Events
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RADICAL REFORM OF THE FEDERAL BUDGET PROCESS: A CALL TO ACTION
Welcome to a new year for the Executive Organization and Management Panel. We will be hosting an important discussion on the future of budgeting on January 29th at 2:00 p.m. There will be limited seating at the NAPA offices, or you can register for an online link above.
With the latest Continuing Resolutions set to expire on January 31, the failures of the current budget process come into dramatic relief. According to the Budget Process Working Group of Reform for Results, “The current failure to budget intelligently and responsibly presents the country with a strategic opportunity to undertake comprehensive reform that addresses fundamental weaknesses in the current process.”
The Group will present its proposal for “Radical Reform for the Federal Budget Process: A call to action.” This presentation welcomes all of those interested in long-term government reform. It is the beginning of a process that will lead to legislative proposals for major changes in the way the budget is presented, debated, enacted and executed.
Speakers will include:
Phil Joyce, Professor of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Roy Meyers, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Steve Redburn, Professorial Lecturer, Trachtenberg School, George Washington University
Philip Joyce is Professor of Public Policy in the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. He is the author of The Congressional Budget Office: Honest Numbers, Power, and Policymaking (Georgetown University Press, 2011), two other books, and more than 60 other publications focusing primarily on public budgeting and performance management. Dr. Joyce also has 12 years of public sector work experience, including five years with the United States Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Professor Joyce is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and received the Aaron Wildavsky Award for lifetime scholarship in public budgeting and finance in 2012.
Roy T. Meyers is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). After receiving his PhD in Political Science from the University of Michigan, he served as an Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1981 to1990. Meyers is an author of works on normative budgeting models, the Congressional budget process, federal government budgeting, state government budgeting, and local economic development policies, and received the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management 2018 Aaron Wildavsky Award for lifetime achievement in budgeting and financial management.
Steve Redburn is a Professorial Lecturer in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration, George Washington University. After serving as a federal career executive for the Office of Management and Budget, his work has included consulting internationally on budget process, authoring numerous published articles and monographs on budget process reform, and serving as a study director for the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Public Administration, where he is a Fellow.
Over the past several decades, the federal government has increasingly relied on short-term funding measures rather than completing the normal appropriations process on time. Continuing resolutions — once the exception — have become an annual feature of the budget calendar. The threat of shutdowns and actual funding lapses seem ever present, disrupting essential services, slowing agency operations, undermining workforce morale, and increasing programmatic and financial uncertainty across the public and private sectors.
This forum will explore the impact of uncertainty on both the Federal Budget Process and the budget offices that must operate within the Federal Budget process.
This event will be held at the IBM Center for The Business of Government at 600 14th Street, NW, 2nd Floor, Washington DC, 20005 and hosted by the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis (AABPA). Support for this program comes from the following:
- Reform for Results
- Arnold Ventures
- Budget Line of Business”
The event is offered as hybrid. To register, select your preferred attendance at the registration link below. In-person attendance is limited to 80. We will begin seating at 9:00 and start the conference at 9:30. We expect to conclude at noon with light refreshments served during our in-person networking hour.
The event is offered as hybrid. To register, select your preferred attendance at registration. In-person attendance is limited to 80.
- In person: IBM Center for the Business of Government. (600 14th Street NW, Ste. 300)
- Virtual: Link to be transmitted via email after registration.
The conference is free to the public to attend.
AGENDA:
9:30-10:00am
Introductions and award presentations
10:00
Budget Office of the Future. Present the results of AABPA interview research project and discuss the challenges and opportunities that budget offices will face in the future.
Panel:
Andrew Pavord, President AABPA
Sarah Cunningham, Partner, Summit
10:50-11:00am
Break
11:00-12:00
What are We Doing This (fiscal) New Year’s Eve?
This session will provide an overview of trends in government funding from the mid-1980s and discuss the impact of these trends on the Federal Budget process, agency operations, the Federal workforce, trust in government, and the economy.
Panel:
Theresa Gullo, Congressional Budget Office (retired)
Philip Joyce, University of Maryland
12:00-1:00
Social hour with Refreshments
After more than 50 years of dormancy, the subject of Impoundment has once again become an active topic in federal policy circles. While much of the fiscal attention in the nation’s capital right now is centered on reconciliation legislation, concerns about how FY25 appropriations are being administered and how that execution affects FY26 appropriations cannot be ignored. With concerns being raised in Congress that many billions of dollars in current year funding are not being appropriately delivered, GAO reporting numerous impoundment investigations underway, and various legal challenges making their way through the courts, Reform for Results and Arnold Ventures are convening an event to explore this matter and to offer reform ideas. Francis Fukuyama will launch a discussion featuring presentations and a panel of experts moderated by Phil Joyce.
Suggested Reading:
• Beyond Reconciliation, U.S. Budget Uncertainties Persist, Doug Criscitello
• Presidential Spending Power and the Impoundment Control Act, Phil Joyce
• FY25 Appropriations Shifts the Balance of Power to the President, Charles Kieffer
• Modernizing the Power of the Purse Statutes, Eloise Pasachoff