[Analytical Perspectives]
[Budget System and Concepts and Glossary]
[24. Budget System and Concepts and Glossary]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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BUDGET SYSTEM AND CONCEPTS
AND GLOSSARY
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24. BUDGET SYSTEM AND CONCEPTS AND GLOSSARY
The budget system of the United States Government provides the means
for the President and Congress to decide how much money to spend, what
to spend it on, and how to raise the money they have decided to spend.
Through the budget system, they determine the allocation of resources
among the Government's major functions--such as providing for the
national defense, regulating commerce, and ensuring the availability of
health care--and among individual programs, projects, and activities--
such as building navy ships, issuing patents, and controlling diseases.
The budget system focuses primarily on dollars, but it also allocates
other resources, such as Federal employment. The decisions made in the
budget process affect the nation as a whole, state and local
governments, and individual Americans. Many budget decisions have
worldwide significance. The Congress and the President enact budget
decisions into law. The budget system ensures these laws are carried
out.
This chapter provides an overview of the budget system and explains
some of the more important budget concepts. It includes summary dollar
amounts to illustrate major concepts. Other chapters of the budget
documents discuss these amounts, and more detailed amounts, in greater
depth. A glossary of budget terms appears at the end of the chapter.
Various laws, enacted to carry out requirements of the Constitution,
govern the budget system. The chapter refers to the principal ones by
title throughout the text and gives complete citations in the section
just preceding the glossary.
THE BUDGET PROCESS
The budget process has three main phases, each of which is
interrelated with the others:
(1) formulation of the President's budget;
(2) congressional action on the budget; and
(3) budget execution.
Formulation of the President's Budget
The Budget of the United States Government consists of several
volumes that set forth the President's financial proposal with
recommended priorities for the allocation of resources by the
Government. The primary focus of the budget is on the budget year--the
next fiscal year for which Congress needs to make appropriations, in
this case 2001. However, the budget may propose changes to funding
levels already provided for the current year, in this case 2000, and it
covers at least the four years following the budget year in order to
reflect the effect of budget decisions over the longer term. The budget
includes data on the most recently completed fiscal year, in this case
1999, so that the reader can compare budget estimates to actual
accounting data.
The President begins the process of formulating the budget by
establishing general budget and fiscal policy guidelines. This occurs
not later than the spring of each year, at least nine months before the
President transmits the budget to Congress and at least 18 months before
the fiscal year begins. (See the Budget Calendar below.) Based on these
guidelines, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) works with the
Federal agencies to establish specific policy directions and planning
levels for the agencies, both for the budget year and for at least the
following four years to guide the preparation of their budget requests.
During the formulation of the budget, the President, the Director of
OMB, and other officials in the Executive Office of the President
continually exchange information, proposals, and evaluations bearing on
policy decisions with the Secretaries of the departments and the heads
of the other Government agencies. Decisions reflected in previously
enacted budgets, including the one for the fiscal year in progress, and
reactions to the last proposed budget (which Congress is considering
when the process of preparing the upcoming budget begins) influence
decisions concerning the upcoming budget. So do projections of the
economic outlook, prepared jointly by the Council of Economic Advisers,
OMB, and the Treasury Department.
In early fall, agencies submit their budget requests to OMB, where
analysts review them and identify issues that OMB officials need to
discuss with the agencies. OMB and the agencies resolve many issues
themselves. Others require the involvement of the President and White
House policy officials. This decision-making process is usually
completed by late December. At that time, the final stage of developing
detailed budget data and the preparation of the budget documents begins.
The decision-makers must consider the effects of economic and
technical assumptions on the budget estimates. Interest rates, economic
growth, the rate of inflation, the unemployment rate, and the number of
people eligible for various benefit programs, among other things, affect
Government spending and receipts. Small changes in these assumptions can
affect budget estimates by billions of dollars. (Chapter 1, ``Economic
Assumptions,'' in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget
provides more information on this subject.)
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Statutory limitations on changes in receipts and outlays through 2002
also influence budget decisions (see Budget Enforcement below).
Thus, the budget formulation process involves the simultaneous
consideration of the resource needs of individual programs, the
allocation of resources among the functions of the Government, the total
outlays and receipts that are appropriate in relation to current and
prospective economic conditions, and statutory constraints.
The law governing the President's budget specifies that the President
is to transmit the budget to Congress on or after the first Monday in
January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year for
the following fiscal year, which begins on October 1. This gives
Congress eight to nine months before the fiscal year begins to act on
the budget.
For various reasons, some parts or all of the budget documents have
been transmitted after the specified date. One reason is that the
current law does not require an outgoing President to transmit a budget,
and it is impractical for an incoming President to complete a budget
within a few days of taking office on January 20th. President Clinton,
the first President subject to the current requirement, submitted a
report to Congress on February 17, 1993, describing the comprehensive
economic plan he proposed for the Nation and containing summary budget
information. He transmitted the Budget of the United States for 1994 on
April 8, 1993.
In some years, the late or pending enactment of appropriations acts,
other spending legislation, and tax laws considered in the previous
budget cycle have delayed preparation and transmittal of complete
budgets. For this reason, for example, President Reagan submitted his
budget for 1988 forty-five days after the date specified in law. In
other years, Presidents have submitted abbreviated budget documents on
the due date, sending the more detailed documents weeks later. For
example, President Clinton transmitted an abbreviated budget document to
Congress on February 5, 1996, because of uncertainty over 1996
appropriations as well as possible changes in mandatory programs and tax
policy. He transmitted a Budget Supplement and other budget volumes in
March 1996.
Congressional Action \1\
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\1\ For a fuller discussion of the congressional budget process, see
Robert Keith and Allen Schick, Manual on the Federal Budget Process
(Congressional Research Service Report 98-720 GOV, August 28, 1998.).
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Congress considers the President's budget proposals and approves,
modifies, or disapproves them. It can change funding levels, eliminate
programs, or add programs not requested by the President. It can add or
eliminate taxes and other sources of receipts, or make other changes
that affect the amount of receipts collected.
Congress does not enact a budget as such. Through the process of
adopting a budget resolution (described below), it agrees on levels for
total spending and receipts, the size of the deficit or surplus, and the
debt limit. The budget resolution then provides the framework within
which congressional committees prepare appropriations bills and other
spending and receipts legislation. Congress provides spending authority
for specified purposes in several regular appropriations acts each year
(traditionally thirteen). It also enacts changes each year in other laws
that affect spending and receipts. Both appropriations acts and these
other laws are discussed in the following paragraphs.
