POLITICS OF THE U.S. FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS

U.S. Congress members are influenced in three ways: 1) through the acquisition of money to finance political campaigns; 2) by acquiring enough votes to enable them to be reelected; and 3) obtaining expert information on topics of personal interest. Federal spending patterns have a strong impact on the first two items. The ability to funnel money into a congressional district or state provides an excellent opportunity for a legislator to remain in office. Congress often appears to be highly irrational but individual legislators find it in their rational self-interest to behave in ways that are detrimental to the collective interest of Congress as an institution and to the collective good of society. Every year, leaders of both parties begin a legislative session with the intention of producing both a concurrent budget resolution and a set of spending bills according to schedule. Usually, they fail dismally. This article discusses the reasons why such failures tend to occur regularly.