| John, if the president can’t get his budget request in to Congress on time, he shouldn’t get to make a State of the Union speech on TV.
Congress needs agency-level details from the president to begin its budget process on time—but, no surprise, the requests usually come LATE.
Our Constitution does not require the president to inform Congress of the state of the union in a pomp-and-circumstance event.
(Until progressive President Woodrow Wilson’s PR move in 1913 for a speech in the age of radio, the “Information of the state of the union” was a printed, leather-bound book or a letter mailed to Congress.)
President Biden’s (and every other president’s) strong desire to give the State of the Union speech gives Congress a powerful way to incentivize better behavior.
I suggest this very tactic in my comments to the House Budget Committee’s Oversight Task Force.
You can read the 12 suggestions I made to them, here.
John, if we want to make it a baker’s dozen, what’s one more idea you think Congress should explore to improve its budgeting?
Thanks for your advocacy for better budgets and fiscal responsibility.
Thanks,
— Kurt Kurt Couchman Senior Fellow, Fiscal Policy
Americans for Prosperity | 
