Congress and the Budget Process

It is difficult for politicians to craft a budget because there are so many sectors within the national budget. Money goes toward defense/diplomacy, schools, science, housing, infra-structure, healthcare, social security, and paying interest on debt. Over spending can cause the country to fall deeper into debt, while cutting funds from these sectors also has negative effects. Because of this, Congress must weigh the pros and cons of each budget decision. They look at how beneficial a program is and whether or not funds should continue to be allotted and how much those funds should be. One of the tough decisions I made while play the budgeting game was to raise the social security age. By doing this, the gap in social security funds was reduced by 20% and after 10 years save the American government 152 billion dollars. However, it comes at the cost of forcing seniors to work longer. Another decision I made while playing the game was to cut NASA completely and save the government 187 billion dollars after 10 years. However, the savings came at the cost of 18,000 jobs and possible advancements in science. After all, NASA aids our understanding of the earth and the consequences of changing it. Finally, another of the major budget moves I made was to require drug companies to dig deeper into Medicare. It saved the government 130 billion dollars and helped low-income seniors, but took massive profits away from drug companies. The lack of profits do not promote the innovation and research needed from these companies.