Is the White House Going to Propose a Presidential Budget Commission?

January 7, 2010 Stan Collender

There are some rumblings, all of which are completely unconfirmed at this point, that the White House is going to propose a budget commission when the president delivers the State of the Union Address that is currently scheduled for January 26.

A presidential budget commission would allow the White House to seize the initiative from those in Congress — mainly Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND), Judd Gregg (R-NH), and Evan Bayh (D-IN) — who have been pushing for a congressional budget commission. More importantly, it would give the administration far more control over who would serve on the commission, what the panel would be charged with doing, and when it reported.

A presidential initiative would also mean that the White House would control the commission’s budget and staff, two factors that are often overlooked but frequently are critical to what, if anything, is done.

About Stan Collender 126 Articles

Affiliation: Qorvis Communications

Stan Collender is a former New Yorker who, after getting a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, moved to Washington to get it out of his system. That was more than 30 years ago.

During most of his career, Collender has worked on the federal budget and congressional budget process, including stints on the staff of the House and Senate Budget Committees; founding the Federal Budget Report, a newsletter that was published for almost two decades; and for the past 11 years writing a weekly column for NationalJournal.com and now RollCall.com.

He is currently a managing director for Qorvis Communications, where he spends most of his time working with and for financial services clients.

Visit: Capital Gains and Games

Is the White House Going to Propose a Presidential Budget Commission?

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