Doug Henwood wrote: > > I just heard from a friend of mine that the big U.S. federal budget bill > was essentially a secret document. . . . > As far as I know, this is unprecedented at the federal level. State > legislatures act this way, but this seems to be a new low in federal > budget-making. Unsavory yes, but unprecedented no. The infamous Reagan tax cut/budget bill (OBRA 1981) was voted on notwithstanding the fact that there was no official, completed draft. Staffers were continually switching pages with additions, corrections, deletions, etc. while the vote was taking place. I think this underscores the irrelevance of rules and even laws in the budget/legislative process. What you have are deals between principals, sometimes where one side or the other is at such a bargaining disadvantage that the dominant side has some flexibility to massage the language of bills regardless of mere voting. That's why, for instance, the line item veto is so trivial -- any budget that passes is the result of a deal which would include agreements on most provisions susceptible to veto. M.S. ==================================================== Max B. Sawicky 202-775-8810 (voice) Economic Policy Institute 202-775-0819 (fax) 1660 L Street, NW [EMAIL PROTECTED] Suite 1200 Washington, DC 20036