In making appropriations, Congress does not vote on the level of
outlays (spending) directly, but rather on budget authority, which is
the authority provided by law to incur financial obligations that will
result in outlays. In a separate process, prior to making
appropriations, Congress usually enacts legislation that authorizes an
agency to carry out particular programs and, in some cases, limits the
amount that can be appropriated for the programs. Some authorizing
legislation expires after one year, some expires after a specified
number of years, and some does not expire. Congress may enact
appropriations for a program even though there is no specific
authorization for it.
Congress begins its budget process shortly after it receives the
President's budget. Under the procedures established by the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Congress decides on budget totals
before completing action on individual appropriations. The Act requires
each standing committee of the House and Senate to recommend budget
levels and report legislative plans concerning matters within the
committee's jurisdiction to the Budget Committee in each body. The
Budget Committees then initiate the concurrent resolution on the budget.
The budget resolution sets levels for total receipts and for budget
authority and outlays, both in total and by functional category (see
Functional Classification below). It also sets levels for the budget
deficit or surplus and debt. The statutory limitations on changes in
receipts and outlays through 2002 that apply to the President's budget
also apply to the budget resolution.
In the report on the budget resolution, the Budget Committees
allocate the amounts of budget authority and outlays within the
functional category totals to the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees and the other committees that have jurisdiction over the
programs in the functions. The Appropriations Committees are required,
in turn, to allocate amounts of budget authority and outlays among their
respective subcommittees. The subcommittees may not exceed their
allocations in drafting spending bills. The other committees with
jurisdiction over spending and receipts may make allocations among their
subcommittees but are not required to. There is no allocation at the
program level. However, the Budget Committees' reports may discuss
assumptions about the level of funding for major programs. While these
assumptions do not bind the committees and subcommittees with
jurisdiction over the programs, they may influence their decisions. The
budget resolution may contain ``reconciliation direc
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tives'' (discussed below) to the committees responsible for tax laws and
for spending not controlled by annual appropriation acts, in order to
conform the level of receipts and this type of spending to the levels
specified in the budget resolution.
The congressional timetable calls for the whole Congress to adopt the
budget resolution by April 15 of each year, but Congress regularly
misses this deadline. Once Congress passes a budget resolution, a member
of Congress can raise a point of order to block a bill that would cause
a committee's allocation to be exceeded.
Budget resolutions are not laws and, therefore, do not require the
President's approval. However, Congress considers the President's views
in preparing budget resolutions, because legislation developed to meet
congressional budget allocations does require the President's approval.
In some years, the President and the joint leadership of Congress have
formally agreed on plans to reduce the deficit or balance the budget.
These agreements were reflected in the budget resolution and legislation
passed for those years.
Appropriations bills are initiated in the House. They provide the
budget authority for the majority of Federal programs. The
Appropriations Committee in each body has jurisdiction over annual
appropriations. These committees are divided into subcommittees that
hold hearings and review detailed budget justification materials
prepared by the agencies within the subcommittee's jurisdiction. After a
bill has been drafted by a subcommittee, the committee and the whole
House, in turn, must approve the bill, usually with amendments to the
original version. The House then forwards the bill to the Senate, where
a similar review follows. If the Senate disagrees with the House on
particular matters in the bill, which is often the case, the two bodies
form a conference committee (consisting of Members of both bodies) to
resolve the differences. The conference committee revises the bill and
returns it to both bodies for approval. When the revised bill is agreed
to, first in the House and then in the Senate, Congress sends it to the
President for approval or veto. The President can only approve or veto
an entire bill. He cannot approve or veto selected parts of a bill. \2\
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\2\ In 1996, Congress enacted the Line Item Veto Act, granting the
President limited authority to cancel new spending and limited tax
benefits when he signs laws enacted by the Congress. However, in 1998,
the Supreme Court declared the authority provided by the Act to be
unconstitutional.
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If Congress does not complete action on one or more appropriations
bills by the beginning of the fiscal year, it enacts a joint resolution,
which is similar to an appropriations bill, to provide authority for the
affected agencies to continue operations at some specified level up to a
specific date or until their regular appropriations are enacted. In some
years, a continuing resolution has funded a portion or all of the
Government for the entire year. Congress must present these resolutions
to the President for approval or veto. In some cases, the President has
rejected continuing resolutions because they contained unacceptable
provisions. Left without funds, Government agencies were required by law
to shut down operations--with exceptions for some activities--until
Congress passed a continuing resolution the President would approve.
Shutdowns have lasted for periods of a day to several weeks.
As explained earlier, Congress also provides budget authority in laws
other than appropriations acts. In fact, while annual appropriations
acts control the spending for the majority of Federal programs, they
control only one-third of the total spending in a typical year.
Permanent laws, called authorizing legislation, control the rest of the
spending. Such a large proportion of the budget is determined by such
laws because they determine the amount of interest the Government pays
on the public debt and the amounts spent by a few programs with large
amounts of spending each year, such as social security. This chapter
discusses the control of budget authority and outlays in greater detail
under BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OTHER BUDGETARY RESOURCES, OBLIGATIONS, AND
OUTLAYS.
Almost all taxes and most other receipts result from permanent laws.
The House initiates tax bills, specifically in the Ways and Means
Committee. In the Senate, the Finance Committee has jurisdiction over
tax laws.
The budget resolution often includes reconciliation directives, which
require authorizing committees to change permanent laws that affect
receipts and outlays. They direct each designated committee to report
amendments to the laws under the committee's jurisdiction that will
change the levels of receipts and spending controlled by the laws. The
directives specify the dollar amount of changes that each designated
committee is expected to achieve, but do not specify the laws to be
changed or the changes to be made. However, the Budget Committees'
reports on the budget resolution may discuss assumptions about how the
laws would be changed. Like other assumptions in the report, they do not
bind the committees of jurisdiction but may influence their decisions.
