Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-24
OUTLINE OF A BUDGET
SYSTEM FOR THE u. S.
What the Requirements Are and Some Of
the Benefits to Be Derived
as Result.

, to give Congress from time to time
Information as to the state Of the
Union and recommend to their con,
sideration such measures as he shall
\ Judge necessary and expedient"
shall submit these estimates to Con-
gress for it's consideration. This
would be a budget.
4. That in order to give the Sec
rotary Of the Treasury the machinery
to control the estimates there should
| be created in the Treasury Depart
ment budget bureau comprising
director of high character and ability,
with the necessary expert assistants
to enable the bureau to have real and
continuous financial contact with all
of the spending departments of the
government.
After the President and his cabinet
had allotted to each department
lump sum for all purposes, it would
be the duty of each department to
prepare a detailed estimate for its ex-
penditures. The budget bureau would
be SO organized that 1t would have
various financial officers. whose duty
1t would be to keep in contact with
the financial officers of the respective
departments. This contact would be
regular and constant and would soon
produce a set of experts the scope of
whose knowledge would be far deeper
and more serviceable than that of
committees of Congress can possibly
be. Thus, when the estimates are
finally drafted and turned into the
Treasury Department for general
oversight, they will have had the ex-
pert approval of the budget bureau.
The budget bureau or the Treasury
would have no power to control the
operations of the departments. Their
functions would be purely financial
and would consist chiefly Of secur-
ing efficiency and coordination and
avoiding waste and duplication of ex-
penditures.
Responsible to President.
Under our system of government
the various departments. including the
Treasury. are directly responsible to
the President alone. and the method
above outlined would give the Presi-
dent the machinery which is now lack
ing by which he could exercise a real
control over the vast and complex
operations OF the executive depart
mentS.
In cases of differences Of opinion
between the financial officers Of the
budget bureau and the departments,
appeal could be had to the cabinet
heads. and. in case Of necessity, to
the President.
Inc uuuSct submitted 10 congress
0y the President would be the BUSH
ness program, prepared at his direc-
ton and for which he would stand
responsible to Congress and to the
people. 1t would contain on the one
hand revised estimates for the ex-
penditures of the departments for the
coming year and on the other hand
estimates of the amount Of revenue
that would be derived from existing
tax law, with suggestions for new
taxation, or reduction of existing tax
atioa, II the estimated revenues are
more or less than the estimated ex-
penditures, as the case may be. This
budget would contain a balance sheet
glvenng at one glance q bird's-eye
view of the proposed financial opera
lions Of the whole government for the
coming year. ,N
Budget Before Congress.
The constitutional authority of Con-
gress over finance Is supreme. Its
power over both revenues and expen- |
dftures Is absolute. No money can
oe collected from the people by way
OF taxation and no money can be paid |
out of the public Treasury without !
the SPECIFIC action Of Congress In each
case. The theory Of this grant Of |
power DOW to C. Congress by the constitu-
resentatives of the people and would
be at all times responsible to their
needs and desires.
u Under the existing practice. with
operations the magnitude and COM
plexity Of which were beyond the con-
temptation of our forefathers, Con-
gress has no effective means or or
gahization properly to exercise its
control On the contrary. through a
system OF appropriating committees.
the finances Of the government are
considered In unrelated sections SO
that the whole course Of financial pro-
cedure before Congress Is haphaxard,
uncertain, unbusinesslike and inde-
fensibly wasteful. These unsatisfac-
tory methods are admitted by ALL
Under strict budget system the
budget submitted by the President
would be turned over to a single COM
mittee Of the House In the lirst In
stance. This committee would take
mittee and all Of the committees now
having power to make appropriations.
1t would consider the budget as a
whole and would report it back to the
House in the form Of a single budget
bill. with such recommendations as
they might see At to make In order
that the President might be held
really responsible for HIS budget es-
this committee to recommend in
creases in the budget estimates. ex-
cept: perhaps: by two-thirds vote.
II the committee has the power to
at viii. the work Of the budget bu-
reau would be largely annulled, since
the departmental officials, having
failed to get all that they desired
cases to the individual members Of
the committee and attempt to over
ride the decisions Of the executive
This procedure would completely null
lily the budget system.
Restrict Amendments.
When the budget is considered on
the floor of the House q private mem
Der should not have the right to pro-
pose amendments increasing the esti-
mates in any way except perhaps to
restore an item which had been
stricken out. This is a question which
has been often discussed and students
of finance, as well as practical states
men and men of affairs generally, are
agreed that the legislative initiative
in finance should not be exercised by
individual members of Congress ex-
cept under the greatest restrictions
1t would be necessary for the Sem
ate to reorganize its financial proce-
dure along the lines adopted by the
House.
There is ample precedent in our
own early practice for these proposed
reforms in SO far as they relate to the
question of organization. From 1885
to 1865 all financial measures, both
relating to appropriations and to rev.
enue. were considered by a single
committee of the House-the ways
and means committee. The execu-
tive estimates were considered as a
whole and they were reported back
to the House in the form of a sim
gle bill. In fact. up until 1887 the
appropriations for the support of the
civil branches of the government