Structural budget reform: Does it affect budget deliberations?

This study explores the extent to which budget reforms (performance budgeting, PPBS and the Congressional Budget Act of 1974) change the nature of budget deliberations in three House Appropriations subcommittee hearings for five federal agencies. Themes of inquiry describing the nature of the dialogue were identified using results from a content analysis covering the agencies over the period 1949–1984. A GLS pooled cross-sectional times series analysis was used to model the influence of the three budget reforms. Other factors potentially influencing the nature of budgetary discussions were controlled for by adding economic, political and social variables. Initial findings indicate that with the advent of the budgetary changes, the dialogue shifted toward a more programmatic theme of inquiry.