First Published in 1992. The federal budget has attained unparalleled significance at the heart of American politics in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The modern budget system has become the mechanism by which a distinctively American administrative state was put in place and made operative. The growth of the administrative state has transformed politics in America, but many Americans are unaware of its existence. This study looks at budget control within the realms of Congress, the Presidency and the development of the Administrative State.

What is the role of legislatures in the budget process? Do powerful assemblies give rise to pro-spending bias? This survey of legislative budgeting tackles these questions using cross-national data and case studies. It highlights the tension between legislative authority and prudent fiscal policy, exploring strategies for reconciliation.

Budgetary Politics in American Governments, unlike most public budgeting texts, takes a comparative approach to the subject of public budgeting, examining budgetary politics at the federal, state, and local government levels. Students are introduced to the budgetary decision making process, taxation, spending, budget execution and financial management as well as the budget process at each level of government. Thoroughly updated but preserving much of the third edition's structure and approach, this fourth edition contains a new chapter that will introduce students to the interrelationship of economics and politics in budgeting.

States are the key to contemporary government reform efforts in the United States, but we know very little about their relative effectiveness at resource allocation and their actual capacity to absorb additional fiscal and managerial responsibilities. This path-breaking study examines state budget offices as institutional actors, with special attentio to the role of budget examiners. Drawing on empirical findings from field studies of eleven states in the American heartland, the authors demonstrate how budgeting at the state level has become more policy-oriented, requiring complex decision making by budget analysts. The incrementalist model of budgetary decision-making thus gives way to a multiple rationalities model. The authors illustrate the decision-making model with the story of two office examiners who have distinctly different orientations as they begin their work, and contrast the different decision nationalities that come into play for them at different points in a typical budget cycle. The book includes a comprehensive bibliography of historical and modern writings on state budgeting operations, activities, and decision-making; state budgeting cycles; and the state-level policy development process.

