This week’s two-year budget deal means that agency leaders have one less thing to worry about as they ramp up for the next fiscal year. Bill Valdez, president of the Senior Executives Association, says that while this is wonderful news, the work is not yet finished.
“For most federal career leaders, this is the first stage in the budget process, the appropriations process. And they realize that there’s a tremendous amount of work that still needs to be done. They still need to set the allocations for the budget and for each agency. That is really what everyone watches out for carefully.”
Terry Gerton, president & CEO of NAPA, says that there’s a need for federalism again in the country.
“The opportunity we hope will be created where there will be a stable venue where the multiple levels of government can come together. When you think about budgets, one of the big issues we’re concerned about is the increasing requirement from the federal government for states to do more. Whether it’s compliance to get grants and aid or just to cover unfunded mandates. Some certainty at the federal budget level will facilitate those conversations, but there’s a real chance to get all the levels of government together on the front-end of all these decisions, to make smarter decisions, so the programs can be more efficient.”
