Seeing Red

The federal budgeting process is broken. 

Former lawmakers and budget office leaders know it, current negotiators on Capitol Hill know it, a whole slew of good government groups know it and perhaps most of all, federal agencies know it. 

Under a process established in 1974, the president submits a budget proposal to Congress in February and the House and Senate each pass their respective blueprints in April. They go to conference, set the top-line spending levels, and the appropriations committees delegate that money to agencies in 12 separate bills before the annual August recess. 

Read more about the broken budget process here.