This is an account of the struggle over resources and political authority is to be found in the politics surrounding the budgetary process. This text analyzes the management of the United States budget from the early 20th century to the present. The budget process is the primary subject of the work, but is also the framework within which the separation of executive (nationally derived) and legislative (locally derived) powers is examined. The book sees the politics of budget as the defining characteristic or culmination of executive-legislative powers and is also valuable for its historical treatment of the budget process. It describes the history of budgetary conflict, and the battle for control of administrative apparatus, from the days of Jefferson and Hamilton to the Nixon White House, through to the present. Other topics include: reorganization and reaction; budgeting and reform; the administrative state and the crisis of constitutional government; and reorganization and reform.