The+Legislature+-+Contemporary+Issues


 * The Legislature: Contemporary Issues**
 * Fiscal Policy, Monetary Policy and Budgeting**

These are updated as of 8pm 2/12/12. These have been revised considerable, but there are still a few extraneous slides after #206. Ignore them.



The legislature has [|the power of the purse]. This means they have the authority to determine how money is collected and how it is spent, albeit with some input from the executive. The Constitution say nothing about a budgetting process however, aside from a few short phrases regarding borrowing money, appropriations and other matters. As the size and scope of the budget has risen, so have controversies regarding it, especially over the past few decades. In this section we will investigate a variety of issue associated with the budget and the budgetary process. At the end of this section you, hopefully, will become capable of forming reasoned opinions about the current state of the budget, and the fiscal health of the country as a whole.

As opposed to other weeks, I'm structuring the assessment this week as a scavenger hunt. I'll keep the assessments open the entire duration of the testing period and you will be abel to hunt for the answers.

Topics: - Budgetting - The Constitution - Where money comes: Revenues. - Taxes: The various types - Where money goes: Expenditures. - The level of spending - Discretionary - Non-Discretionary - Deficits - Debt - Process - Budget Committees - Appropriations Committees - Other Players - The Economy: GDP and other economic factors. - Budgetting's Impact on the Economy - Fiscal Policy - Monetary Policy - Counter Cyclical Macro Economic Policy -- Keynesianism - The Supply Side Revolution


 * Links:**

Wikipedia: [|United States Federal Budget]. Wikipedia: [|United States Federal Budget Process]. Texas: [|Legislative Budget Board]. LBB: [|Fiscal Sizeup: 2010 - 2011 Biennium]. GPO Access: [|Budget of the United States]. GPO Access: [|Budgets from 1996 - 2011]. [|Congressional Budget Office]. Wikipedia: [|Congressional Budget Office]. NYT Topics: [|Congressional Budget Office]. CBO: [|Budget and Economic Outlook]. C-Span: [|Interview with CBO Director]. U.S. House: [|Committee on the Budget]. U.S. Senate: [|Committee on the Budget]. [|U.S. Treasury Department]. How Stuff Works: [|How the Fed Works]. [|Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]. Federal Reserve: [|Economic Research and Data]. Wikipedia: [|The Federal Reserve System]. Treasury Department: [|Office of Tax Policy]. A reasonable source of federal, state and local budgets: [|usgovernmentspending.com]. Wikipedia: [|United States Public Debt]. Wikipedia: [|The Economy of the United States]. Houston: [|Operating Budget]. Alvin: [|2009-2010 Budget]. Wikipedia: [|Budget and Accounting Act of 1921] Wikipedia: [|Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974]. WIkipedia: [|Category - U.S. Budgets]. Some Useful Powerpoints from a budgeting class. Treasury Department: [|History of the U.S. Tax System]. Wikipedia: [|Taxation of the United States]. Wikipedia: [|Taxation History of the United States]. David Stockman: [|The Four Deformations of the Apocalypse]. Wikipedia: [|American Recovery and Reinvestment Act]. Wikipedia: [|Supply Side Economics]. Wikipedia: [|Keynesian Economics]. Wikipedia: [|Starve the Beast]. Wikipedia: [|PayGo]. Wikipedia: [|Laffer Curve]. [|Texas Budget Source]. [|Legislative Budget Board].

Past Written Assignments:

1 - The United States and Texas budgets have been in the news recently. I want you to make sense of each, and how they are interrelated. Go to this report in the [|Congressional Budget Office], as well as the Texas [|Legislative Budget Board], for information. 2 - The [|Congressional Research Service] is Congress' think tank. It issues a variety of reports on matters being, or likely to be, considered by Congress. Go to their website, select one of these reports and summarize it. 3 - While the Texas Legislature is not in session, the [|House Research Organizatio]n is busy issuing reports highlighting contemporary issues which may lead to legislative activity next year. Go to their website and outline one of these issues. 4 - Using the links below, I want you to outline the budgetary process for the U.S. and Texas. You should begin by stating what a budget is, then detail how it evolves and the multiple players in the process. 5 - Using the CBO's: [|Budget and Economic Outlook], as a guide, I want you to detail the issues in the current budget. Discuss where the nation is in terms of revenues, expenditures, and debt among other things, as well as what current projections are for where the country is headed. You may use your own sources as well, but back up your claims. 6 - Using information obtained from the Legislative Budget Board (see below), I want you to answer the same items in questions #2, but this time for Texas. Again, you may use your own sources as well, but back up your claims. 7 - The [|American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] (the Stimulus Bill) was intended to jumpstart the economy -- that's why it was called a stimulus bill. Debate continues about whether an infusion of cash was the proper way to address the recession, and whether the stimulus bill, as designed, had the desired effect. Research these debates and outline the various arguments made on either side. 8 - In 2001 and 2003, Congress passed President Bush's proposed 10 year tax cuts. They are set to expire at the end of this year. There is a debate regarding whether they should be maintained. If they are extended, the deficit will increase. If they are terminated, a reduction in aggregate demand might lead us back into recession. There are also political considerations at play. No one wants to vote against tax cuts just before an election. Research these debates and outline the various arguments made on either side.