The committees subject to reconciliation directives draft the
implementing legislation. Such legislation may, for example, change the
tax code, revise benefit formulas or eligibility requirements for
benefit programs, or authorize Government agencies to charge fees to
cover some of their costs. In some years, Congress has enacted an
omnibus budget reconciliation act, which combines the amendments to
implement reconciliation directives in a single act. These acts,
together with appropriations acts for the year, often implement
agreements between the President and the Congress. They may include
other matters, such as laws providing the means for enforcing these
agreements, as described below.
Budget Enforcement
The Budget Enforcement Act (BEA), first enacted in 1990 and extended
in 1993 and 1997, significantly amended the laws pertaining to the
budget process, including the Congressional Budget Act, the Balanced
Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, and the
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law pertaining to the President's budget (see PRINCIPAL BUDGET LAWS,
later in the chapter). The BEA constrains legislation enacted through
2002 (2003 in certain cases) that would increase spending or decrease
receipts.
The BEA divides spending into two types--discretionary spending and
direct spending. Discretionary spending is controlled through annual
appropriations acts. Funding for salaries and other operating expenses
of Government agencies, for example, is usually discretionary because it
is usually provided by appropriations acts. Direct spending is more
commonly called mandatory spending. Mandatory spending is controlled by
permanent laws. Medicare and medicaid payments, unemployment insurance
benefits, and farm price supports are examples of mandatory spending,
because permanent laws authorize payments for those purposes. The BEA
specifically defines funding for the Food Stamp program as mandatory
spending, even though appropriations acts provide the funding. The BEA
includes receipts under the same rules that apply to mandatory spending,
because permanent laws generally control receipts. The BEA constrains
discretionary spending differently from mandatory spending and receipts,
as explained in the following paragraphs.
The BEA defines categories of discretionary spending and limits
(``caps'') the spending in each category by specifying dollar amounts
for both budget authority and outlays for each fiscal year through 2002
(2003 in the case of spending for highways and mass transit). The
following table lists the categories, which vary from year to year, and
their caps. For 1998 and 1999, the BEA divided most discretionary
spending between defense and non defense spending, excluding special
categories. For 2000 through 2002, the BEA combines defense and
nondefense spending, excluding special categories, into one category,
which is shown as ``Other discretionary.'' For 1998 through 2000, the
BEA provided a special category for violent crime reduction spending.
The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) (Public Law
105-178) added special categories (applying to outlays only) for highway
and mass transit spending for 1999 through 2003.
The BEA requires OMB to adjust the caps up or down for certain
reasons, such as to reflect conceptual changes or the enactment of
emergency appropriations. The highways and mass transit caps, which
apply to outlays only, were based on estimates at the time TEA-21 was
drafted of gasoline excise taxes and other receipts credited to the
Highway Trust Fund each year. The TEA-21 amendments require OMB to
adjust these caps up or down for the difference in the amount of
receipts actually collected in the past year and for reestimates of the
amount the Government expects to collect in the budget year. The table
shows the adjusted caps. The Preview Report (described below) explains
other cap adjustments proposed in this budget.
DISCRETIONARY SPENDING LIMITS
(In billions of dollars)
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1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
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Defense:
Budget Authority.............................................. 272 287 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Outlays...................................................... 269 276 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Nondefense, excluding special categories:
Budget Authority.............................................. 256 291 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Outlays...................................................... 286 277 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Violent crime reduction:
Budget Authority.............................................. 6 6 5 N/A N/A N/A
Outlays...................................................... 5 5 6 N/A N/A N/A
Highways:
Budget Authority.............................................. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Outlays...................................................... N/A 22 25 27 28 28
Mass transit:
Budget Authority.............................................. N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
Outlays...................................................... N/A 4 4 5 5 6
Other discretionary:
Budget Authority.............................................. N/A N/A 567 541 550 N/A
Outlays...................................................... N/A N/A 565 547 537 N/A
Total discretionary:
Budget Authority.............................................. 533 583 571 541 550 N/A
Outlays....................................................... 560 584 600 579 571 34
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N/A means that this category was not applicable in the specified year.
If the amount of budget authority provided in appropriations acts for
a given year exceeds the cap on budget authority for a category, or the
amount of outlays in that year estimated to result from this budget
authority exceeds the cap on outlays for a category, the BEA requires a
procedure, called sequestration, for reducing the spending in that
category. A sequestration reduces spending for most programs in the
category by a uniform percentage. The BEA specifies special rules for
reducing some programs and exempts some programs from sequestration
entirely.
The BEA does not cap mandatory spending or require a certain level of
receipts. Instead, it requires that all laws enacted through 2002 that
affect mandatory spending or receipts must be enacted on a ``pay-as-you-
go'' (PAYGO) basis. This means that if a law increases the deficit or
reduces a surplus in the budget year or any of the four following years,
another law must be enacted with an offsetting reduction in spending or
increase in receipts for each year that is affected. Legislated
increases in benefit payments, for example, would have to be offset by
legislated reductions in other mandatory spending or increases in
receipts. Otherwise, a sequestration would be triggered at the end of
the session of Congress in the fiscal year in which the deficit would be
increased. The BEA sequestration procedures require a uniform reduction
of mandatory spending programs that are neither exempt nor subject to
special rules. The BEA exempts social security, interest on the public
debt, Federal employee retirement, Medicaid, most means-tested
entitlements, deposit insurance, other prior legal obligations, and most
unemploy
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ment benefits. A special rule limits the sequestration of Medicare
spending to no more than four percent, and special rules for some other
programs limit the size of a sequestration for those programs. As a
result of exemptions and special rules, only about three percent of all
mandatory spending is subject to sequestration, including the maximum
amounts allowed under special rules.
The PAYGO rules do not apply to increases in mandatory spending or
decreases in receipts that are not the result of new laws. For example,
mandatory spending for benefit programs, such as unemployment insurance,
rises when the population of eligible beneficiaries rises, and many
benefit payments are automatically increased for inflation under
existing laws. Likewise, tax receipts decrease when the profits of
private businesses decline as the result of economic conditions.
The BEA requires OMB to make the estimates and calculations that
determine whether there is to be a sequestration and report them to the
President and Congress. It requires the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) to make the same estimates and calculations, and the Director of
OMB to explain any differences between the OMB and CBO estimates. The
BEA requires the President to issue a sequestration order without
changing any of the particulars of the OMB report. It requires the
General Accounting Office to prepare compliance reports.
