In this activity, students will gain an appreciation for participants on each side of the budget process. Choose five students who will serve as the “Appropriations Committee” (or a larger number for a larger class). It is important that the number here is odd in order to avoid any tie votes. The remainder of the class should be divided up into smaller groups who will serve as various “authorizing committees” who will request from the Appropriations Committee a chunk of the budget for their policies.
Give the Appropriations Committee a “budget” of $100 million for simplicity. The Committee will have the ability to spend up to 20% over budget ($120 million), but should they choose to run a budget deficit they will need to provide an explanation as to why they chose to do so. The Committee will also have the ability to spend up to 20% under budget ($80 million), but should they choose to run a budget surplus they will need to decide whether to return it in the form of tax cuts or rebates or put the surplus into a “trust fund” for future budget deficits.
The number of authorizing committees can vary in size depending on the size of the class. The more authorizing committees asking for money, the tougher the decisions that the Appropriations Committee has to make will be. Examples of authorizing committees for this activity include the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the Committee on Agriculture. When assigning authorizing committees to the students, try to avoid committees that have jurisdiction over entitlement programs or defense spending. Instead, focus on committees that would battle for chunks of discretionary budget expenditures. Authorizing committees should choose a spokesperson (Chair) to present their case for funding to the Appropriations Committee. Give the authorizing committees ten to fifteen minutes to develop their talking points. Because the Appropriations Committee is very busy, presentations from the committees should be limited to about three minutes (or less) each.
Once the presentations have been given, the Appropriations Committee should recess in order to make their decision on the budget. This can be done in the hall or another unused classroom. Expenditure amounts must be approved by a majority of the Committee. There are no caps or minimums for the amounts that the Appropriations Committee may allocate to the various committees’ programs; that is, if they feel a committee gave a particularly weak presentation, the Appropriations Committee is under no obligation to allocate any funding for the purpose it advocated. For the purposes of this activity, the members of the Committee should also be prepared to justify their rationale for the expenditures that they approve. Once the Committee has finalized its budget, it may reconvene in the class and present its budget recommendations and rationales.
