Are legislatures in control of budget processes or is fiscal control by legislatures a myth? Joachim Wehner addresses this and related questions in his new book on the role of the legislature in the budget decision-making process

Measuring the cost of legislation or even projecting the course of the federal budget requires defining a budget baseline — a starting point capturing the current state of the budget. Budget baselines underlie most measures employed in federal budget debates and enforcement rules. Yet, despite...