Ep. 3: Is the budget process broken?

The Sausage Makers

In some ways, you can think about the federal budget like you think about your own finances. But in others, the budget process is decidedly weird. In this episode, Philip G. Joyce, a former CBO budget analyst, walks us through how Congress decides what to spend money on, and whether, given that shutdowns are a mainstay of politics, the process is broken. Spoiler: He says that the process is fine, if only Congress would actually use it. We also talk about a budget based on outcomes, the challenges of entitlement spending, and whether there's any appetite at all in Washington for objective policy analysis.