Patterns of change: information change and congressional budget deliberations revisited

How did the Planning Programming Budgeting System (PPBS), and the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (CBA) of 1974 change the nature of budget hearing deliberations in Congress? This study focuses upon the inquiry search patterns from 1949 through 1984 for the three House Appropriations subcommittees that reviewed the Forest, Parks, Prison, Internal Revenue, and Immigration and Naturalization Services' budget requests. After PPBS was implemented, all three subcommittees emphasized programmatic questioning more and object-of-expenditure questioning less. The more prevalent pattern of change was an abrupt change after implementing the budget reform followed by a gradual cumulative effect in subsequent years. A less prevalent pattern was an abrupt change followed by a gradual decrement over time.