‘Passback Day’ is a key date in the federal budget process

[alp227]

For hundreds of federal budget analysts, the Monday after Thanksgiving is a day to step back, take a deep breath and prepare for a stressful holiday season, marked less by parties and gift-giving and more by complex political maneuvering and tricky math.

“Passback Day,” as the last Monday of November is known in budget circles, is when the White House and the Office of Management and Budget literally pass back drafts of proposed budgets for the next fiscal year to agencies and departments and begin a series of negotiations in hopes of completing a final budget proposal for President Obama by January.

In previous years, White House officials passed back budget drafts on the day before Thanksgiving, with an expectation that agencies would file formal responses shortly after the holiday. But OMB Director Jacob J. Lew said recently that he decided to move passback to after Thanksgiving, deeming the previous schedule “cruel and unusual punishment” for agency bosses hoping to spend time with family.

“Quality of life isn’t so high during this period,” Lew joked at an October breakfast hosted by Politico, noting that as budget director, “you go home with about three hours of reading every night, you have about two or three hours of meetings everyday, and then you have the rest of your job to do.”

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/passback-day-is-a-key-date-in-the-federal-budget-process/2011/11/22/gIQAuwWx1N_story.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Damn, I did not realize they had to work so hard

I think a big raise is in order