Fixing the unfixable, the federal budget

The core of the problem with the present budget process is that entitlement spending makes up 60 percent of federal spending.

In addition to the fact that the budget does not actually impact the causes of the federal fiscal disorder, there is the fact that the budget is structured to be an entirely partisan product.

Further, the primary players who are responsible for producing the budget - the members of the Budget Committee - do not have the legislative power to execute it.

The budget to be reported out of committee would need to win two-thirds support.

Second, the Budget Committee should only be made up of members from the Appropriations and Finance Committees, so they are vested in its outcome and passage.

Fifth, the Budget Committee for discretionary spending accounts like Defense and HHS could set up committees akin to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

Judd Gregg is a former governor and three-term senator from New Hampshire who served as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, and as ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee.

http://thehill.com/opinion/finance/385443-judd-gregg-fixing-the-unfixable-the-federal-budget