The Politics of Public Budgeting

Irene S. Rubin is Professor Emeritus of Public Administration at Northern Illinois University.  She is the author of Running in the Red: The Political Dynamics of Urban Fiscal Stress, Shrinking the Federal Government, Class Tax and Power: Municipal Budgeting in the United States, and Balancing the Federal Budget: Eating the Seed Corn or Trimming the Herds, all four of which rely extensively on qualitative interviews.  She has written journal articles about citizen participation in local level government in Thailand, how universities adapt when their budgets are cut, and fights between legislative staffers and elected and appointed officials about unworkable policy proposals, all based on qualitative interviews.  She is in the middle of an interviewing project about how local officials view and use contracts with the private sector and with other governmental units to provide public services.

"The greatest strength [in the text] is the inclusion of politics in the budgeting process, which is a key element that is often overlooked or understated in other budgeting books."

• ForewordAcknowledgmentsCHAPTER 1: The Politics of Public BudgetsWhat is Budgeting?Governmental BudgetingMinicase: City Manager Replies to Scathing Budget CritiqueMinicase: Missouri Constitutional Amendment Reduces Governor′s PowersMinicase: Young Protesters in CourtMinicase: The Courts and New Jersey Pension ReformMinicase: The Federal Debt Limit as a ConstraintMinicase: Highly Constrained Budgeting—Colorado′s TABOR AmendmentThe Meaning of Politics in Public BudgetingBudgetary Decision-MakingMicrobudgeting and MacrobudgetingSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 2: Revenue PoliticsRaising TaxesMinicase: Supermajorities to Raise TaxesMinicase: Louisiana—Getting Around the No-Tax-Increase PledgeMinicase: A Tax Increase in PhiladelphiaThe Politics of ProtectionMinicase: Wisconsin and Unexamined Tax BreaksMinicase: Illinois and the Role of the PressMinicase: Tax Breaks for Hedge Fund ManagersMinicase: California and Enterprise Zone Tax BreaksMinicase: North Carolina and Business Tax BreaksMinicase: Michigan—Terminating its Film SubsidyMinicase: New Mexico and Tax Expenditure ReportingTax ReformMinicase: Georgia Tax Reform Left HangingMinicase: Michigan Tax Reform or Class Warfare?Minicase: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: Is it a Tax Reform?Summary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 3: The Politics of ProcessBudget Process and the Characteristics of Public BudgetingMinicase: Harrisburg—Whose Priorities Dominate?Designing Process to Achieve Policy and Political GoalsMacro- and MicropoliticsMinicase: Republican Macrolevel Reform ProposalsMinicase: Micropolitics—Bending the Rules to Win Individual DecisionsMinicase: How the Governor′s Veto is UsedVariation between and among Federal, State, and Local GovernmentsMinicase: Maine—The Governor versus the LegislatureMinicase: Limits of Governor′s Vetoes in New MexicoMinicase: San Diego—Fiscal Problems, Strong Mayor, and Veto PowersSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 4: The Dynamics of Changing Budget ProcessesOverviewMinicase: New York State—Powerful Governor, Weak Legislature, Informal BudgetingMinicase: The Governor versus the CourtsFederal Budget Process ChangesMinicase: Deeming Resolutions and Ad Hoc BudgetingMinicase: Ad Hoc Scoring RulesMinicase: Overseas Contingency OperationsMinicase: Budget Process Reform 2018?Changes in Budget Process at the State LevelMinicase: Maryland′s Legislative Budget PowerMinicase: South Carolina′s Legislatively Dominated Budget Process Begins to BudgeMinicase: The Executive and the Legislature in Florida′s BudgetingChanges in Budget Process at the Local LevelMinicase: Florida and Unfunded MandatesSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 5: Expenditures: Strategies, Structures, and the EnvironmentStrategiesMinicase: A $17,000 Drip PanMinicase: Homeland Security—A Program Tied to a Goal of Unlimited WorthMinicase: Amtrak Train WreckMinicase: Congressional Budget Office and ScoringStructureMinicase: Budgetary Implications of Direct College Loans versus Loan GuaranteesMinicase: An Open-Ended Discretionary Program—Immigration EnforcementMinicase: Trump, Immigration Enforcement, and the Threat of Grant DenialMinicase: California and Mandatory Spending on Redevelopment AgenciesMinicase: Fannie and Freddie: Government Bailout, a Loan, or Investment?Minicase: New Jersey′s Fund Diversion from the Unemployment Insurance FundThe EnvironmentStrategy, Structure, and Environment Combined: The Medicare ExampleSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 6: The Politics of Balancing the BudgetDefining the Balance ConstraintMinicase: Was the Wisconsin Budget Balanced?Minicase: Balance in the Federal Highway Trust FundMinicase: Illinois Funds SweepMultiple Actors, Ideologies, and DeficitsThe Environment, Unpredictability, and DeficitsIncreasing Stress between Payer and DeciderMinicase: Chicago′s Parking MetersMinicase: Iowa′s Privatization of MedicaidThe Politics of Deficits: The Federal LevelThe Politics of Deficits: StatesMinicase: Detroit BankruptcyMinicase: Why Did Jefferson County, Alabama, Declare Bankruptcy?The Politics of Balance in CitiesMinicase: The Politics of Deficits—An Urban ExampleSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 7: Budget Execution: The Politics of AdaptationTools for Changing the BudgetMinicase: Policy Deferrals in the Department of StateMinicase: Using Holdbacks to Change Legislative Priorities—MarylandMinicase: Herbert Hoover and Legislative VetoesMinicase: The National Weather Service ReprogrammingSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 8: Controlling Waste, Fraud, and AbuseMinicase: Congressional Oversight and the Zombie ApocalypseInspectors GeneralThe Politics of Finding Waste, Fraud, and AbuseMinicase: Louisiana Inspector GeneralMinicase: President Obama Fires an IGMinicase: Who Guards the Guards? Not the Guards ThemselvesMinicase: Acting IG for Homeland Security—Too Close to the DepartmentMinicase: The Massachusetts Inspector General Versus the GovernorMinicase: New York State and MedicaidMinicase: Baltimore′s Departing IGAuditors GeneralSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesCHAPTER 9: Budgetary Decision-Making and PoliticsReal-Time BudgetingA Comparison of the Decision-Making StreamsCommon ThemesReconceptualizing ReformAvenues for ResearchSummary and ConclusionsUseful WebsitesNotesAuthor IndexSubject IndexAbout the Author