The federal budget process is often regarded as an arcane affair, the province of a select group of Washington insiders. This includes the mysteries behind the determination of budgets for R&D on materials. The purpose of this discussion is to demysrify the subject a little. It will focus largely on the role of Congress.

A common misconception is that the White House sets the budget for the federal government. What the White House does do is send detailed recommendations to Congress each year in January on what it believes the budget should be. This covers spending, tax policy, and economie predictions (the latter reflected in the anticipated tax revenues). In January 1990, for example, the administration submitted budget recommendations for fiscal year 1991, which began on October 1 and runs until September 30, 1991. These recommendations (with subsequent negociations with the Hill) can be quite influential, but serve primarily as a point of reference, which Congress can gladly accept, or completely ignore, as circumstances and preferences dictate.