Below you can access books, articles, chapters, testimonies, op-eds, and audio/visual media, organized as follows:
Books
Congressional budget process and federal budget policy
Executive budget: federal government
Executive budget: Maryland
Maryland budget policy and state budget processes
Economic development policy and budgeting
Health budgeting
Miscellaneous
Congressional budget process and federal budget policy
Celebrating the Pyrite Anniversary of the Congressional Budget Act, as submitted to Public Budgeting and Finance, forthcoming March 2025, now on early view, behind paywall. Public Budgeting and Finance holds copyright. If you can't get behind the paywall, contact me and I'll send you a copy of the published article.
CSPAN Washington Journal on the history and impacts of government shutdowns, 9/30/23.
The Problem and the Process Are Both Problems: Why the Joint Select committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform Failed, working paper, with Philip G. Joyce.
Panel member at Better Budget Process Summit, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Washington, D.C., February 25, 2020
Intro, as editor to virtual issue on Congressional Budget Process Reform, Public Budgeting and Finance, August 2018 (for intro, scroll down past article titles)
Is the U.S. Congress An Insurmountable Obstacle to Any "Far-Sighted Conception of Budgeting"?, proof of article in Public Budgeting and Finance, which holds the copyright, 37: Winter 2017, 5-24.
Comments at Brookings Institution event (webcast) : "The federal budget process: Turning reform into political reality," October 18, 2016
Comments on Enzi budget process reform proposal, especially budget concepts commission, at event hosted by The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, September 19, 2016. CSPAN video.
Brookings brief on political feasibility of budget process reform, April 18, 2016
Testimony on budget process reform to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, April 13, 2016
The Political Feasibility of Doing What Is Almost Impossible: Reforming the Federal Budget Process, prepared with support from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, presented at the annual conference of the American Political Science Association, September 2015. Published as a working paper by George Mason University for the National Budgeting Roundtable.
The Implosion of the Federal Budget Process: Triggers, Commissions, Cliffs, Sequesters, Debt Ceilings, and Shutdown, Public Budgeting and Finance, 34:4, Winter 2014, 1-23, which holds the copyright.
Op-Ed on Partnership to Build America Act, MarylandReporter.com, July 24, 2014
LSE blog entry on the Ryan-Murray budget agreement, December 13, 2013
LSE blog entry on the shutdown and reform of the budget process, October 2, 2013 Follow-up commentary after end of shutdown
Selected media commentary/citations on 2013 shutdown: Wonkblog, NPR, WaPo, NYT, The Hill, WSJ, Politifact, Politifact, and Politifact.
Selected press clips/appearance on Politfact--Grayson, USA Today, Politifact--Obama.
Raze the Debt Ceiling, op-ed with Phil Joyce, in The Baltimore Sun, December 19, 2012.
Strengthening the Federal Budget Process, with Paul Posner, Steve Redburn, and Phil Joyce, National Academy of Public Administration and American Society for Public Administration, July 12, 2012.
Miscellaneous media commentary on Politifact re Gingrich, Obama, Lew; NPR on CRs
Correcting Michelle Bachmann in PolitiFact.com, March 8, 2011
Media commentary on possible shutdown in Slate, NPR
Several Modest Proposals, comments prepared for Thursday's Child panel on "Children and Federal-State Budget Tradeoffs," Urban Institute, March 17, 2011. Video
Prospects for a Sustainable Budgetary Policy in the United States, International Conference on Financial Crisis and Macroeconomic Control, sponsored by the School of Public Finance and Taxation, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing, China, October 17, 2009.
Presentation on Capitol Hill: Can the Budget Process Be Fixed?, sponsored by the Mercatus Center, 1/22/09.
Slides for "The 'Missing Middle' of the Federal Budget Process: Priority-Setting," to Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, September 24, 2009, Washington, D.C
Presentation to Peterson-Pew Budget Reform Commission on structural reform of the federal budget process, April 1, 2009 (no foolin'!)
Presentation to Peterson-Pew Budget Reform Commission on their agenda, February 20. 2009
The 'Ball of Confusion' in Federal Budgeting: A Shadow Agenda for Deliberative Reform of the Budget Process, Public Administration Review, 69:2, March 2009, pp. 211-223. Copyright American Society for Public Administration, published by Blackwell Publishing. Drawn from the plenary presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, Chicago, IL, October 24, 2008.
Books review: The Return of Budget Deficits in the United State”, Public Administration Review, 2006, 66: 2, March, pp. 294-7. Copyright American Society for Public Administration, published by Blackwell Publishing.
Congressional Budgeting at Age 30: Is It Worth Saving?, with Philip G. Joyce. Public Budgeting and Finance, 2005, Silver Anniversary Issue, pp. 68-82. Copyright Public Financial Publications, Inc., published by Blackwell Publishing.
