As Congress struggles to move budget deals forward, Heritage Foundation policy expert Paul Winfree is influencing students at colleges across the country with his new book, “A History (and Future) of the Budget Process in the United States.” The book is already being used at top universities and is expected to be picked up more in the future.

“It has become cliché in Washington to say that the budget process is broken. But to fix the system, we must understand how we got to where we are today,” said Winfree, who serves as a director of Heritage’s Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies and the Richard F. Aster fellow.

According to the book’s description, “The chapters are organized both chronologically and topically to help the reader think through the evolution of the budget process. With its comprehensive approach to the history of the budget process―covering the entirety of U.S. federal existence―this book will be a go-to resource for academics and public policy professionals interested in congressional and executive history.”

In a review, Kevin Kosar of the R Street Institute writes that “Winfree shows us how we went from a nation where fiscal responsibility was the norm to one with trillion-dollar deficits. This book is essential reading for policymakers who seek to get our country out of this mess.”

Winfree previously served as deputy assistant to President Donald Trump for domestic policy, the deputy director of the White House’s Domestic Policy Council, and director of budget policy. He was also chair of the deputies committee that oversaw the execution of all domestic policy at the deputy secretary level throughout the administration as well as the interagency policy coordination process. During the 2016 presidential transition, Winfree led the team responsible for the Office of Management and Budget.

Before joining Heritage, he was director of income security at the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget. He was responsible for the committee’s work on tax, health, and welfare policy.