2009 Deficit: 1 The Budget Process
Channel: cpr5445
Date: 2013-01-04

This video is part of a series of videos examining factors contributing to the record 2009 deficit.
Video 1 explains the budget process.  The first and last years of every Presidential administration are transitional because of the structure of the federal fiscal, or financial, year.  The new President usually has little control over the spending during this transitional fiscal year.  The spending plan, or budget, is prepared, presented to Congress, enacted into law, and put into effect during the term of the outgoing President.  Even after the inauguration of the new President, basic governmental expenditures, funding for major programs, and other financial policies, usually continue throughout the entire fiscal year, according to the policies established by the departing President.   Therefore, even though the outcome of every transitional fiscal year is the blended result of the spending plan, or final budget, of the retiring President, and the modifications of that plan by the new President, the surplus or deficit created during this fiscal year is usually assigned to the outgoing President.  President Bush's final budget, his financial plan for the 2009 fiscal year, went into effect on October 1, 2008.  President Obama was elected in November, and inaugurated in January, 2009, three and one-half months into the financial year.  The revenue and spending policies of the Bush Administration continued to impact the financial situation of the government throughout the fiscal year.  While the 2009 deficit would ordinarily be designated as the responsibility of the Bush administration, the unusual circumstances and partisan atmosphere of the time not only require the identification of the factors producing the deficit, but also the degree to which each contributed to the final outcome.