Remarks and slides for "It's Time for a Second Commission on Budget Concepts," presented at the Third Annual Congressional Budget Office Director's Conference, Russell Senate Caucus Room, September 14, 2004
Testimony before the House Rules Committee on biennial budgeting, March 16, 2000.
Comments at the Opening Plenary of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, October 7, 1999, Washington, D.C., on the topic of Federal Budget Structure and Concepts for a New Millenium: Revolt, Reform, or Renewal?
Regulatory Budgeting: A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come? Policy Sciences, 31: December 1998, pp. 371-384.
Late Appropriations and Government Shutdowns: Frequency, Causes, Consequences, and Remedies, Public Budgeting and Finance, Fall 1997.
Is There a Key to the Normative Budgeting Lock? Policy Sciences, 29: 1996, pp. 171-188.
The Budget Resolution Should Be Law, Public Budgeting and Finance,10: Fall 1990
Biennial Budgeting by the U.S. Congress, Public Budgeting and Finance, 8: Summer 1988
Supplemental Appropriations in the 1980s. CBO, February 1990.
The Budgetary Status of the Federal Reserve System, CBO, February 1985.
Executive budget: federal
Trump’s Destructively Aberrant Approach To Federal Budgeting, book chapter. Book link
Presentation and discussion for American Enterprise Institute, The Budget and Accounting Act at 100: Looking back and forward, June 25, 2021.
Point-Counterpoint discussion with Steve Redburn on the Present and Future of Congressional vs. Executive Budgeting, for the AABPA/ABFM/NAPA virtual conference on the centennial of the Budget and Accounting Act, June 21, 2021.
Op-ed, with Doug Criscitello and Steve Redburn, The Budget Process Is 100 Years Old Today and Its Age Is Showing, Government Executive, June 10, 2021.
Wisconsin Public Radio Central Time discussion of Trump FY21 budget, 2/11/2020.
Interviews and comments on the 2018-2019 Trump shutdown: New York Times, December 23; The Takeaway, January 8; Ken Rudin's Political Junkie, ( 25:03-40:39) January 10; Wisconsin Public Radio, January 11; Vox, January 9; Time, January 12; Marketplace's Make Me Smart. January 29.
"Roughly Speaking" podcast with Dan Rodricks, The Baltimore Sun, Deficits in the Trillions in the Trump Era, April 27, 2018
Why Trump's "skinny budget" is already dead, The Conversation, March 8, 2017
Obama may be a lame duck, but his final budget isn’t, The Conversation, February 19, 2016
The Executive Budget in the Federal Government: The First Century and Beyond, with Irene S. Rubin, Public Administration Review, 71:3, May/June 2011, 334-344, copyright 2011 American Society for Public Administration. See also the responses that follow in this issue from Matt Andrews and Joachim Wehner.
Budgeting during the Clinton Presidency, coauthored with Philip G. Joyce, Public Budgeting and Finance, 21: Spring 2001, pp. 1-21. Posted to this page with the permission of Blackwell Publishers
The New Equation at OMB: M + B = RMO, with Bernard H. Martin and Joseph S. Wholey, Public Budgeting and Finance, Winter 1995
Federal Budgeting and Finance in 1991: The Future is Now, Public Budgeting and Finance, 12: Summer 1992
The President's 1992 Budget: Almost Quiet on the Budgetary Front," Public Budgeting and Finance, 11: Summer 1991
Executive budget: Maryland
For Question 1 on November ballot, Maryland Matters, September 14, 2020, with Warren Deschenaux. Referendum result
Oped on mandate relief and legislative budget powers, MarylandReporter, March 20, 2016, and associated testimony
Increasing Budgetary Democracy and Flexibility, part of an exchange on the effects of the budget powers set out in the Maryland Constitution, from Maryland Policy Reports, Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute, June 2008.
Testimony on HB 1247, sponsor Delegate Branch (crossfile SB 370, sponsor Senator Hogan), Constitutional Amendment on Additions to the Operating Budget, House Appropriations Committee, Maryland General Assembly, March 9, 2004
Maryland budget policy and state budget processes
Discussion of upcoming MGA session with Kevin Kinally of MACO on Sunil Dasgupta's podcast "I Hate Politics" (which he doesn't), December 30, 2022
Discussion of Maryland's budget surplus with Majority Leader Delegate Eric Luedtke on Sunil's podcast, December 31, 2021, starting around minute 15.
Discussion of MD's budget during the pandemic on Sunil's podcast. May 7, 2021, starting at minute 6:37.
Maryland's Budget Should Be More Comprehensive and Understandable, Maryland Matters, with Warren Deschenaux, November 19, 2020.
