ABSTRACT
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg presents a Fiscal Year 2011 Executive Budget and an updated four-year financial plan in May 2010. Photo by Edward Reed.
The Federal Budget Process The idea of having a government budget is a twentieth-century phenomenon. Prior
to 1921, the federal budget process was fragmented and disorganized. The Ameri-
can budget process was dominated by Congress: If an agency wanted money to do
something, an agency’s leaders were forced to petition Congress directly. The ex-
ecutive branch, more specifically the U.S. president, had no formal role in federal
budgetary decisions until the passage of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.
