PAD 505 Week 2 Discussion 2 Budgeting 101

Week 2 Discussion 2

Budgeting 101″ Please respond to the following: From the second e-Activity, discuss three (3) challenges in the budget process. Justify your response with examples.

1. House and Senate Work Out Differences in Conference Committee Since the spending bills are once again being debated and amended separately, House and Senate versions must go through the same conference committee process as the Budget Resolution. The conferees should agree on one version of each bill capable of passing in both the House and Senate by a majority vote

2. Full House and Senate Consider Conference Reports Once the conference committees have forwarded their reports to the full House and Senate, they must be approved by a majority vote. The Budget Act stipulates that the House should have given final approval to all the spending bills by June 30. The process always runs behind.

3. The Government Begins its New Fiscal Year When the process goes as planned, all the spending bills have been signed by the president and have become public laws by October 1, the start of the new Fiscal Year. Since the federal budget process rarely runs on schedule anymore, Congress will usually be required to pass one or more “Continuing Resolutions” authorizing the various government agencies to continue operating temporarily at existing funding levels. We have had a government shut down in the last ten years.

From the third e-Activity, identify and explain your choices for reductions and increases. Discuss at least two (2) lessons you learned about the challenge of balancing the federal budget.

I eliminated the Iraq and Afghanistan operations: Costs of military occupations and reconstruction funds. One reason I chose to eliminate this is because I don’t consider the mission a valuable mission anymore, the government has gone and restored their government and help with many other things and no its time to slowly move out and let them do what we have taught them.

I also eliminated Health Insurance Tax Benefits: Employer contributions for medical insurance and care, Self-employed medical insurance premiums, Medical Savings/Health Savings Accounts, Deductibility of medical expenses because the rate that it is going now the working people need to invest in private investments and Affordable Care Act to ensure that they are supported when it comes to insurance. For an example my medical insurance equals up to 223.00 bi -weekly just for insurance and I could try to receive a more lesser insurance plan through ACA.

I decreased Aid to Low-income Families: Housing assistance, Food stamps, Other nutrition programs (WIC, school lunches), Supplemental security income (SSI), Family support payments, Low income home energy assistance, Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Other aid to the poor. In lowering this, the government can set forth programs to allow these families training so that they can be more qualified for better paying jobs or programs where the retired and disability get the benefits they need.

I increased Military Retirement and Services: Military retirement benefits; Disability and insurance for veterans; veterans’ education, training, and rehabilitation; Hospital and medical care for veterans & retired military; Veterans housing and other benefits, because many veterans after retirement are disable and this would be away that we continue to make our army strong.

I increased Education: Elementary & Secondary education, Higher education, Research and general education programs. The youth is our future, they need all the knowledge and the skill sets to grow into working professionals to make our country decisions in the future.

I also increased Military Spending: Military personnel, Operation and maintenance, Procurement, Research and development, Military construction, Family housing, Nuclear weapons activities, Other defense-related activities. The Trump Administration is trying to make the military strong again and by increasing the military spending my help with past military service members, unite the present service members by giving them the needs of the daily incentives they need to complete a mission, and mentor the new recruits. The challenges that are used to plan and organize a budget goes hand and hand. It goes through channels of importance and if a decision is not agreed upon it could put the country in a government shut down.