The budget of the United States Environmental Protection Agency
The budget of the United States Environmental Protection Agency for the fiscal year 2015 will be discussed (U.S. EPA, 2014). It amounts to $7.89 billion, which is ≈4% lower than the agency’s budget for the previous fiscal year. This forced the agency to lower its spending by implementing such approaches as strategic sourcing, reducing the facilities for the workers, and adopting certain technological advancements.
The budget was formulated by the six main goals for 2014-2015 FYs, which can be considered a part of the EPA’s policy. These goals are reduction of the greenhouse gases emissions by vehicles; lowering the pollution levels in contaminated locations; enhancement of the efficiency of the agency’s activity and the quality of service; promoting the utilization of safer chemical substances by businesses; increasing the quality of water; and bettering the public health protection for individuals who obtain water from small drinking water systems (U.S. EPA, 2014, p. 2).
These goals served as guidelines for formulating the budget’s expenditures; certain percentages of the available resources were assigned to the implementation of each of the goals (U.S. EPA, 2014, p. 9). The money assigned for every one of the goals was then divided further to particular objectives, each of which was to be achieved via the implementation of several actions and programs (U.S. EPA, 2014).
Policymaking in the context of budgets
Policymaking is the process of creating a set of principles that serve as guidelines for making decisions. A policy works as a framework that allows for setting particular goals at which concrete decisions and actions will also be aimed. Policymaking should always be connected to budgets, for budgets define whether or not a particular policy can be successful as a whole. Adequate planning should also be carried out.
The budget-making process can begin with formulating the objectives (which are a part of the policy) of the actions that will be taken and programs that will be implemented during the period for which the budget is created (Rubin, 2015, p. 42). At the same time, the objectives, or policy options, have to take into account the resources available in the budget to be fiscally sound (Rubin, 2015, p. 139); otherwise, these objectives are unlikely to be met and can lead to disastrous consequences. On the whole, policymaking is a broader issue than budget making, but formulating the particular goals of a policy has to go together will budget-making for these goals to be achievable.
The relationships between the government budget and public policy
Creating a budget involves balancing the government’s revenues, debt, and expenses. The central problem of a budget is distributing public resources to provide the finances necessary for carrying out the policies and programs of the government. The problems of creating a budget (these involve the issues related to deciding which programs and campaigns to finance and which ones to reject) are an integral part of the problems of the public policy. Public policy, a set of guidelines for making decisions, is one of the factors that, together with other factors such as the availability of resources, dictate which programs will receive the governmental financial support (Thurmaier & Willoughby, 2015, pp. 30-31).
Therefore, the relationship between the government budget and the public policy is as follows: the budget is made according to the guidelines provided by the broader public policy, but the public policy is also modified following the capabilities of the government budget.
Differences between the federal budget process and state/local budgeting
The federal budget process is a set of procedures that are used to make the federal budget of the USA, a document that provides a plan of the federal government’s revenues, debt, and expenses for the following fiscal year (the fiscal year for the federal budget on October, 1 – September, 30).
The budget process takes place as follows: the U.S. President submits a budget request to the Congress (the request includes a set of documents, including supporting documents, information on prior budgets, policy offers, proposals about spending, etc.). The President’s offers are analyzed by various departments of the Congress; amendments may be offered, and resolutions are made. If Congress does not pass a budget, appropriation bills need to be passed and approved by the President. If not all the appropriation bills are passed before the beginning of the new fiscal year, this may lead to a partial shutdown of the federal government.
On the other hand, the state and local budgeting take place at the respective levels. The processes differ in the U.S.’s territorial and state legislatures. Some of such differences are the length of the budget cycle (annual or biennial), the right of the governor to make changes to the adopted budget, how the budget is balanced. Also, states use different kinds of budgets (e.g., program-based, performance-based, etc.).
Examples of non-policy budget decisions
Some examples of non-policy budget decisions are expenditures on programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. This spending is considered mandatory because it occurs following the appropriations of Congress that have a long-term effect. Because these expenditures are mandatory, they do not depend on the currently adopted policy, and, therefore, can be considered non-policy budget decisions.
References
Rubin, I. S. (Ed.). (2015). Public budgeting: Policy, process and politics. New York, NY: Routledge.
Thurmaier, K. M., & Willoughby, K. G. (2015). Policy and politics in state budgeting. New York, NY: Routledge.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2014). FY 2015: EPA budget in brief.