The BEA requires OMB and CBO to publish three sequestration reports--
a ``preview'' report at the time the President submits the budget, an
``update'' report in August, and a ``final'' report at the end of a
session of Congress (usually in the fall of each year). The preview
report discusses the status of discretionary and PAYGO sequestration,
based on current law. This report also explains the adjustments that are
required by law to the discretionary caps and publishes the revised
caps. (See Chapter 13, ``Preview Report,'' in the Analytical
Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget.) The update and final reports
revise the preview report estimates to reflect the effects of newly
enacted discretionary and PAYGO laws. The BEA requires OMB and CBO to
estimate the effects of appropriations acts and PAYGO laws immediately
after each one is enacted and to include these estimates, without
change, in the update and final reports. OMB's final report estimates
trigger a sequestration if the appropriations enacted for the current
year exceed the caps or if the cumulative effect of PAYGO legislation is
estimated to increase a deficit or reduce a surplus. In addition, CBO
estimates the effects of bills as they move through Congress for the
purpose of the Budget Committees' enforcement of the budget resolution
within Congress. OMB provides advisory estimates on bills that might
have significant consequences as they move through Congress.
From the end of a session of Congress through the following June
30th, discretionary sequestrations take place whenever an appropriations
act for the current fiscal year causes a cap to be exceeded. Because a
sequestration in the last quarter of a fiscal year might be too
disruptive, the BEA specifies that a sequestration that otherwise would
be required then is to be accomplished by reducing the cap for the next
fiscal year. These requirements ensure that supplemental appropriations
enacted during the fiscal year are subject to the budget enforcement
provisions.
Budget Calendar
The following timetable highlights the scheduled dates for significant budget events during the year.
Between the 1st Monday in January and the 1st President transmits the budget, including a sequestration
Monday in February............................ preview report.
Six weeks later................................ Congressional committees report budget estimates to Budget
Committees.
April 15....................................... Action to be completed on congressional budget resolution.
May 15......................................... House consideration of annual appropriations bills may begin.
June 15........................................ Action to be completed on reconciliation.
June 30........................................ Action on appropriations to be completed by House.
July 15........................................ President transmits Mid-Session Review of the budget.
August 20...................................... OMB updates the sequestration preview.
October 1...................................... Fiscal year begins.
15 days after the end of a session of Congress. OMB issues final sequestration report, and the President issues
a sequestration order, if necessary.
Budget Execution
Government agencies may not spend more than Congress has
appropriated, and they may use funds only for purposes specified in law.
The Antideficiency Act prohibits them from spending or obligating the
Government to spend in advance of an appropriation, unless specific
authority to do so has been provided in law. Additionally, the Act
requires the President to apportion the funds available to most
executive branch agencies. The President has delegated this authority to
OMB, which usually apportions by time periods (usually by quarter of the
fiscal year) and sometimes by activities. Agencies may request OMB to
reapportion funds during the year to accommodate changing cir
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cumstances. This system helps to ensure that funds are available to
cover operations for the entire year.
During the budget execution phase, the Government often finds that it
needs to spend more money than Congress has appropriated for the fiscal
year because of circumstances that were not anticipated when the budget
was formulated and appropriations enacted for that fiscal year. For
example, more money might be needed in order to provide adequate
assistance to an area stricken by an unusually severe natural disaster.
Under such circumstances, Congress may enact a supplemental
appropriation.
On the other hand, changing circumstances may reduce the need for
certain spending for which Congress has appropriated funds. The
President may propose not to spend funds under procedures specified in
the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. These procedures prevent the
President from failing to spend the funds without Congress' agreement.
Otherwise, it would possible for the President to thwart Congress'
spending policies through inaction. Under the act, the President may
propose deferrals or rescissions. Deferrals, which are temporary
withholdings, take effect immediately unless overturned by an act of
Congress. The President may only defer funds to provide for
contingencies, to achieve savings made possible through changes in
requirements or greater efficiency of operations, or as otherwise
specifically provided in law. He may not defer funds for policy reasons.
In 1999, the President proposed a total of $1.7 billion in deferrals,
and Congress overturned none. Rescissions, which permanently cancel
budget authority, take effect only if Congress passes a law approving
them. The law may approve only part of a rescission. If Congress does
not pass such a law within 45 days of continuous session, the President
must make the funds available for spending. The President may propose a
rescission for any reason. In total, Congress has rescinded about one-
third of the amount of funds that Presidents have proposed for
rescission since enactment of the Impoundment Control Act. In 1999, the
President proposed rescissions totaling $35 million, and Congress
rescinded a total of $17 million.
COVERAGE OF THE BUDGET
Federal Government and Budget Totals
TOTALS FOR THE BUDGET AND THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
(In billions of dollars)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimate
1999 -----------------
actual 2000 2001
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Budget authority
Total...................................... 1,777 1,801 1,885
Off-budget................................. 326 334 343
On-budget.................................. 1,450 1,467 1,543
Receipts:
Total...................................... 1,828 1,956 2,019
Off-budget................................. 445 477 500
On-budget.................................. 1,383 1,480 1,519
Outlays:
Total...................................... 1,703 1,790 1,835
Off-budget................................. 321 329 340
On-budget.................................. 1,382 1,461 1,495
Surplus:
Total...................................... 124 167 184
Off-budget................................. 124 148 160
Medicare Solvency Debt Reduction Reserve... ....... ....... 15
Remaining On-budget........................ 1 19 9
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The budget documents provide information on all Federal agencies and
programs. However, because the laws governing Social Security (the
Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and the Federal Disability
Insurance trust funds) and the Postal Service Fund exclude the receipts
and outlays for those activities from the budget totals and from the
calculation of the deficit or surplus for Budget Enforcement Act
purposes, the budget presents on-budget and off-budget totals. The off-
budget totals include the transactions excluded by law from the budget
totals. The on-budget and off-budget amounts are added together to
derive the totals for the Federal Government. These are sometimes
referred to as the unified or consolidated budget totals.
In 2001, the surplus section of this table shows the effect of the
Administration's proposal to reserve part of the on-budget surplus for
Medicare solvency and for catastrophic prescription drug coverage.
Called ``Medicare Solvency/Debt Reduction,'' these amounts would not be
available for spending under the budget resolution or on the PAYGO
scorecard. They would be available only for debt reduction, pending
their use for Medicare or the catastrophic prescription drug program.
