Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Creating a program
This
description
is
for
domestic
spending
programs,
though
the
same
general
steps
all
of
the
types
of
programs.
A
program
is
created
by
Congressional
authorization
legislation,
which
is
the
backbone
of
the
program.
For
example,
the
Social
Security
Act
of
1965
created
Medicare.
The
authorization
bill
creates
the
funding
structure,
outlines
what
the
goals
of
the
program
are
and
how
it
will
work.
It
can
be
quite
detailed
or
quite
general
a
decision
that
sometimes
depends
on
how
much
Congress
trusted
the
president
who
was
in
office
at
the
time
it
was
created.
Sarah
Cohen
/
Duke
University
/
August
2011
This
work
is
licensed
under
a
Creative
Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
3.0
Unported
License.
Authorization bills can have several names: The overarching legislation that contains it; the name identified in the bill itself as the short name, the public law that it creates or even the section number of a law that creates its funding. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, known as the stimulus bill, included new or renewed authorizations for three separate programs, each which have different names depending on the context. Youll sometimes hear programs described by the section of the bill that creates them, such as section 502 funds. Recognizing the names will become important when you start following the money trail. What to look for in authorization process Promises or warnings about the results. For example, a member might say that a program will revitalize poor neighborhoods, save family farms or feed poor children. Another might say that a provision is ripe for fraud, wont meet its goals or will kill jobs through regulation. These promised benefits are natural standards against which you can measure success; the warnings are natural places to look for problems. Reporting requirements. Congress will sometimes require agencies to report back either regularly or after key steps are accomplished. These are usually ignored by the committees that ask for them, but they are also usually produced by the agency. For example, the Commanders Emergency Response Program is required to give a list of recipients to Congress every quarter. No one in the committee ever remembered seeing such a list, but the Defense Department sent it and had copies. Earmarks. The specific recipients or targets might be explicitly or implicitly included in the bill. For instance, a program created to help communities directly affected by 9/11 had no specific recipients in the legislation but the House Report listed in great detail who should get the money and for what.
Initial Implementation
When
a
program
is
created,
it
goes
through
a
series
of
behind-the-scenes
exercises,
most
of
which
are
unimportant
for
accountability
but
are
useful
to
generally
understand.
It
is
up
to
the
Office
of
Management
and
Budget,
an
arm
of
the
Executive
Office
of
the
President,
to
oversee
the
initial
implementation.
It
has
a
hand
in
virtually
every
step,
making
it
probably
the
most
powerful
agency
in
the
federal
government.
It
watches
the
implementation
process
all
the
way
through
to
make
sure
the
presidents
priorities
are
reflected
in
agency
work
and
that
it
is
fully
integrated
into
the
budget.
Most
new
programs
are
slices
of
other,
existing,
programs
when
they
are
created.
They
may
even
already
exist
under
the
agenys
discretionary
activity.
For
example,
the
Brownfields
program
in
the
Environmental
Protection
Agency
was
created
by
the
Clinton
administration
as
an
arm
of
Superfund,
with
Congressional
approval
through
the
budget.
It
was
later
spun
it
off
into
its
own
program.
The
agencies
work
with
OMB
on
broad
plans
for
the
program.
OMB
then
sets
up
a
lot
of
the
key
identifiers
that
will
track
it
through
all
of
the
executive
branch
systems,
such
as
Sarah
Cohen
/
Duke
University
/
August
2011
This
work
is
licensed
under
a
Creative
Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
3.0
Unported
License.
procurement or budgeting. These include Treasury Account Symbols, object, class and agency codes, and the Catalog of Domestic Federal Assistance codes. At this point, the agency will also look for congressionally directed spending (also called earmarks). This is relatively rare in authorizing legislation except for highway and transportation bills, its more common in the annual budget cycle. Agencies then have to determine how the program will work, clarify anything that Congress left open for interpretation, and create mechanisms for applications, awards, audits, and accountability. Each of these steps is recorded in the daily Federal Register, which the government calls The Daily Journal of the United States Government. What to look for in implementation Comments from lawmakers, affected organizations or interest groups on guidelines and reporting mechanisms Forms or information collections required from recipients. Many programs are administered through states, which in turn might have recordkeeping requirements but dont have to send them to the agency. Award and scoring formulas that will determine who makes the decisions and who gets the money. Waivers or special rules for certain situations At this stage, you are looking for anything that will help you follow the paper trail from the federal government down to the ultimate recipient or regulated organization. Most important is the information collected from recipients if they never report anything, the government cant know how the money is spent.
Spending
Every
government
program
except
tax
expenditures
requires
some
form
of
spending.
It
might
be
a
grant
program,
employees
to
carry
out
the
regulation,
contractors
or
some
combination
.
Well
go
through
all
of
the
standard
spending
sources
later
in
the
semester,
but
following
the
money
is
the
most
difficult
and
most
important
phase
of
accountability
reporting.
The
basic
process
goes
something
like
this,
using
a
domestic
assistance
program
as
the
example.
1. Each
year,
Congress
tells
each
program
how
much
it
has
to
spend
through
the
annual
appropriations
and
budget
process.
It
usually
allows
an
agency
to
roll
over
funds
it
hasnt
spent
yet,
though
some
of
the
recent
budget
deals
eliminated
these
cushions.
2. The
program
selects
recipients
using
some
sort
of
formula,
competition
or
earmark,
usually
announcing
how
much
the
total
amount
of
the
grant
is.
It
probably
has
not
given
out
any
money
at
this
point.
3. The
agency
doles
out
the
money
in
chunks.
It
might
give
a
certain
amount
each
quarter
subject
to
reports
from
the
recipient.
This
is
called
an
obligation,
sort
of
like
a
homewner
signing
a
contract
for
a
remodeled
kitchen.
It
will
be
hard
to
get
out
of
the
contract
unless
the
work
is
botched.
The
federal
government
isnt
allowed
to
pay
in
advance
for
work
it
can
only
reimburse
or
pay
for
work
done.
When
you
hear
about
government
spending,
it
almost
always
refers
to
these
obligations
the
agency
may
not
even
know
what
bills
have
been
paid.
This
years
debt
ceiling
debate
Sarah
Cohen
/
Duke
University
/
August
2011
This
work
is
licensed
under
a
Creative
Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
3.0
Unported
License.
was really about paying for these obligations that Congress had approved (or mandated) and that agencies had promised, but the Treasury had not yet paid. 4. One the agency is happy with the recipients work, it directs the Treasury to pay the bill. In federal-ese, this is called an outlay.
Oversight
The key forms of oversight within the federal government are: Audits. Each aid program requires annual or routine audits of the entity. A single audit is possible for, say, a state agency that has many grants. But each funding stream will usually have routine reports that outline exactly how the money was spent. Inspectors General. These are the internal cops of an agency, specifically charged with making sure that the agency is carrying out its job properly. It can investigate employees, recipients, or anything else related to the agency. Government Accountability Office. An arm of Congress that performs audits and investigations at the request of a member. It also does some contracting oversight. Congressional Research Service. Another arm of Congress that serves committees and updates members on budget issues and context. It doesnt do oversight per se, but does advise Congress on the context, budget and performance of a program. When there is a specific report available, its often the best backgrounder you will find. Congressional oversight committees. The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, in particular, has been known as a fierce watchdog on politically charged programs. Only the majority party can schedule a hearing or subpoena documents, so they are often only active during periods of divided government. Courts and law enforcement. Fraud, improper implementation procedures and other contentious parts of a program will eventually find their way into federal court. It is here that some of the most specific documents will be found.
Sarah Cohen / Duke University / August 2011 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.