Federal fiscal policy has been front and center throughout 2009 as the Obama administration and Congress have gone to extraordinary lengths to bring the country's economy back from the brink of disaster. It seems like every week, we saw a crucial vote or major policy proposal released. A massive Wall Street bailout, an economic stimulus effort with unprecedented transparency provisions, an attempted reform of the financial regulatory system, a new presidential effort to reform the contracting system, significant gains in proper enforcement of the tax code, and a Congress that continued to fail at passing appropriations and tax bills in a timely manner have made for a pretty exciting, if not chaotic, year. Below is a review of some of the major developments in federal fiscal policy in 2009 from an OMB Watch perspective.

In 2008, we heard a lot about "change." In this 2009 year-end summary, we use another type of "change" to rate the Obama administration's transparency efforts thus far.

In 2009, the Obama administration took steps toward rebuilding the federal government's ability to protect public health, workplace safety, and environmental quality. President Obama set out key principles to guide the administration's actions on transparency, regulatory reform, and scientific integrity. He appointed well qualified agency heads who reversed or halted many harmful regulations from the prior administration. In doing so, the president has created expectations for a renewal of government's positive role. The most vexing problems, however – changing a dysfunctional regulatory process and restoring badly needed resources to agencies – remain major hurdles.

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