These proposals are part of a broader budget framework proposal
discussed in chapter 13, ``Preview Report,'' of the Analytical
Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget.
Neither the on-budget nor the off-budget totals include transactions
of Government-sponsored enterprises, such as the Federal National
Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae). Federal laws established these
enterprises for public policy purposes, but they are privately owned and
operated corporations. Because of their close relationship to the
Government, the budget discusses them and reports their financial data
in the budget Appendix and in some detailed tables.
The Appendix includes a presentation for the Board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System for information only. The amounts are not
included in either the on-budget or off-budget totals because of the
independent status of the System. However, the Federal Reserve System
transfers its net earnings to the Treasury, and the budget records them
as receipts.
Functional Classification
The functional classification arrays budget authority, outlays, and
other budget data according to the major
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purpose served--such as agriculture, income security, and national
defense. There are nineteen major functions, most of which are divided
into subfunctions. For example, the Agriculture function comprises the
subfunctions Farm Income Stabilization and Agricultural Research and
Services. The functional classification is an integral part of the
congressional budget process, and the functional array meets the
Congressional Budget Act requirement for a presentation in the budget by
national needs and agency missions and programs. The following criteria
are used in establishing functional categories and assigning activities
to them:
A function encompasses activities with similar purposes,
emphasizing what the Federal Government seeks to accomplish
rather than the means of accomplishment, the objects
purchased, the clientele or geographic area served, or the
Federal agency conducting the activity.
A function must be of continuing national importance, and
the amounts attributable to it must be significant.
Each basic unit being classified (generally the
appropriation or fund account) usually is classified according
to its primary purpose and assigned to only one subfunction.
However, some large accounts that serve more than one major
purpose are subdivided into two or more subfunctions.
Section V, ``Improving Government Performance,'' in the main Budget
volume of the 2001 budget provides information on government activities
by function and subfunction.
Agencies, Accounts, Programs, Projects, and Activities
Various summary tables in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the
2001 budget provide information on budget authority, outlays, and
offsetting collections and receipts arrayed by Federal agency. Chapter
25 of that volume, ``Federal Programs by Agency and Account,'' consists
of a table that lists budget authority and outlays by budget account
within each agency and the totals for each agency of budget authority,
outlays, and receipts that offset the agency spending totals. The
Appendix to the Budget of the United States Government provides
budgetary, financial, and descriptive information about programs,
projects, and activities by account within each agency. The Appendix
also presents the most recently enacted appropriation language for an
account and any changes that are proposed to be made for the budget
year.
Types of Funds
Agency activities are financed through Federal funds and trust funds.
Federal funds comprise several types of funds. Receipt accounts of
the general fund, which is the greater part of the budget, record
receipts not earmarked by law for a specific purpose, such as almost all
income tax receipts. The general funds also includes the proceeds of
general borrowing. General fund appropriation accounts record general
fund expenditures. General fund appropriations draw from general fund
receipts collectively and, therefore, are not specifically linked to
receipt accounts. Special funds consist of receipt accounts for Federal
fund receipts that laws have earmarked for specific purposes and the
associated appropriation accounts for the expenditure of those receipts.
Public enterprise funds are revolving funds used for programs authorized
by law to conduct a cycle of business-type operations, primarily with
the public, in which outlays generate collections. Intragovernmental
funds are revolving funds that conduct business-type operations
primarily within and between Government agencies. The collections and
the outlays of revolving funds are recorded in the same budget account.
Trust funds account for the receipt and expenditure of monies by the
Government for carrying out specific purposes and programs in accordance
with the terms of a statute that designates the fund as a trust fund
(such as the Highway Trust Fund) or for carrying out the stipulations of
a trust agreement where the Nation is the beneficiary (such as any of
several trust funds for gifts and donations for specific purposes).
Trust revolving funds are trust funds credited with collections
earmarked by law to carry out a cycle of business-type operations.
The Federal budget meaning of the term ``trust,'' as applied to trust
fund accounts, differs significantly from its private sector usage. In
the private sector, the beneficiary of a trust usually owns the trust's
assets, which are managed by a trustee who must follow the stipulations
of the trust. In contrast, the Federal Government owns the assets of
most Federal trust funds, and it can raise or lower future trust fund
collections and payments, or change the purposes for which the
collections are used, by changing existing laws. There is no substantive
difference between a trust fund and a special fund or between a trust
revolving fund and a public enterprise revolving fund. The Government
does act as a true trustee for some funds. For example, it maintains
accounts on behalf of individual Federal employees in the Thrift Savings
Fund, investing them as directed by the individual employee. The
Government accounts for such funds in deposit funds, which are not
included in the budget. (Chapter 15, ``Trust Funds and Federal Funds,''
in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget provides more
information on this subject.)
Current Operating Expenditures and Capital Investment
The budget includes all types of spending, including both current
operating expenditures and capital investment. Capital investment
includes direct purchases of land, structures, equipment, and software.
It also includes subsidies for capital investment provided by direct
loans and loan guarantees; purchases of other financial assets; grants
to state and local governments for purchases of physical assets; and the
conduct of
[[Page 452]]
research, development, education, and training. (Chapter 6, ``Federal
Investment Spending and Capital Budgeting,'' in the Analytical
Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget provides more information on
capital investment.)
RECEIPTS, OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS AND RECEIPTS, AND USER FEES
In General
The budget records money collected by Government agencies two
different ways. Depending on the nature of the activity generating the
collection, they are recorded as either:
Receipts, which are compared in total to outlays (net of
offsetting collections and receipts) in calculating the
surplus or deficit; or
Offsetting collections or offsetting receipts, which are
deducted from gross outlays to produce net outlay figures.
Receipts
Receipts are collections that result from the Government's exercise
of its sovereign power to tax or otherwise compel payment and gifts of
money to the Government. Sometimes they are called governmental
receipts. They consist mostly of individual and corporation income taxes
and social insurance taxes, but also include excise taxes, compulsory
user charges, customs duties, court fines, certain license fees, and
deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve System. Total receipts for
the Federal Government include both on-budget and off-budget receipts
(see the table, ``Totals for the Budget and Federal Government,'' which
appears earlier in this chapter.) Chapter 3, ``Federal Receipts,'' in
the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget provides more
information on receipts.
