Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr have joined several lawmakers who want the federal government to adopt a budget process similar to North Carolina's. Hagan and Burr have co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that would require Congress to write budgets every two years rather than annually. Lawmakers face a government shutdown if they don't agree on a spending plan before this weekend.
Senator Hagan was one of the chief budget writers when she served in the North Carolina State Senate. She says a biennial budget process works better:
"One year we develop the budget and the next year we do the oversight. And a biennial budgeting process is part of a long-term solution that I think we need at the federal level to begin to remove the partisanship from the budget."
A total of 22 other Democratic and Republican senators have cosponsored the bill. The measure is awaiting debate in the House and Senate Budget Committees.