Now that my wife has submitted her idea to Obama I can tell you.
First of all she is a senior economist for the Federal Gov and was asked by the White House "how can we save money?".
She found a way... along with a hundred other things.

I don't speak federaleese so I will tell you as simply as I know how.

. You see what we have now at the end of every budget fiscal year is a SPEND IT OR LOSE IT policy for every single goverment agency and office. This means that if a small research facility as well as a large Pentagon purchasing office does not spend every last dime in their annual budget the left over money is lost. When the agency proposes a new buget and shows that they did not use all they had last year, they will likely be cut back.

That policy incentivises hair brained willy nilly spending in the last weeks of the year that sometimes is pure waste.

On the other hand if every agency could carry over funds in their department's budget there would not be a flurry of spending to only justify next years budget request.

How much does a small 8 person office save with a carry over? $33,000,000. Multiply this savings among the thousands of small and huge goverment agencies. You end up saving Billions of dollars.

Why did Congress make it the way it is today and why might they not want to change?   The old way makes it easy to rush a boondoggle into getting funded at the end of the fiscal year. The new proposal would make it hard or delay uneeded spending.



IF Congress agrees with my wife, VOILA, we can pay for a single payer health care insurance program immediatly. They would have to vote to discontiunue the current scheme and allow for a carryover.

Black budgets would remain black and all geoverment programs and agencies would not be penalized for not over spending at the end of every yearbut could be rewarded on the actual merits and accomplishments they produce.

For those who speak legalese and Federal speak, can claim fairly accuse me of over simplification but should clearly see the advantages of a budget carry over. They also know that they have been living with things like a continuing budget resolution for decades and a whole bunch of other bugaboos they could live without.

This is the time to send your ideas to the White House regarding saving Federal money and time, because they have finally asked!


This carry over proposal 'should' satisfy Republicans who always complain about ear marks and pork barrel spending, as long as they are not theirs.

If greed and hypocrisy can be set aside for this "budget carry over plan", we will have the money for American Health care coverage that would rival the world. This is why we should not hold our breath.