Offsetting Collections and Receipts
Offsetting collections and receipts result from either of two kinds
of transactions:
Business-like or market-oriented activities with the
public. The budget records the proceeds from the sale of
postage stamps, the fees charged for admittance to recreation
areas, and the proceeds from the sale of Government-owned
land, for example, as offsetting collections or receipts. They
are deducted from gross budget authority and outlays, rather
than added to receipts. This treatment produces budget totals
for receipts, budget authority, and outlays that represent
governmental rather than market activity.
Intragovernmental transactions. The budget also records
collections by one Government account from another as
offsetting collections or receipts. For example, the General
Services Administration records payments it receives from
other Government agencies for the rent of office space as
offsetting collections in the Federal Buildings Fund.
Intragovernmental offsetting collections and receipts are
deducted from gross budget authority and outlays so that the
budget totals measure the transactions of the Government with
the public.
A table in Chapter 20, ``Outlays to the Public, Net and Gross,'' in
the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget, shows the effect
of offsetting collections and receipts on gross outlays for each major
Federal agency.
Although they both offset gross budget authority and outlays, the
budget accounts for offsetting collections differently from offsetting
receipts, as explained in the following sections.
Offsetting Collections
Some laws authorize agencies to credit collections directly to the
account from which they will be spent and, usually, to spend the
collections for the purpose of the account without further action by
Congress. Most revolving funds operate with such authority. For example,
a permanent law authorizes the Postal Service to use collections from
the sale of stamps to finance its operations without a requirement for
annual appropriations. The budget records these collections in the
Postal Service Fund (a revolving fund) and records budget authority in
an amount equal to the collections. Some intragovernmental collections
are recorded in this manner. For example, the budget records the
intragovernmental collections of the Federal Buildings Fund (mentioned
earlier) in the same manner as the Postal Service Fund. In addition to
revolving funds, some agencies are authorized to charge fees to defray a
portion of costs for a program that are otherwise financed by
appropriations from the general fund. In such cases, the budget records
the offsetting collections and resulting budget authority in the
program's general fund expenditure account.
Sometimes appropriations acts or provisions in other laws limit the
obligations that can be financed by budget authority from offsetting
collections. In those cases, the budget records budget authority in the
amount available to incur obligations. Where accounts have offsetting
collections, the budget shows the budget authority and outlays of the
account both gross (before deducting offsetting collections) and net
(after deducting offsetting collections). Totals for the agency,
subfunction, and budget are net of offsetting collections.
While most offsetting collections credited to expenditure accounts
result from business-like activity or are collected from other
Government accounts, some are governmental in nature but are required by
law to be treated as offsetting. The budget labels these ``offsetting
governmental collections.''
[[Page 453]]
Offsetting Receipts
Collections that are offset against gross outlays but are not
authorized to be credited to expenditure accounts are credited to
general fund, special fund, or trust fund receipt accounts and are
called offsetting receipts. Offsetting receipts are deducted from budget
authority and outlays in arriving at total budget authority and outlays.
However, unlike offsetting collections credited to expenditure accounts,
offsetting receipts do not offset budget authority and outlays at the
account level. In most cases, they offset budget authority and outlays
at the agency and subfunction levels. Offsetting receipts are subdivided
into three categories, as follows:
Proprietary receipts from the public.--These are
collections from the public that arise out of the business-
type or market-oriented activities of the Government. Most
proprietary receipts are deducted from the budget authority
and outlay totals of the agency that conducts the activity
generating the receipt and of the subfunction to which the
activity is assigned. For example, fees for using National
Parks are deducted from the totals for the Department of
Interior, which has responsibility for the parks, and the
Recreational Resources subfunction. Proprietary receipts from
a few sources, however, are not offset against any specific
agency or function and are classified as undistributed
offsetting receipts. They are deducted from the Government-
wide totals for budget authority and outlays. For example, the
collections of rents and royalties from outer continental
shelf lands are undistributed because the amounts are large
and for the most part are not related to the spending of the
agency that administers the transactions and the subfunction
that records the administrative expenses.
Intragovernmental transactions.--These are collections from
expenditure accounts that are deposited into receipt accounts.
Most intragovernmental transactions are deducted from the
budget authority and outlays of the agency that conducts the
activity generating the receipts and of the subfunction to
which the activity is assigned. In two cases, however,
intragovernmental transactions appear as special deductions in
computing total budget authority and outlays for the
Government rather than as offsets at the agency level--
agencies' payments as employers into employee retirement trust
funds and interest received by trust funds. The special
treatment for these receipts is necessary because the amounts
are large and would distort the agency totals, as measures of
the agency's activities, if they were attributed to the
agency.
Offsetting governmental receipts.--These are collections
that are governmental in nature but are required by law to be
treated as offsetting and are not authorized to be credited to
expenditure accounts.
User Fees
In the budget, the term ``user fee'' refers to fees, charges, and
assessments the Governemnt levies on a class directly benefiting from,
or subject to regulation by, a Government program or activity, to be
utilized solely to support the program or activity. It does not refer to
a separate budget category for collections. The budget records user fees
as receipts or as offsetting collections or receipts, depending on
whether the fee results primarily from the exercise of governmental
powers or from business-like activity.
See Chapter 4, ``User Fees and Other Collections,'' in the Analytical
Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget, for a more detailed discussion
of user fees and offsetting collections and receipts.
BUDGET AUTHORITY AND OTHER BUDGETARY RESOURCES, OBLIGATIONS, AND OUTLAYS
Budget Authority and Other Budgetary Resources
Budget authority is the authority provided in law to enter into
obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays of
Government funds. Government officials may obligate the Government to
make outlays only to the extent they have been granted budget authority.
The budget records budget authority as a dollar amount in the year when
it first becomes available. Under the circumstances described below,
unobligated balances of budget authority may be carried over into the
next year. The budget does not record these balances as budget authority
again. They do, however, constitute a budgetary resource that is
available for obligation. In some cases, a provision of law (such as a
limitation on obligations or a benefit formula) precludes the obligation
of funds that would otherwise be available for obligation. In such
cases, the budget records budget authority equal to the amount of
obligations that can be incurred.
