The Federal Budget in the Executive Branch

Extract

This is the second of a short series on the federal budget process. Here, we will focus on how the science budget is set inside the Executive Office of the President. The main players here are the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The budget process for a given fiscal year starts in the agencies. For example, the fiscal year 1991 budget request to Congress was put together by the agencies during the winter, spring and summer of 1989. In the Department of Energy (DOE) for example, budget requests are obtained from the field offices. Typically, these requests are an exercise in optimism, founded on the time-honored notion that you are certain to get nothing if you don't at least ask.

In any event, DOE headquarters staff, after receiving these requests, pare down the totals in a process not unlike that followed within the OMB. This can resuit in weeping and gnashing of teeth at the field offices even at this early stage. While not generally appreciated, OMB staff can often do much of their budget cutting work before even receiving the formal budget request by a judicious combination of friendly advice, jawboning or more extreme measures which this writer will not go into. (On a more positive note, previous administration guidance—e.g., a planned doubling of the National Science Foundation (NSF) budget in five years, or a commitment to a given schedule for space probes, satellites, etc., in the case of NASA—can largely “hard wire” the budget process before the budget submission to OMB).