THE EXECUTIVE BUDGET MOVEMENT AND THE BUDGET AND ACCOUNTING ACT OF 1921

The movement toward a budget system in which the chief executive exercised more control over the budget has its roots in the budgetary practices described above, and was pursued by the progressive reformers of the early 20th century. These reformers placed little trust in legislative institutions. Legislative corruption, especially on the municipal level, led them to place more trust and authority in executive and administrative institutions. This belief manifested itself on the national level in the movement for an executive budget system.

An important early study urging an executive budget was made by President Taft's Commission on Economy and Efficiency (1910-1912). The Commission's Report, however, was virtually silent on the role of the legislature in the executive budget system it recommended, and the proposal languished in Congress. In spite of this, it remained on the national agenda, strongly supported by the Institute for Government Research (later renamed the Brookings Institution) and was included in Republican presidential platforms in 1916 and 1920 and the Democratic platform in 1920, (In 1916 the Democrats had endorsed a return to consolidated control of appropriations in Congress, but not a presidential budget).⁵

In 1919 Congress finally acted on this issue, establishing select committees in both the House and Senate to hold hearings and make recommendations. The House Select Committee held 11 days of hearings in September and October of 1919. The Senate Committee held 4 additional days of hearings in December 1919 and January 1920. Legislation embodying these recommendations was passed overwhelmingly in both Chambers in 1920, but was vetoed by President Wilson because of concern with the constitutionality of a provision involving his removal power over the new office of Comptroller General. After the election of Warren G. Harding to the presidency in 1920 the bill was passed with only minor changes in the removal power provision, and enacted as the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921.⁶

Characterized as ``probably the greatest landmark of our administrative history,''⁷ the Budget and Accounting Act required the President to submit a single, consolidated budget proposal for congressional consideration each year. The Act also established the Bureau of the Budget (predecessor of the current Office of Management and Budget) to provide the President with the resources necessary to produce such a proposal, and the General Accounting Office, to provide Congress with the resources to ensure accountability. The most important changes resulting from that legislation -- the requirement for a Presidential budget submission, a central budget office, and the General Accounting Office -- remain to this day.

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FOOTNOTES

⁵ Johnson, Donald Bruce (ed), National Party Platforms (rev. ed.), v. 1, 1840-1956, Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1978. passim.
⁶ Public Law 13, 67th Congress, 42 Stat. 20.
⁷ Emmerich, Herbert, Federal Organization and Administrative Management, University, Univ. of Alabama Press, 1971. p. 40.