In deciding the amount of budget authority to request for a program,
project, or activity, agency officials estimate the total amount of
obligations they will need to incur to achieve desired goals and
subtract the amounts of unobligated balances available for these
purposes. The amount of budget authority requested is influenced by the
nature of the programs, projects, or activities being financed. For
current operating expenditures, the amount requested usually covers
needs for the year. For major procurement programs and construction
projects, the Government generally applies a full funding policy. Under
this policy, agencies must request an amount to be appropriated in the
first year that they estimate will be adequate to complete an
economically useful segment of a procurement or
[[Page 454]]
project, even though it may be obligated over several years. This policy
is intended to ensure that the decision-makers take into account all
costs and benefits fully at the time decisions are made to provide
resources. It also avoids sinking money into a procurement or project
without being certain if or when future funding will be available to
complete the procurement or project. Budget authority takes several
forms:
appropriations, provided in annual appropriations acts or
permanent laws, permit agencies to incur obligations and make
payment;
authority to borrow, usually provided in permanent laws,
permits agencies to incur obligations but requires them to
borrow funds, usually from the general fund of the Treasury,
to make payment;
contract authority, usually provided in permanent law,
permits agencies to incur obligations in advance of a separate
appropriation of the cash for payment or in anticipation of
the collection of receipts that can be used for payment; and
spending authority from offsetting collections, usually
provided in permanent law, permits agencies to credit
offsetting collections to an expenditure account, incur
obligations, and make payment using the offsetting
collections.
Because offsetting collections and receipts are deducted from gross
budget authority, they are referred to as negative budget authority for
some purposes, such as Congressional Budget Act provisions that pertain
to budget authority.
Authorizing statutes usually determine the form of budget authority
for a program. The authorizing statute may authorize a particular type
of budget authority to be provided in annual appropriations acts, or it
may provide one of the forms of budget authority directly, without the
need for further appropriations. Most programs are funded by
appropriations. An appropriation may make funds available from the
general fund, special funds, or trust funds, or authorize the spending
of offsetting collections credited to expenditure accounts, including
revolving funds. Borrowing authority is usually authorized for business-
like activities where the activity being financed is expected to produce
income over time with which to repay the borrowing with interest.
Contract authority is a traditional form of budget authority for certain
programs, particularly transportation programs.
Annual appropriations acts generally make budget authority available
for obligation only during the fiscal year to which the act applies.
However, they specify many exceptions that allow budget authority for a
particular purpose to remain available for obligation for a longer
period or indefinitely (that is, until expended or until the program
objectives have been attained).Typically, appropriations acts make
budget authority for current operations available for only one year, and
budget authority for construction and some research projects available
for a specified number of years or indefinitely. Many appropriations of
trust fund receipts make the budget authority available indefinitely.
Only another law can extend a limited period of availability (see
Reappropriation below). Budget authority provided in authorizing
statutes usually remains available until expended.
Budget authority that is available for more than one year and that is
not obligated in the year it becomes available is carried forward for
obligation in a following year. In some cases, an account may have
carried forward unobligated budget authority from more than one year.
The sum of such amounts constitutes the account's unobligated balance.
Budget authority that has been obligated but not paid constitutes the
account's obligated balance. For example, in the case of salaries and
wages, one to three weeks elapse between the time of obligation and the
time of payment. In the case of major procurement and construction,
payments may occur over a period of several years after the obligation
is made. Obligated balances of budget authority at the end of the year
are carried forward until the obligations are paid or the balances are
canceled. (A general law cancels the obligated balances of budget
authority that was made available for a definite period five years after
the end of the period, and then other resources must be used to pay the
obligations.) Due to such flows, a change in the amount of obligations
incurred from one year to the next does not necessarily result from an
equal change in the amount of budget authority available for that year
and will not necessarily result in an equal change in the level of
outlays in that year. Conversely, a change in the amount of budget
authority available in any one year may change the level of obligations
and outlays for several years to come. \3\
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\3\ A separate report, ``Balances of Budget Authority,'' provides
additional information on balances. The National Technical Information
Service, Department of Commerce, makes the report available shortly
after the budget is transmitted.
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Congress usually makes budget authority available on the first day of
the fiscal year for which the appropriations act is passed.
Occasionally, the appropriations language specifies a different timing.
The language may provide an advance appropriation--budget authority that
does not become available until one year or more beyond the fiscal year
for which the appropriations act is passed. Forward funding refers to
budget authority that is made available for obligation beginning in the
last quarter of the fiscal year (beginning on July 1st) for the
financing of ongoing grant programs during the next fiscal year. This
kind of funding is used mostly for education programs, so that
obligations for grants can be made prior to the beginning of the next
school year. For certain benefit programs funded by annual
appropriations, the appropriation provides for advance funding--budget
authority that is to be charged to the appropriation in the succeeding
year but which authorizes obligations to be incurred in the last quarter
of the current fiscal year if necessary to meet benefit payments in
excess of the specific amount appropriated for the year.
[[Page 455]]
Provisions of law that extend the availability of unobligated amounts
that have expired or would otherwise expire are called reappropriations.
Reappropriations count as new budget authority in the fiscal year in
which the balances become newly available. For example, if a 2001
appropriations act extends the availability of unobligated budget
authority that otherwise would expire at the end of 2000, new budget
authority would be recorded for 2001.
For purposes of the Budget Enforcement Act (discussed earlier under
``Budget Enforcement''), the budget classifies budget authority as
discretionary or mandatory. Generally, budget authority is discretionary
if provided in an annual appropriations act and mandatory if provided in
authorizing legislation. However, the BEA requires the budget authority
provided in annual appropriations acts for certain specifically
identified programs to be treated as mandatory. This is because the
authorizing legislation in these cases entitles beneficiaries to receive
payment or otherwise obligates the Government to make payment, even
though the payments are funded by a subsequent appropriation. Since the
authorizing legislation effectively determines the amount of budget
authority required, the BEA classifies it as mandatory. As discussed
later, the discretionary and mandatory classification applies to the
outlays that flow from budget authority, according to the classification
of the budget authority.
