[Budget of the U.S. Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: The Major Functions of the Federal Government]
[30. Undistributed Offsetting Receipts]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


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                 30.  UNDISTRIBUTED OFFSETTING RECEIPTS

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                                 Table 30-1.  UNDISTRIBUTED OFFSETTING RECEIPTS                                 
                                            (In millions of dollars)                                            
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                                                                            Estimate                            
            Function 950                1996   -----------------------------------------------------------------
                                       Actual      1997       1998       1999       2000       2001       2002  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:                                                                                                       
  Mandatory Outlays:                                                                                            
    Existing law...................    -37,620    -46,487    -52,869    -41,127    -41,610    -43,174    -45,283
    Proposed legislation...........  .........  .........     -2,721     -2,404     -4,388     -6,877    -22,667
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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   Offsetting receipts, totaling $52.9 billion in 1998, fall into two 
categories: (1) the Government's receipts from performing business-like 
activities, such as proceeds from the sale of postage stamps or a 
Federal asset, and (2) the amounts that the Government shifts from one 
account to another, such as agency payments to retirement funds.

 Rents and Royalties on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)

   The Interior Department's Outer Continental Shelf Lands leasing 
program, which began in 1954, generates 15 percent and 24 percent of 
U.S. domestic oil and natural gas production, respectively. Since the 
program began, it has held 120 lease sales, covering areas three to 200 
miles offshore and generating over $110 billion in rents, bonuses, and 
royalties--mainly for the Treasury.
   OCS revenues help to reduce the deficit, but they also provide most 
funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Historic 
Preservation Fund programs. The OCS program will generate about $4 
billion in receipts in 1997. In 1998, the Administration will continue 
the leasing moratoria for the environmentally sensitive areas--offshore 
California, Oregon, and Washington; the Eastern Seaboard; the 
southwestern coastline of Florida, including the Everglades; and certain 
parts of Alaska.

 Asset Sales

   The United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC): USEC, which began 
operations in July 1993, sells enriched uranium globally to utilities as 
fuel for nuclear power plants. Congress created USEC as a wholly-owned 
government corporation--the first step in a series of actions designed 
to lead to privatization. USEC's sale, now planned for 1998, will raise 
an estimated $1.8 billion.
   Elk Hills: The Defense Authorization Act of 1996 requires the sale of 
Naval Petroleum Reserve 1 in California (commonly known as Elk Hills) by 
February 10, 1998. As a result, the budget assumes that the Government 
will receive $2.4 billion in sale proceeds in 1998. The Government is 
privatizing Elk Hills because the private, rather than public, sector 
should perform commercial oil and gas operations.
   Alaska Power Administration: The Administration plans to focus on 
completing the sale of the power plants at Anchorage and Juneau to 
current customers, as authorized under a 1995 law. The sale, which will 
raise an estimated $85 million for the Federal Government, is scheduled 
for completion by August 1998.

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 Employee Retirement

   Federal agencies will pay an estimated $35.5 billion on behalf of 
their employees in 1998 to the Federal retirement funds,\1\ the Medicare 
health insurance trust fund, and the Social Security trust funds. As the 
Federal Government raises the pay of civilian employees, agencies must 
make commensurate increases in their payments to recognize the increased 
cost of retirement.
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  \1\ The major funds are the Military Retirement Funds, the Civil 
Service Retirement System, and the Federal Employee Retirement System.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Other Undistributed Offsetting Receipts

   The President and Congress gave the Federal Communications Commission 
authority in 1993 to auction spectrum licenses, rather than give them 
away. These auctions have been extraordinarily successful, raising $23 
billion to date and cutting the time to award a license by 90 percent in 
some cases.