Deck 11: Budgeting

Question 1

Fiscal policy consists of taxation and what other governmental activity?

A) representation
B) spending
C) elections
D) recessions

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Articulated by his book published in 1936, the theory that government can use the budget to steer the economy can be attributed to ______.

A) V. O. Key
B) Paul Volcker
C) John Maynard Keynes
D) Aaron Wildavsky

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following types of legislation creates programs and limits the amount of money to be spent managing them?

A) rescissions
B) earmarks
C) appropriations
D) authorizations

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The national debt is ______.

A) government surplus
B) government outlays
C) a deficit accumulated over time
D) the fiscal year budget

Question 5

Government taxation and spending is called ______.

A) fiscal policy
B) zero-base budgeting
C) incrementalism
D) compensatory economics

Question 6

The relationship between the federal budget and the national economy is ______.

A) reciprocal, because the budget affects the economy and the economy shapes the budget
B) unilateral, because only the budget affects the economy
C) unilateral, because only the economy affects the budget
D) autonomous, because neither the budget nor the economy affects the other

Question 7

Top-down budgeting differs from bottom-up budgeting in that the former ______.

A) examines the big picture
B) emphasizes incrementalism
C) focuses on the size of each agency's piece of the whole compared to what other agencies receive
D) focuses on changes as opposed to the whole budget at once.

Question 8

Management by objectives and zero-base budgeting are ______.

A) techniques to reform incrementalism
B) budget appropriations methods
C) methods of increasing legislative power
D) types of legislative authorization

Question 9

The "rule of anticipated reactions" relates to the adaptation of budget estimates to appease which entity's interests?

A) the public's
B) Congress's
C) bureaucrats'
D) OMB's

Question 10

The classic question of basic budgeting, "On what basis shall it be decided to allocate x dollars to activity A instead of activity B?" can be attributed to whom?

A) John Maynard Keynes
B) V. O. Key
C) Alan J. Abramson
D) Alfred Kahn

Question 11

Bottom-up budgeting differs from top-down budgeting in that the former ______.

A) looks at the size of the budget deficit
B) looks at the overall picture
C) emphasizes incrementalism
D) looks at the budget's role in macroeconomic policy

Question 12

The president prepares the overall budget, but who oversees the federal budget appropriations process?

A) states
B) the president
C) agencies
D) Congress

Question 13

Prior to 1921, who provided the primary leadership during the federal budget process?

A) the judiciary
B) the president
C) Congress
D) agencies

Question 14

Creating a biennial budget and enacting a balanced-budget constitutional amendment ______.

A) were processes implemented to reform the budget process
B) are potential solutions for reforming the budgetary process
C) have been dismissed by academics as naïve ideas
D) have been dismissed by Congress as naïve ideas

Question 15

The Program Assessment Rating Tool and zero-base budgeting are ______.

A) budget reform techniques
B) budget appropriations methods
C) methods of increasing legislative power
D) types of legislative authorization

Question 16

The Federal Reserve manages the money supply, a responsibility also known as ______.

A) compensatory economics
B) fiscal policy
C) monetary policy
D) zero-base budgeting

Question 17

What landmark legislation revolutionized the federal budget process and increased presidential power?

A) the Impoundment Control Act
B) the Hatch Act
C) the Budget and Accounting Act
D) the Government Performance and Results Act

Question 18

According to the text, the federal budget has the largest effect on ______.

A) state budgets and the economy
B) the policy process and the economy
C) the policy process and international markets
D) state budgets and local budgets

Question 19

Because the term is so loaded and when forecasted from government officials can make policymaking difficult, Alfred Kahn, advisor on inflation in the Carter administration, used the word banana in a press conference instead of which word?

A) budget deficit
B) appropriation
C) recession
D) government outlays

Question 20

What budget reform is associated with multiyear planning to connect annual budget objectives to long-range plans?

A) management by objectives
B) zero-base budgeting
C) Planning-Programming-Budgeting System
D) sequestration

Question 21

During a surplus, ______ exceed ______.

A) revenues; expenditures
B) expenditures; revenues
C) sequestration; recission
D) legislative hearings; recissions

Question 22

Social Security and Medicare (in addition to other formula programs) are examples of what type of spending?

A) discretionary
B) quadrennial
C) black budget
D) mandatory

Question 23

The ______ proposes the budget and the ______ authorizes expenditures and determines how revenues are obtained.

A) Congress; president
B) president; Congress
C) agencies; Congress
D) states; agencies

Question 24

The Congressional Budget Office is the congressional equivalent to the president's Office of Management and Budget.

Question 25

The federal budget is just like state and local budgets, having the same amount of resources to sustain deficits and the same amount of fiscal authority that state and local governments do.

Question 26

What budget technique did Wildavksy argue best answered how to allocate scare resources?

A) zero-based/bottom-up
B) top-down/incremental
C) bottom-up/incremental
D) Constitutional/foundational

Question 27

What is the difference between an authorization and an appropriation?

Question 28

What mechanisms allow Congress to fund the government for short periods of time in instances where it is unable to pass a budget for an entire year?

A) black budgets
B) continuing resolutions
C) cloture motions
D) sequestration

Question 29

Why is it important to follow the flow of money throughout the bureaucracy?

Question 30

What is the legislative budget?

Question 31

The Budget and Accounting Act revolutionized the federal budgeting by transferring a significant amount of authority from ______ to ______.

A) Congress; the president
B) the president; Congress
C) the president; the judiciary
D) agencies; Congress

Question 32

The larger the federal deficit, the more of the federal budget must be devoted simply to paying interest.

Question 33

What type of budgets address facility and equipment costs?

A) black budgets
B) managed budgets
C) capital budgets
D) discretionary budgets

Question 34

The Performance Assessment Rating Tool (PART) was developed by George W.Bush.

Question 35

The black budget faces strict oversight by Congress

Question 36

The flow of money throughout the bureaucracy provides a tool for controlling the implementation of government programs.

Question 37

Government can borrow money in the short term and repay it later.

Question 38

The president's power in the budget process has diminished over time.

Question 39

Though not having the final word on appropriation amount, what do appropriation committees recommend regarding spending?

A) advice
B) consent
C) budget authority
D) budget max

Question 40

A congressional ______ commits money for spending, and congressional ______ create programs and place limits on the amount of money that can be spent.

A) surplus; deficits
B) authorization; appropriations
C) monetary policy; fiscal policies
D) appropriation; authorizations

Question 41

Describe three attempts that have been made to reform the federal budget process.

Question 42

What was the Budget and Accounting Act and how did it change the government's economic functioning?

Question 43

How has the power of congressional authorizers and appropriators involved with the federal budget process decreased in the past few decades?

Question 44

Briefly describe how the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 changed the process of congressional appropriations from what existed before this law went into effect.

Question 45

What is budget execution?

Question 46

What is the major distinction between federal and state budget processes?

Question 47

What is the black budget?

Question 48

What are three common budgeting features shared among state and local governments?

Question 49

Briefly explain how the federal budget affects the national economy as well as public policy decisions.

Question 50

What is the national debt?