[Budget of the United States Government]
[VI. Investing in the Common Good: Program Performance in Federal Functions]
[31. Undistributed Offsetting Receipts]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


 
                 31.  UNDISTRIBUTED OFFSETTING RECEIPTS

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                                 Table 31-1.  UNDISTRIBUTED OFFSETTING RECEIPTS                                 
                                            (In millions of dollars)                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                               Estimate                         
               Function 950                   1997   -----------------------------------------------------------
                                             Actual     1998      1999      2000      2001      2002      2003  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spending:                                                                                                       
  Mandatory Outlays:                                                                                            
    Existing law..........................   -49,973   -46,366   -42,492   -45,802   -47,167   -55,547   -48,316
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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  Offsetting receipts, totaling $42.5 billion in 1999, fall into two 
categories: (1) the Government's receipts from performing business-like 
activities, such as proceeds from the sale of Outer Continental Shelf 
leases 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 it began in 1954, generates 15 percent and 25 percent of 
U.S. domestic oil and natural gas production, respectively. Since its 
inception, it has held 123 lease sales, covering areas three to 200 
miles offshore and generating over $115 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 $5 
billion in receipts in 1998. In 1999, 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 $1.6 billion.
  Naval Petroleum Reserve 1 (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. The Government is 
privatizing Elk Hills because the private, rather than public, sector 
should perform commercial oil and gas operations. In October 1997, the 
Occidental Petroleum Corporation offered the Energy Department $3.65 
billion for Elk Hills, which now produces about 60,000 barrels and 400 
million cubic feet of natural gas a day. The sale would be the largest 
privatization in the Nation's history, and the Government assumed 1998 
proceeds of $2.7 billion.
  Alaska Power Administration: The Administration will complete 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 in Federal revenues, is scheduled for completion by August 1998.

[[Page 256]]

Employee Retirement

  In 1999, Federal agencies will pay an estimated $35.1 billion on 
behalf of their employees to the Federal retirement funds 1, 
the Medicare health insurance trust fund, and the Social Security trust 
funds. As civilian employee pay rises, agencies must make commensurate 
increases in their payments to recognize the rising cost of retirement.
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  \1\ The major programs are the Military Retirement System, the Civil 
Service Retirement System, and the Federal Employee Retirement System.
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Other Undistributed Offsetting Receipts

  Beginning in 1993, the President and Congress gave the Federal 
Communications Commission authority to assign spectrum licenses through 
competitive bidding, which has proven an extremely efficient and 
effective way to allocate this scarce public resource. As authorized by 
the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, the budget continues this successful 
policy. The Government will auction spectrum made available from the 
transition to digital broadcast technology as well as 120 MHZ of 
reallocated spectrum, raising an estimated over $30 billion over the 
next 10 years, helping to balance the budget while compensating the 
public for the use of this valuable resource.