Rubin's fourth characteristic describes public budgets as being vulnerable to the environment, to the economy, change in public opinion, the media, to elections, and natural and political disasters. Public officials have to be able to reallocate funds in times of emergencies. Such as the floods in California which required massive government aid, or the drought in our own area that initiated government subsidies to farmers and ranchers. Rubin's fifth characteristic states that public budgets have many constraints. The need for flexibility may also subject budgets to many constraints.
Federal grants provide budgetary constraints when they can only be spend on particular programs.
Kingdon states that potential agenda items never make it to the agenda stage because of many budget constraints. If an item does make it to the agenda it is greatly affected by budgetary considerations again. In times of severe constraints, inexpensive programs are looked at first. Inexpensive programs can be of three different types. First. some of them attempt to regulate or control the rise in costs.