ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author helps congress in reforming the budgetary process from the viewpoint of legislators in a representative assembly. A large part of the literature on budgeting in the United States is concerned with reform. Far from being a neutral matter of "better budgeting," proposed reforms inevitably contain important implications for the political system. The fact that the budgetary process is not comprehensive has given rise to charges that it is uncoordinated. If it is granted that budgetary practices based on a partial view of the public interest are desirable, then it would appear necessary to accept the use of strategies designed to secure appropriation goals. The literature on reform is replete with suggestions for improving the rationality of the budgetary process, which turn out to have vast implications for the distribution of power.