Foreword p. xi Preface to the Fifth Edition p. xix Preface to the First Edition p. xxvii Biographical Note p. xxxiii Chapter 1 Budgeting as Conflicting Promises p. 1 Budgets Are Conflicting Commitments p. 7 Tax Preferences p. 11 Appropriations: The Power of Congress and Power Within Congress p. 13 The President Is Both Rival and Partner of Congress p. 16 Conflicting Promises: The Multiple Meanings of Budgetary Control p. 19 Chapter 2 Budgets as Struggles for Power: A Historical Perspective p. 25 Colonial Origins p. 26 Turning Points: Civil War through World War I p. 30 The Executive Budget Movement p. 33 Dislocation and Continuity: Depression and War p. 40 Chapter 3 The Dance of the Dollars: Classical Budgeting p. 42 Calculations p. 44 Complexity p. 44 Aids to Calculation p. 45 Incremental Budgeting p. 46 Roles and Perspectives p. 50 The Agency p. 50 The Bureau of the Budget p. 54 The Appropriations Committees p. 56 Strategies p. 57 Be a Good Politician p. 58 Clientele p. 58 Confidence p. 60 Congressional Committee Hearings p. 62 Strategies Designed to Capitalize on the Fragmentation of Power in National Politics p. 62 Chapter 4 The Collapse of Consensus p. 68 The Growth of Entitlements p. 69 Economic Activism p. 70 Federal Credit p. 71 Priorities p. 72 Impoundment p. 73 The Budget Act: More Checks, More Balances, but Not More Control p. 75 Impoundment Again p. 75 Congressional Budget Office p. 76 Senate Budget Committee and House Budget Committee p. 76 Scheduling p. 76 Resolutions p. 77 Reconciliation p. 78 Complexity p. 78 A Congressional Budget, or Merely More Budgeting? p. 78 The Budget Process, 1975--1979: Making Totals Stick p. 79 Classical Budgeting Withers Without Quite Disappearing p. 81 Chapter 5 The Politics of Dissensus p. 83 Why Budget Decisions Became So Difficult p. 84 The Focus on Totals p. 84 The End of Economic Management p. 85 Dominance of the Deficit p. 86 Polarization of the Parties p. 87 The Congressional Budget Act in the 1980s p. 88 R and R: Resolution and Reconciliation p. 88 Deferral and Rescission Redux p. 90 The Shifting Budgetary Base p. 91 Continuing Omnibus Resolutions p. 92 OMB in an Era of Perennial Budgeting p. 93 Top-Down Policy Making p. 94 Continuous Budgeting p. 94 Negotiating with Congress p. 95 Implications for OMB p. 96 Dissensus in Congress p. 97 Role Reversal p. 97 Rolled on the Floor p. 98 Budgeting Penetrates Congress p. 100 Gimmicks p. 100 Chapter 6 The Politics of Balancing Budgets p. 103 Gramm-Rudman-Hollings p. 105 The Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 p. 106 The Clinton Budget of 1993 p. 108 The Politics of Radical Reversal 1995 p. 111 Prologue: Constitutional Amendment and Rescission p. 112 Budgets and Counterbudgets: The President's Budget and the Congressional Resolution p. 113 Incrementalism in Mirror Image: Appropriations p. 114 Confrontation: Continuing Resolutions and the Debt Limit p. 115 Reconciliation and Intransigence p. 118 The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 p. 120 Chapter 7 Entitlements p. 123 The "Ought" and "Is" of Entitlements p. 124 Entitlements and Budgeting p. 129 How Do Entitlements Start? p. 132 Why Do Entitlements Grow? p. 135 Maintaining Commitment: Social Security p. 136 Escalating Costs: Medicare p. 138 Expanding Eligibility: Medicaid p. 140 Provider Pressures: End-Stage Renal Disease p. 142 How Have Entitlements Been Controlled? p. 144 Declining Need: Black Lung Disease p. 145 Ending an Entitlement: Welfare p. 146 Entitlements and Others p. 148 Appropriations: Head Start and WIC p. 148 Tax Expenditures: Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) p. 149 Formula Grants to States: Adoption Assistance Program, Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, and the Ryan White Care Act p. 149 Chapter 8 Budgeting for Defense p. 152 Dimensions of Defense p. 153 Defense Strategy and Funding p. 155 The Internal Budget Process p. 161 Planning, Programming, Budgeting p. 161 Acquisitions p. 165 The Congressional Budget Process p. 170 Reprogramming p. 173 Secrecy p. 175 Cuts p. 176 Contingencies p. 179 Chapter 9 Reform p. 181 Norms of Budgetary Behavior p. 181 Forms of Budgeting p. 184 Reform Without Conflict p. 184 The Politics in Budget Reform p. 186 Unit of Measurement: Cash or Volume p. 187 Time Span: Months, One Year, Many Years p. 188 Calculation: Incremental or Comprehensive p. 189 Management Reforms p. 191 Performance and Budgeting p. 191 Centralization and Decentralization: The Role of OMB p. 193 Credit Reform p. 195 Financial Management p. 196 Capital Budgeting p. 197 Limits p. 198 The Line-Item Veto p. 200 Chapter 10 From Surplus to Deficit p. 205 The Disappearing Deficit p. 205 The Politics of Budget Surplus p. 208 The End of the Surplus p. 212 Afterword p. 219 Characteristics of the Budget Process p. 219 The Budgetary Process Is Powerful Yet Impotent p. 220 The Budgetary Process Is Structured Yet Formalistic p. 220 The Budgetary Process Is Complex Yet Segmented p. 221 Budgetary Politics Are Polarized but Moderated p. 223 Glossary p. 225 Guide to Acronyms p. 230 Select Bibliography p. 231 Credits p. 245 Index.

The right turn in U. S. politics has increased conflict over both ends and means in government budgeting and financial management. Overlapping and competing views of the way the world works drive finance officials’ practice. Taking a new look at public financial management that acknowledges the multiple, competing realities, Government Budgeting and Financial Management in Practice: Logics to Make Sense of Ambiguity examines transaction cost economics and other small government, managed-by-the-market techniques as the latest reincarnation of public budgeting and financial management orthodoxy. Gerald J. Miller reviews new research on the continuing validity of the political dimension of government finance decisions and the multiple, intensely argued constructions of reality the finance official must make sense of. Miller discusses major advances in interpretive approaches to budgeting and finance and how they dominate writing in the broader field of public administration. He also examines the effects of the explosion of information systems, new budget techniques, nonconventional ways of spending, and new technologies. The book uses a question as the motivating force to understand some facets of today’s government budgeting, finance, and financial management: where do the critical assumptions come from to drive financial management? Miller takes the history of reform, developments in the field and the logics finance officials say they use as sources for these assumptions and examines what they reveal about constructions of the government finance world. Exploring new avenues of financial management thinking, the book discusses ambiguity and interpretations that move the unclear preferences, ends, and goals toward consensus. The author identifies an alternative approach to research that explains important facets of financial management. This approach is drawn directly from practice, events and problems in public organizations and from the creedal bent of many political actors in competition.