Three Texas A&M Bush School graduates helped lend an Aggie touch to the presidential budget, assisting in its construction for Fiscal Year 2016.
Benton Arnett, Travis Stalcup and Patrick Issa acted as program liaisons to the Office of Management and Budget, the largest office within the Executive Office of the President.
Issa, Class of 2013, is employed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that coordinates responses to disasters in the United States. He said he took part in a presidential management fellowship that allowed him to be employed by FEMA while simultaneously working on the budget.
“The federal budget process takes six months and begins after all federal agencies send their own budget requests to OMB, which is essentially the final clearinghouse before Congress,” Issa said. “Our director works directly with the president.”
Starting in the summer, federal agencies finalize their individual budgets for consideration by OMB. Issa said these agencies compete for money as OMB works through the fall and winter holidays to finalize the budget. After completion, the budget is sent to Congress in early February as a request, pending amendments and approvals.
Arnett, Class of 2014, and Stalcup, Class of 2013, also act as representatives for federal agencies. Stalcup said although he has never worked for the Department of Homeland Security, he provides budgetary oversight for the various agencies within the department.
“I took courses in nuclear threat assessment as well as engineering courses … I interned at the U.S. Pacific Command and the Pentagon in offices that dealt with countering and responding to nuclear threats,” Stalcup said. “Much of what I do is oversee programs that aim to prevent attacks with these weapons.”
All three Aggies said their experiences at the Bush School and in extracurricular involvement contribute to their success within the national government.
“Academics are of course very important, but my extracurricular involvement gave me skills to think on my feet, get to know people and be comfortable talking,” Issa said.
Stalcup said the Bush School yielded lasting connections to people in the organizations he had dreamed of working for.
“During my two years at the Bush School, I picked up some incredibly important skills … but without a network it’s difficult to get face time with the people who hire,” Stalcup said. “As a direct result of research I conducted at the Bush School, I landed an internship at the Pentagon.”
Stalcup also said active involvement in his classes at A&M was integral.
“My professors taught me how to disagree and challenge others, and my classmates taught me how to agree and find common ground,” Stalcup said. “I learned a lot from my classmates and our experiences together made me a better analyst and colleague.”
Issa said the last six months spent crafting the budget and being part of such a historic process was incredibly rewarding.
“These are a handful of people making really important decisions that go into the president’s budget,” Issa said. “We’re working on things most people don’t get to work on.”