Those who support limited government will probably shudder at the thought of a budget process based on the notion of the “continuing resolution.”
Yuval Levin and James C. Capretta argue in The Weekly Standard that a CR-based budget process might work better than the current system Congress uses.
True, if Congress were in the habit of routinely cutting spending, a refined CR approach would not make sense. But since novelty in the budget almost always means new and greater spending, an approach that highlights and constrains the new should be welcome to fiscal conservatives. It would act as a natural restraint on the appropriations process, and would trim fat from a system that has grown morbidly obese.