Congressional Budget Office Essay

What’s the difference between the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office? They sound the same to me. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. One is part of the Federal Beauracracy and answers directly to the President of the United States. The other is a non-partison “think tank” that compiles data, creates reports and produces products at the request of Congress. So which one do you think is which? The mission of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is “to serve the President of the United States in implementing his vision across the executive branch.” (www.whitehouse.gov) The OMB is known as the “implementation and enforcement arm of Presidential policy-goverrnment wide”. (www.whitehouse.gov) In layman’s terms, the OMB helps the President prepare the Federal Budget, aids in assessing the effectiveness of agency programs and when the budget is enacted, it is responsible for execution of Federal budgetary policies. Of course, any beauracracy is going to be subdivided into more beauracracies.

The CBO was intended to be a group of financial experts that can publish projections of economic outcomes, provide cost estimates and basically compile data for Congress. They in no way recommend policy changes, have any party affiliation, nor are its employees employed by the Federal Government. The CBO prides itself in its reputation for being an objective organization, free from political bias. The CBO is a full disclosure, completely transparent organization. Many of the reports and analysis the CBO compiles, is available to all members of Congress, their staffs and the public. In addition, the CBO enforces strict rules to prevent its employees from having political or financial conflicts of