Part I - Budget Project
Federal spending is classified into two major categories i.e. mandatory spending and discretionary spending. During budget preparation, different appropriations are made for mandatory and discretionary spending. In the United States, the federal budget document is delivered well in advance of the creation of the actual federal budget that takes place many months later during the approval stage of the budget process in which Congress is directly involved. The budget document contains appropriations for mandatory and discretionary spending. In addition, the document includes a budget message by the President, which are narrative in nature and reflect the specific values inherent within society and political preferences at a given time.
Budget Message
For the fiscal year 2019, President Trump delivered a budget message in February of 2018, which outlines the political preferences and societal values underpinning the budget at the time. The budget message focused on affecting the upcoming outlays for fiscal year 2019 and was designed in a manner that reflected political preferences and values. As part of articulating the preferred spending focus, President Trumps budget message incorporated some key conceptual ideas. One of the conceptual ideas in President Trumps budget message was lowering the national debt. Lowering the national debt was regarded as a crucial component of the budget for fiscal year 2019 since the country is facing the highest level of debt since the aftermath of World War II (Office of Management and Budget, 2019). Therefore, lessening this debt was considered critical in creating a sustainable fiscal path for current and future generations of Americans.
Secondly, a stronger and healthier American economy is a major conceptual idea in the budget message. Promoting economic growth is viewed as an essential factor in the achievement of the American dream. As millions of Americans strive to achieve their dreams and have a better future, promoting economic growth and opportunity is considered essential in creating a suitable environment for the American people to realize their dreams. The other conceptual idea in this budget message is the safety and security of the American people. This entailed rebuilding and modernizing the military as well as adjusting national security strategy. Recovery of the job market is the other conceptual idea in the budget message as it reflected the priority of the Trump Administration to lessen unemployment rates. This idea was incorporated into the budget message since millions of Americans have been denied the independence and dignity that comes through the opportunity to work. The fifth conceptual idea is enhancing the quality of life for all hardworking Americans, which is seen as the foundation for Americans to fulfill their potential and realize their dreams.
These conceptual ideas from the budget message were constructed to reflect Trump Administrations political preferences and values. Lowering national debt was a major concept in the budget message as it reflected President Trumps new fight against wasteful spending. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to balance the federal budget and stop wasteful spending (Edwards, 2016). He believes that there are some duplicative programs in the federal agencies and misaligned incentives that continue to threaten the future of Americans. As part of fulfilling his campaign pledge and demonstrating a commitment to cut wasteful spending, President Trump included lowering national debt as a major conceptual idea in his budget message. The issue of promoting economic growth was also constructed to reflect the Administrations commitment to ensuring a steady rate of 3% long-term economic growth. A reduction in national debt, lessening wasteful spending, and implementing massive tax cuts and reforms reflected the Administrations focus on steering the economy in the right direction.
The safety and security...
…institutionalize government accountability by ensuring that financial resources are spent in a cost-effective manner.
Selection #5 Budget Cycle Lecture Notes
The other important course material or resource that is relevant to the information presented in the budget documents in Part I is the Budget Cycle lecture notes. These notes, which incorporate insights from other textbook readings, provide an overview of the budget cycle process in relation to its different phases. As shown in the notes, the public budgeting process includes multiple participants with unique roles and different processes through which these participants interact. Since the purpose of public budgeting is to ensure effective allocation of resources among competing public needs in order to achieve public goals and objectives, the process comprises different stages. Each of these stages play an essential role in the effective allocation of limited resources to competing public interests and needs.
The information presented in the budget documents relates to some of these stages of the budget cycle, particularly the budget preparation phase. As discussed in the lecture notes, the U.S. President commences the first phase of budgeting by providing guidelines to agencies that participate in the preparation of the budget document. During this process, political and policy considerations play an important role in the preparation of budget documents. While the budget preparation phase at the federal level is lengthy and complex, it is designed in a manner that ensures essential factors are taken into consideration and different stakeholders involved. The budget documents demonstrate that the Presidents budget message and requests are based on guidance received from the different agencies and stakeholders involved in budget preparation. The budget documents prepared by these different agencies are submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review before submission to Congress. These budget documents further demonstrate that initially planned amounts are usually…
