Mission Budgeting: Discussion and Illustration of the Concept in Research and Development Programs

The mission budget concept offers significant potential for alleviating problems with the way the federal budget is currently presented and the limitations it imposes on congressional review. The common complaint with the present system is that Congress gets a great mass of detail but not a coherent picture of what the money is for and why it is needed. A mission budget structure links an agency's basic responsibilities, or missions, to its activities and their proposed funding. Descending levels of the structure then focus more sharply on specific purposes, needs, and programs to satisfy them.