Fix for broken link in article to Comptroller's flawed "personal tax receipt" webpage HB 113 expands BRE revenue estimate coverage
On Covid and MD's budget, Maryland Matters, with Warren Deschenaux, October 9, 2020
Testimony on HB 1628, Sales and Use Tax - Rate Reduction and Services, Committee on Ways and Means, Maryland House of Delegates, March 2, 2020
Don’t misinterpret Mercatus low ranking of Maryland’s fiscal health, commentary at MarylandReporter, August 18, 2015
Commentary on the so-called "easy fix" for Maryland's budget, MarylandReporter.com, December 15, 2014
Op-Ed on 2014 Maryland gubernatorial election; also at MarylandReporter.com, November 6, 2014
Testimony on MD budget transparency bill March 2014
WYPR on MD state budget, January 13, 2014
WYPR on MD state budget, January 11, 2012
Political Institutions for Sustainable State Budgets, with Irene S. Rubin, in Sustaining the States: The Fiscal Viability of American State Governments, Marilyn Marks Rubin and Katherine G. Willoughby, eds., 2014, 13-27. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press, which holds the copyright. Portions of this were previously presented as "Executive Budgeting in the States: Evaluating a Reform," with Irene S. Rubin, at the annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, Washington, D.C., October 13-15, 2011.
Budget Questions for the Maryland Election and Beyond, September 17, 2010
Op-ed in Baltimore Sun on educating the public about the state's budget, September 8, 2009
Testimony on two Maryland budget process bills, February 2008
Addressing Maryland’s Structural Deficit through Better Performance Budgeting and Priority-Setting, UMBC Policy Brief 5, June 2007.
Commentary (invited), on Fred Thompson and Bruce L. Gates, “Betting on the Future with a Cloudy Crystal Ball? Revenue Forecasting, Financial Theory, and Budgets--An Expanded Treatment,” Public Administration Review, Theory to Practice, September/October 2007, pp. 74-80.
How Can Maryland's Budget Process Be Improved?, coauthored with Thomas S. Pilkerton, September 2003, Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research.
Testimony on SB 381, sponsor Senator Jones, Managing for Results and the budget prioritization process in Maryland, March 23, 2004
Economic development policy and budgeting
The Port Covington TIF: Did Baltimore "Protect This House?", in Craig L. Johnson and Kenneth A. Kriz, eds., 2019. Tax Increment Financing and Economic Development: Uses, Structures and Impact, second edition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 83-99.
Why we are thankful that Maryland didn’t ‘win’ Amazon HQ2, op-ed co-authored with Eric Stokan, MarylandReporter.com, November 19, 2018.
Maryland Should Not “One-Click Order” Huge Subsidies for Amazon, op-ed co-authored with Eric Stokan, MarylandReporter.com, March 6, 2018
Health budgeting
How Democrats can help Trump make the ACA’s replacement ‘terrific,’ The Conversation, February 9, 2017
Budgeting and Health Care Policy (1970s-Present), a book chapter in U.S. Health Care and Health Care Policy, Thomas R. Oliver, editor, 2014, pp. 111-125. Thousand Oaks, California: CQ Press, which holds the copyright.
Paper written for the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Mary Lasker Trust: Federal Financing for Medical Research Through Trust Funds and Entitlements", February 15, 1999.
Earmarks
The Remarkable Case of Disappearing Earmarks in the United States: The Limits of Transparency Reforms, presented at the 2012 conference of the International Public Management Network: Innovations in Public Management for Combating Corruption, Honolulu, Hawaii, June 28, 2012. Winner of Frieder Naschold prize. A much earlier version was presented at the annual conference of the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management, 2007.
Op-ed on using a deal on earmarks to encourage timely passage of appropriations bills, Roll Call, Tuesday March 24, 2009, p. A4.
Moderator of ASPA Book Talk with Andrew Kleine on his book City on the Line, October 11, 2018
Comments to redistricting commission, October 13, 2015
Comments for American Political Science Association panel on "Hard Times and Ph.D.s: The Political Science Job Market and Non-Academic Careers," Washington, D.C., September 2, 2010.
Governance Ideas for and from the "Knowledge Banks" book review essay in Public Administration Review, 69: January 2009, pp. 167-171.
Revised version of 2009 presentation to Eastern States Legislative Fiscal Officers: What Can Academics Teach Practitioners About Budgeting?
"European Budget Institutions", book review essay in Public Administration Review, 2006, 66:6, November, 935-938.
Legislative Budgeting in Mexico: Aspirations and Choices for the Conference on Reform of the State: Budgeting and Public Spending in Mexico, January 27, 2000, sponsored by Centro de Investigatión y Docencia Económicas and Camara de Diputados, Government of Mexico
If Policy Analysts Are Depressed, What Should They Do About It?, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 15: Summer 1996