The Preparation of the National Budget
| Date | 01 May 1924 |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271622411300107 |
| Published date | 01 May 1924 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
40
The
Preparation
of
the
National
Budget
BY
HENRY
P.
SEIDEMANN
Of
the
Institute
for
Government
Research,
Washington,
D.
C.
THE
Budget
and
Accounting
Act
of
19~1,
the
Act
providing
for
the
establishment
of
the
National
Budget
System,
worked
a
revolution
in
respect
to
the
manner
in
which
the
estimates
of
appropriations
needed
for
the
conduct
of
the
Government
should
be
formu-
lated
and
submitted
to
Congress.
Under
the
old
system,
estimates
were
prepared
by
the
heads
of
the
several
spending
services,
who,
in
framing
them,
gave
no
consideration
to
the
financial
situation
and
prospects
of
the
Government
as
a
whole.
Though
these
estimates
were
reviewed
by
the
depart-
ment
heads,
they
still
represented
the
desires
of
spending
services
which
de-
sired
to
secure
the
maximum
appro-
priation
possible.
From
the
depart-
ments
and
independent
establishments
the
estimates
were
sent
to
Congress
through
the
Secretary
of
the
Treasury.
This
officer
acted
merely
as
a
compiling
agency
with
no
authority
to
revise
the
estimates,
or
to
express
any
opinion
regarding
their
desirability.
No
com-
parison
even
was
made
of
the
estimates
with
probable
revenues
with
a
view
to
determining
the
extent
to
which
the
re-
quests
for
funds
exceeded
resources
available
for
meeting
them.
PRESIDENT’S
RESPONSIBILITY
Under
the
new
system,
the
spending
departments
are
prohibited
from
mak-
ing
any
direct
requests
upon
Congress
for
funds.
Instead,
their
requests
must
be
submitted
to
the
President,
upon
whom
is
placed
the
full
responsi-
bility
for
considering
them,
and,
on
their
basis,
and
such
other
examination
as
he
may
desire
to
make,
for
the
for-
mulation
and
submission
to
Congress
of
a
consolidated
statement
of
what
provision,
in
his
opinion,
should
be
made
for
expenditures
for
the
ensuing
year.
It
should
be
noted
at
this
point
that
the
Budget
Act
emphasizes
in
every
possible
way
the
responsibility
of
the
President
for
the
estimates.
He
is
not
required
to
submit
with
his
estimates
the
original
requests
submitted
to
him
by
the
spending
services,
such
as
is
done
by
a
considerable
number
of
states
which
have
established
budget
systems.
It
is
believed
that
this
feature
of
the
National
Budget System
is
superior
to
those
of
the
states
which
require
the
submission
by
the
governor
not
only
of
his
own
estimates
but
of
those
formu-
lated
by
the
spending
services,
since
the
latter
method
tends
to
raise
an
issue
between
the
Chief
Executive
as
general
manager
and
his
subordinate
adminis-
trative
officers.
And,
as
the
estimates
submitted
by
the
spending
services
are
in
most
cases
in
excess
of
those
recom-
mended
by
the
Chief
Executive,
the
legislative
branch
is
encouraged
to
ignore
the
estimates
of
the Chief
Execu-
tive,
or
at
least
to
a
certain
extent
to
increase
his
proposals.
Other
features
of
the
Act
as
put
into
operation
that
are
of
importance
are:
(1)
An
estimate
of
prospective
revenue
now
accompanies
the
estimates
of
proposed
expenditures
and
the
two
are
brought
into
correlation
with
each
other
in
such
a
way
as
to
show
clearly
whether
the
proposed
expenditure
pro-
gram
is
less
than
or
exceeds
the
pro-
spective
revenue;
(2)
the
figures
show-
ing
actual
revenues
and
expenditures
for
the
last
completed
year
and
esti-
mated
revenues
and
expenditures
for
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