, figuring out what they need to operate in the coming year, and submitting a budget they were required to defend, line by line, before the final budget was prepared for a congressional vote. A large expenditure in the existing budget that would not be repeated in the coming budget year would not be included in the new budget. A department head and his under secretaries were recognized and praised for frugality and saving the taxpayer money.
What is baseline budgeting you say? The department head looks at how much money they spent the previous twelve months, adds a percentage for inflation and population growth, and turns it in. Needless to say, there is now every incentive for the department head and those under him/her to spend every penny they are authorized to spend and then some so that they can continue to increase their budget. There is no recognition, reward or incentive to save the people's money.
I propose we go back to zero base budgeting along with a requirement that the department heads defend each line item on their budget requests.
Further anything above and beyond the bare bones budget necessary for the department to operate would have to be considered by Congress as a single item all by itself in a single bill with a straight up and down vote and be accessible for public inspection. Thus there could be no more hiding any form of pork, earmarks, grants, or any other form of government benevolence or incentives in any appropriations bill, and no congressional person could change his/her vote once the vote is recorded.
Who among us will agree? Or disagree?
But then in 1974, before he resigned that same year, he gave us the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Budget Act that, among other things, took the U.S. government from zero base budgeting to a baseline budget system.
What is zero base budgeting you say? It is each department head starting with a blank page, figuring out what they need to operate in the coming year, and submitting a budget they were required to defend, line by line, before the final budget was prepared for a congressional vote. A large expenditure in the existing budget that would not be repeated in the coming budget year would not be included in the new budget. A department head and his under secretaries were recognized and praised for frugality and saving the taxpayer money.
What is baseline budgeting you say? The department head looks at how much money they spent the previous twelve months, adds a percentage for inflation and population growth, and turns it in. Needless to say, there is now every incentive for the department head and those under him/her to spend every penny they are authorized to spend and then some so that they can continue to increase their budget. There is no recognition, reward or incentive to save the people's money.
I propose we go back to zero base budgeting along with a requirement that the department heads defend each line item on their budget requests.
Further anything above and beyond the bare bones budget necessary for the department to operate would have to be considered by Congress as a single item all by itself in a single bill with a straight up and down vote and be accessible for public inspection. Thus there could be no more hiding any form of pork, earmarks, grants, or any other form of government benevolence or incentives in any appropriations bill, and no congressional person could change his/her vote once the vote is recorded.
Who among us will agree? Or disagree?
