Creating the executive budget process: What was Congress thinking?

Abstract

AbstractThe recent centennial of the 1921 Budget and Accounting Act presents an opportunity to reconsider the importance of the federal executive budget to American political development. Of particular interest is the apparent shift in political authority from Congress to the president that is sometimes attributed to the Act. The 1921 Act generally marks the rise of the modern presidency, where the president received a durable grant of authority. We examine the congressional hearings and debates regarding the budget process from 1919 to 1921 to assess Congress's expectations of the new budget system it was creating. We show that Congress expected to benefit from the executive budget process and did not view it as a threat to its budget authority. Congress recognized that the executive branch had influence in the budget process, but it preferred presidential influence to department heads’ influence. The 1921 Act, at least initially, enhanced the budgeting capacities of both the president and Congress in mutually beneficial ways.