Budgeting is Policy, or How Government is like 'The Matrix' with Teri Gullo and Karl Maschino

About this episode

The episode discusses the importance of federal budget work and the challenges it faces amid scrutiny and polarization.

Host James-Christian Blockwood interviews Teri Gullo, former CBO Director of Budget Analysis, and Karl Maschino, former GAO Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, about why federal budget work matters amid scrutiny of spending, workforce cuts, and “DOGE”-style reforms. They outline the normal OMB-agency-Congress budget timeline, emphasize GAO/CBO’s nonpartisan transparency and need to explain “the story behind the numbers,” discuss polarization blocking fiscal solutions as ne...

People in this episode

Host: James-Christian Blockwood

Guests: Teri Gullo, Karl Maschino

Topics covered

• federal budgeting
• government transparency
• fiscal policy
• nonpartisan analysis
• budget timeline
• spending scrutiny

Keywords

• budgeting
• federal budget
• GAO
• CBO
• OMB
• government spending
• fiscal solutions
• transparency

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CBO, GAO, OMB

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