About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

95 Geo. L.J. 1555 (2006-2007)
Standard Errors: How Budget Rules Distort Lawmaking

handle is hein.journals/glj95 and id is 1567 raw text is: Standard Errors: How Budget Rules Distort Lawmaking TIM WESTMORELAND* The mark of a civilized human is the capacity to read a column of numbers and weep. -attributed to Bertrand Russell1 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................... 1556 I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CONGRESSIONAL BUDGETING ............. 1559 II. THE BASICS OF THE CURRENT BUDGET PROCESS ............... 1564 A. TWO-MAYBE THREE-KINDS OF MONEY ................. 1564 B. BASELINES .............................................. 1569 C. SCOREKEEPING ................................... 1573 D. LIM ITS ......................................... 1575 III. INVISIBLE EFFECTS OF THE BUDGET PROCESS .................. 1580 A. TYPE OF MONEY EFFECTS: DISCRETIONARY SPENDING BREAKS PROMISES ........ ....................................... 1583 B. TYPE OF MONEY EFFECTS: TAX SPENDING IS OPAQUE .......... 1585 C. TYPE OF MONEY EFFECTS: TAX SPENDING IS OF UNEVEN BENEFIT ........................................ 1587 D. TIMING EFFECTS: THE BUDGET PROCESS DISCOURAGES LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS .................................... 1590 * Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Senior Scholar, O'Neill Institute on Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center; Research Professor of Public Policy, Georgetown University Public Policy Institute; J.D., Yale Law School; B.A., Duke University. © 2007, Tim Westmoreland. This work was supported (in part) by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Investigator Award in Health Policy Research, for which I am grateful. The views expressed herein imply no endorsement by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I am also grateful to my colleagues at Georgetown who gave me very helpful comments on early drafts of this paper, especially Gregg Bloche, Stephen Cohen, Judy Feder, Chai Feldblum, Larry Gostin, Lisa Heinzerling, Mike Seidman, and Kathy Zeiler. I am also extremely thankful to Robert Dove, Sherry Glied, Mike Hash, Nan Hunter, Jeanne Lambrew, David Mechanic, Lynn Rogut, Andy Schneider, Jane Sisk, and the all-knowing and indefatigable Richard Kogan for their advice, counsel, and correction. Finally, my deep gratitude to Nick Olcott for his contributions throughout. 1. DAVID G. MYERS, THE AMERICAN PARADOX: SPIRITUAL HUNGER IN AN AGE OF PLENTY 6 (2000), available at http://www.davidmyers.org/Brix?pagelD=71. 1555

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most