ABSTRACT
This chapter tracks the money through the process, identifying the concepts and rules at each stage. Although departments and agencies are constantly working on budget issues, formal work in the executive branch on drafting a new federal budget generally starts in the spring of each year, months before agencies submit their budgets to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in September for review, and even longer before the budget's formal debut the following February. Drafting a budget is a joint exercise between the departments and agencies, on the one hand, and the White House, on the other. OMB carries the load for the president, developing budget guidelines at the start of the process and reviewing agency budget submissions later in the year. The "linear" concepts introduced in the chapter shows Congress and the president developed controls for each stage of the budget process. These concepts and controls have as much to do with budget administration as budget policy.
