BUDGET & ANTI-BLOAT
Fiscal independence can protect investigations from retaliation, but unlimited self-expansion creates its own capture risk. The proposal treats budget restraint as part of constitutional legitimacy.
Total Citizen Branch budget growth may not exceed 10% in any year after its first full fiscal year.
The aggregate annual budget may not grow by more than ten percent over the prior fiscal year after the first full fiscal year, absent a future constitutional exception expressly adopted through the amendment process.
Appropriations, major contracts, staffing totals, facilities, travel, outside services and material exceptions should be published in a standardized public ledger to the fullest lawful extent.
Congress retains lawful appropriations authority, but funding should not be conditioned on opening, closing, slowing, accelerating or reaching a particular result in a named matter.
Financial controls and procurement should face recurring audit by an entity structurally outside the operational chain being audited, with public reporting and remediation tracking.
The exact funding mechanism must receive adversarial review from appropriations experts, constitutional lawyers, fiscal watchdogs and civil-liberties reviewers. A hard growth cap is a constraint, not a substitute for a workable appropriations structure.