YoungFeds.Org > Features > Big League Advice
Hill Climbing: Why YoungFeds Need to
Understand Congress
Kenneth Gold
Director, Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University
If Congress fails to pass my department's budget, why can't we just use the president's budget this year?
There are two frightening elements to this question, asked of me recently at a Capitol Hill conference on the new Congress: First, the president's budget has no official standing – it's a wish list that he submits to Congress, albeit a very important wish list. The executive branch doesn't have a penny to spend if Congress doesn't approve it. Although Congress rarely passes its appropriations bills on time, and this year resorted to a year-long continuing resolution, without congressional approval the government shuts down.
The second frightening part is the fact that the question was asked not by a newly minted GS-9 fresh out of undergraduate school and new to government, but by an SESer with a 25 - year career in the federal sector. The executives who lead our departments and agencies aren't required to pass even the most elementary exam on Congress, although if I had my way they would. It's not uncommon for senior level feds who take our courses on Capitol Hill to tell us that they wish they'd had the class 20 or 25 years ago.
The legislative environment that executive branch officials operate within has become a highly competitive arena as the size of the federal budget and the number of federal programs have grown, as have the number of groups and individuals with an interest in how and where the federal government spends its money. In order for feds (young or old) to be effective in this environment, they need to have an intimate understanding of Congress.
Federal officials need to educate Members of Congress and congressional staff about their programs. They need to do so skillfully and assertively. While they cannot lobby, it is the responsibility of every department and agency to provide Congress with information on its programs and policies – on what works, on what doesn't work, on how to improve things.
Acquiring a thorough and sophisticated understanding of the nature of Congress and congressional processes and organization needs to be made a required component of executive training.
But until then, smart young feds are “lobbying” their supervisors to get it.
