Explain the budget process.

What will be an ideal response?

Prior to 1921 the United States did not have a formal budget process. As the role of government expanded it was decided that a more formal organization was required. The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 gave the president the power to prepare and deliver a national budget to Congress. This act also created the Bureau of the Budget, known today as the Office of Management and Budget, to assist the president. The budget consists of a plan of spending that reflects existing programs as well as new presidential initiatives and revenue, deficit, and surplus estimates and projections. The budget process is long, beginning more than one year before it is submitted to Congress. That time is dominated by sorting through funding requests and negotiations. It is the job of Congress to approve the budget that is no guarantee that it will accept everything that the president requests. Responses should briefly examine the congressional process for approving a budget including the role played by House and Senate Budget Committees.