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Is there such a thing as US fiscal policy? This paper reviews the collection of various and sometimes contradictory pieces of budget-related legislation to determine whether they coalesce into a coherent—or perhaps incoherent—whole. Beyond the deep institutional fractures that make it difficult for the legislative and the executive branches to plan, control, and prioritize public spending and revenue, a general trend could be guessed at: a form of hidden fiscal policy. This approach helps to explain how, despite certain obvious dysfunctional features, the federal government continues to operate.