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Budget Process: Comments on H.R. 853

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Report Type Reports and Testimonies
Report Date May 12, 1999
Report No. T-AIMD-99-188
Subject
Summary:

Everyone involved in the budget process shares some frustration with it. The public finds it confusing. Federal agencies complain that it is burdensome and time consuming. Members of Congress say that it is too lengthy, with too many votes on authorizations, budget resolutions, reconciliation, appropriations, emergency supplementals, and the debt limit. Meanwhile, a different fiscal scenario has emerged in the 1990s: After nearly 30 years of budget deficits, "surpluses as far as the eye can see" are now being projected. At the same time, the country faces a demographic tidal wave that will--absent changes in Social Security and Medicare--overwhelm the budget. This testimony discusses whether and how the congressional budget process should be changed to meet today's fiscal situation.

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