American governors have specific means – veto and agenda-setting powers – for shaping public budgets. Governors face competing managerial and political pressures when constructing a budget: forces of legislatures, agencies, and parties that demand changes in individual categories contending with the need to deliver the budget as a whole. In addition to managing these competing interests, governors also have their own preferences they wish to express in the budget. This chapter shows how the institutional strength of governors affects their ability to reign in competing demands. Our quantitative analysis shows that governors with stronger powers can make large cuts and raises in budgets even larger: a finding we term “bottoming-out” and “topping-off.” This mechanism has significant consequences for the budget as a whole: Disruptions in spending lead to slower long-term budget growth overall. Hence, executive power leads to less stable policymaking, particularly in instable interest group environments.