Meyer presents a comprehensive overview of the federal budget process from the inception of centralized budgeting in the 1920s to the present. She combines chronological narrative, numerous explanatory tables and illustrations, and issue-oriented analysis in an attempt to trace systematically the influences on and impacts of the U.S. budgeting process. In the process, she offers important new insights into such complex issues as the deficit budget as opposed to the balanced budget, the question of priorities among expenditures and revenues, and the removal of certain systems, such as Social Security, from the budget process.