ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors present an analytic summary of the federal budgetary process, and explain why basic features of the process lead them to believe that it can be represented by simple models which are stable over periods of time, linear, and stochastic. They propose and discuss the alternative specifications for the agency-Budget Bureau and congressional decision equations. Participants in budgeting deal with their overwhelming burdens by adopting aids to calculation. The specialization inherent in the appropriations process allows some members of Congress to have an intimate knowledge of the budgetary processes of the agencies and the Budget Bureau. The authors also present the empirical results and provide evidence on deviant cases, and discuss predictions, and future work to explore some of the problems indicated by this kind of analysis. The budgetary process seems to become more linear over time in the sense that the importance of the “special circumstances” appears to diminish.
