Congress. Congress' Budget Process Is Broken. Here's One Idea for Fixing It. Lawmakers should be freed from "the dead hand of some guy from 1974," says former Congressional Budget Office director.

Fifty years later, Congress still uses these terms. But the budget-setting process? That is now mostly just theater. The modern process bears little resemblance to what lawmakers envisioned in 1974.

There’s understandable confusion over Capitol Hill lingo discussing the budget process and appropriations/spending process — which are two distinct things.

Congress will head into its Memorial Day recess at the end of this week with a host of unanswered questions about the annual budget process, including a detailed plan of what the White House hopes ...