I have been waiting for someone, anyone, to outline the reality of what the Dept of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is all about. Unfortunately, perhaps due to the history of the matter, it appears no one really “gets it.” So, with that in mind, and accepting that even the operators of DOGE may not have a fulsome comprehension of the dynamic, here is what it all means.
Few people realize the last Federal Budget that passed through “regular order” was for Fiscal Year 2008, signed by President George W Bush in September of 2007. Every budget since has been outside regular order; a series of continuing resolutions, omnibus spending packages and short-term funding mechanisms. {CITATION}
That is correct. In the past 17 years, all federal spending has been ‘short-term’ or ‘stop-gap’ spending measures, generally known as “Continuing Resolutions,” where the govt (House and Senate) continue to perpetually resolve to fund the government. The CRs as they are known, punt the spending debate by accepting a baseline of prior spending and tweaking around the edges.
The key takeaway to begin thinking about DOGE is to understand that REGULAR ORDER has not been used since Fiscal Year 2008.
Title III of the Congressional Budget Act outlines a legal timeline that each President and Congress must follow {SEE HERE}. Prior to 2007, Continuing Resolutions were only used to resolve short term arguments about spending priorities.
♦ BACKGROUND – The President is required by law to submit his budget by the first Monday in February. Yes, even when an election takes place and a President doesn’t assume office until January 20th, the first Monday in February is still the legal requirement for the new White House budget proposal.
The Presidents’ budget is then submitted to The House of Representatives, where two weeks later the Congressional Budget Office, reviews the budget and issues an opinion as to the cost of the budget. No later than six weeks after the President submits his budget all House committees send the House Appropriations Committee their spending proposals [April 15].
Through May and June, each budgetary appropriations bill from the House is sent to the Senate. The Senate receives the House appropriations bills, then reviews through the Senate Appropriations Committee (Thune just picked Susan Collins as Chair). The Senate proposes their spending priorities based on the House bill because the House has constitutional authority to originate all spending [June 15]. The House and Senate budgets are “reconciled” using parliamentary procedures [June 30] and then sent to the President for signature.
The fiscal year begins October 1st.
That’s the regular order process.
Again, regular order has not been followed since Fiscal Year 2008, signed by George W Bush in September of 2007.
♦ The Problem – When congress doesn’t follow regular order they end up with a series of “continuing resolutions” (CRs) where spending is decided on a short-term basis because they don’t have an agreed budget. The problem with CRs is what’s called “baseline budgeting” where all prior spending is the baseline for the continuation of spending proposals. The baseline accepts all previous spending priorities, then adds to them with the new spending needs.
[This is a very clear, succinct, and valid overview of what is going on. I highly recommend reading the entire piece, which is not long. The more we understand, the more likely we are to support what is happening. ABN]
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