Summary: S. 261 would change the cycle for the President's budget, for the budget resolution, for enactment of appropriations, and for authorizations to a biennial cycle. The decision to change the entire budget process to a biennial one is fundamentally a decision about the nature of congressional oversight. Biennial appropriations would neither be the end of congressional control nor the solution to many budget problems. Whether a biennial cycle offers the benefits sought will depend heavily on Congress and the President agreeing on how to respond to the uncertainties inherent in a longer forecasting period and on the circumstances under which changes should be made in mid-biennium. If biennial appropriations bills are changed rarely, the planning advantages for those agencies that do not now have multiyear or advance appropriations may be significant. Whether a biennial cycle would in fact reduce congressional workload and increase the time for oversight is unclear. A great many policy issues--from welfare reform to farm policy--present themselves in a budget context. It will take a period of adjustment and experimentation, and the results are likely to differ across programs. Finally, GAO is pleased to see so much thought go into the integration of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) into this process. GPRA represents a thoughtful approach to systematizing a serious and substantive dialogue about the purposes of government programs and how they operate.
