An Application of Content Analysis to Determine Congressional Behavior in Relation to the Defense Budget

Congress exercises its power over the federal purse and the Defense Budget through its budgetary process. This thesis is part of a continuing effort to analyze the changing role of Congress in Defense policy-making. The fiscal/programmatic orientation of various Congressional committees in relation to the Procurement and Research, Development, Test and Evaluation portions of the Defense Budget is determined through use of the research technique - Content Analysis. The period of analysis includes fiscal years 1976 and 1977, the first two years to be affected by the new Congressional budgetary process prescribed by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Individual committee decisions and comments were recorded and categorized as fiscal or programmatic. It was concluded that committee decisions concerning the Defense Budget were fairly equally divided between a fiscal and programmatic orientation. An extensive background section and description of Content Analysis introduces the specific methodology used in this analysis.