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Parties, Rules, and the Evolution of Congressional Budgeting traces how Congressional macrobudgeting has fundamentally changed the way in which Congress frames and enacts budget choices. Included in the analysis are the 1974 Budget Act, the Reagan tax cuts in 1981, Gramm-Rudman-Hollings mandatory deficit reduction plan of 1985, the Bush and Clinton deficit reduction packages in 1990 and 1993, the balanced budget agreement in 1997, and the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

Analyzing the transition from a fragmented to a more centralized process reveals that macrobudgeting has restructured congressional rules and institutions, changed the way congress legislates, enhanced congressional capacity, and altered how Congress negotiates with the president. Lance T. LeLoup finds that rule changes and new institutions have contributed to growing partisanship in Congress by empowering party leaders and emphasizing the importance of budget votes for party reputation. With steadily increasing partisanship, this study presents evidence that divided government has significant consequences for both the budget process and budget outcomes.

Combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, this book provides a historical institutional perspective on the evolution of congressional budgeting over three decades. It addresses important questions about national politics and developments in Congress, particularly concerning rules, the role of parties, and the consequences of divided government. The book concludes by considering what the findings might imply for national budgeting and deficits in the coming decade. ... Read more

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In this practical tour through the full budget cycle, Robert D. Vinter and Rhea K. Kish come to the aid of beleaguered administrators who -- in this demanding decade of the 80s -- are seeking to make sense of "all those numbers" and rules and to become more knowledgeable, skillful fiscal and program managers. Budgeting for Not-for-Profit Organizations provides how-to-do-it explanations of the budgeting and fiscal processes common to small and midsize nonprofit organizations, from government agencies to local community programs. Administrators at all levels of responsibility will benefit from this task-oriented description of budgeting procedures, which includes a wealth of case illustrations and practical exercises not found in other texts.

Vinter and Kish are well acquainted with the problems administrators currently face. Demystifying budget development, fiscal management, and cost analysis, they help program managers think about the integral connection between these procedures and program goals, development, and execution -- and to use resource management techniques as tools for accomplishing the objectives of their organizations.

The text moves from simple procedures to the more complex and demanding. Chapter 2 provides an introduction to budgeting and how it is carried out in contemporary agencies and programs. Chapter 3 details the steps leading up to the submission of a fully documented budget proposal. At the end of this chapter, Vinter and Kish introduce an illustrative service program and the first set of orchestrated exercises. Throughout the remaining text, readers solve the budget and fiscal tasks/problems of this program. This "hands on" learning allows readers to perform calculations with actual fiscal data, make choices for budget and program activities, justify decisions, remedy problems, and make proposals for change. Exhibits of fiscal forms and regulations further expose the reader to real-life situations.

Subsequent chapters of Budgeting for Not-for-Profit Organizations cover the allocation of budget resources, expense/revenue management, end-of-year cost analysis procedures, and the distribution of support costs. The final chapter reviews the entire year's program and fiscal experiences and relates them to planning for continuation budgeting and performance contracting.

Administrators working to improve operations and to contain or cut costs will find Budgeting for Not-for-Profit Organizations an invaluable resource. While other guides outline the nitty-gritty details of budgeting and reporting, this is the only text that emphasizes the critical interdependence among resource planning, management, analysis, and program objectives and results and how this interdependence may be successfully exploited. ... Read more