The budget also classifies budget authority as definite or
indefinite. It is definite if the legislation that provides it specifies
a dollar amount (which may be an amount not to be exceeded). It is
indefinite if, instead of specifying an amount, the legislation
providing it permits the amount to be determined by subsequent
circumstances. For example, indefinite budget authority is provided for
interest on the public debt, payment of claims and judgments awarded by
the courts against the U.S., and many entitlement programs. Many of the
laws that authorize collections to be credited to revolving, special,
and trust funds make all of the collections available for expenditure
for the authorized purposes of the fund, and such authority is
considered to be indefinite budget authority. In some such cases, only
some of the amount of collections otherwise available is counted as
budget authority, because the rest is precluded from obligation in a
fiscal year by a provision of law, such as a limitation on obligations
or a benefit formula that determines the amounts to be paid (for
example, the formula for unemployment insurance benefits).
Obligations Incurred
Following the enactment of budget authority and the completion of
required apportionment action, Government agencies incur obligations to
make payments. Agencies must record obligations when they enter into
binding agreements that will result in outlays, immediately or in the
future. Such obligations include the current liabilities for salaries,
wages, and interest; and contracts for the purchase of supplies and
equipment, construction, and the acquisition of office space, buildings,
and land. For Federal credit programs, obligations are recorded in an
amount equal to the estimated subsidy cost of direct loans and loan
guarantees (see FEDERAL CREDIT below).
Outlays
Outlays are the measure of Government spending. The budget records
outlays for payments that liquidate obligations (other than the
repayment of debt), net of refunds and offsetting collections. They are
recorded when obligations are paid, in the amount that is paid. The
Government usually makes outlays in the form of cash (currency, checks,
or electronic fund transfers). However, in some cases agencies pay
obligations without disbursing cash and the budget records outlays
nevertheless. For example, the budget records outlays for the full
amount of Federal employees' salaries, even though the cash disbursed to
employees is net of Federal and state income taxes, retirement
contributions, life and health insurance premiums, and other deductions.
(The budget also records receipts for the deductions of Federal income
taxes and other payments to the Government.) The budget records outlays
and an increase in debt when debt instruments (bonds, debentures, notes,
or monetary credits) are used to pay obligations. For example, the
budget records the acquisition of physical assets through certain types
of lease-purchase arrangements as though an outlay were made for an
outright purchase. Because no cash is paid up front to the nominal owner
of the asset, the transaction creates a Government debt. In such cases,
the cash lease payments are treated as repayments of principal and
interest.
The measurement of interest varies. The budget records outlays for
the interest on the public issues of Treasury debt securities as the
interest accrues, not when the cash is paid. Treasury issues a kind of
security that features monthly adjustments to principal for inflation
and semiannual payments of interest on the inflation-adjusted principal.
As with fixed-rate securities, the budget records the interest payments
on these securities as outlays as the interest accrues. The monthly
adjustment to principal is recorded, simultaneously, as an increase in
debt outstanding and an outlay of interest. The budget normally states
the interest on special issues of the Treasury debt securities held by
trust funds and other Government accounts on a cash basis. When a
Government account is invested in Federal debt securities, the purchase
price is usually close or identical to the par (face) value of the
security. The budget records the investment at par value and adjusts the
interest paid by Treasury and collected by the account by the difference
between purchase price and par, if any. However, two trust funds in the
Department of Defense, the Military Retirement Trust Fund and the
Education Benefits Trust Fund, routinely have relatively large
differences between purchase price and par. For these funds, the budget
records the holdings of debt at par but records the differences
[[Page 456]]
between purchase price and par as adjustments to the assets of the funds
that are amortized over the life of the security. The budget records
interest as the amortization occurs.
For Federal credit programs, outlays are equal to the subsidy cost of
direct loans and loan guarantees and are recorded as the underlying
loans are disbursed (see FEDERAL CREDIT below).
The budget records refunds of receipts that result from overpayments
(such as income taxes withheld in excess of tax liabilities) as
reductions of receipts, rather than as outlays. The budget records
payments to taxpayers for tax credits (such as earned income tax
credits) that exceed the taxpayer's tax liability as outlays.
Outlays during a fiscal year may liquidate obligations incurred in
the same year or in prior years. Obligations, in turn, may be incurred
against budget authority provided in the same year or against
unobligated balances of budget authority provided in prior years.
Outlays, therefore, flow in part from budget authority provided for the
year in which the money is spent and in part from budget authority
provided in prior years. The ratio of the outlays resulting from budget
authority enacted in any year to the amount of that budget authority is
referred to as the spendout rate for that year.
As mentioned earlier, the budget classifies budget authority as
discretionary or mandatory for the purposes of the BEA. This
classification indicates whether appropriations acts or authorizing
legislation control the amount of budget authority that is available.
Outlays are classified as discretionary or mandatory according to the
classification of the budget authority from which they flow. This
classification of outlays measures the extent to which actual spending
is controlled through the annual appropriations process. Typically, only
one-third ($575 billion in 1999) of total outlays for a fiscal year are
discretionary and the rest ($1,128 billion in 1999) consists of
mandatory spending and net interest payments. Such a large portion of
total spending is nondiscretionary because authorizing legislation
determines net interest payments ($230 billion in 1999) and the spending
for a few programs with large amounts of spending each year, such as
Social Security ($387 billion in 1999) and Medicare ($188 billion in
1999).
Outlays for an account are stated both gross and net of any
offsetting collections credited to the account, but function, agency,
and Government-wide outlay totals are only stated net. (See Chapter 20,
``Outlays to the Public, Net and Gross,'' in the Analytical Perspectives
volume of the 2001 budget.) Total outlays for the Federal Government
include both on-budget and off-budget outlays. (See the table, ``Totals
for the Budget and Federal Government'' above.)
FEDERAL CREDIT
Some laws authorize Government agencies to make direct loans or loan
guarantees. A direct loan is a disbursement of funds by the Government
to a non-Federal borrower under a contract that requires the repayment
of such funds with or without interest. The term includes equivalent
transactions such as selling a property on credit terms in lieu of
receiving cash up front. A loan guarantee is any guarantee, insurance,
or other pledge with respect to the payment of all or a part of the
principal or interest on any debt obligation of a non-Federal borrower
to a non-Federal lender. The Federal Credit Reform Act prescribes the
budget treatment for Federal credit programs. This treatment is designed
to measure the subsidy cost of direct loans and loan guarantees in the
budget, when the loans are disbursed, rather than the cash flows over
the term of the loan, so direct loans and loan guarantees can be
compared to each other and to other methods of delivering benefits, such
as grants, on an equivalent basis.
The budget records the estimated long-term cost to the Government
arising from direct loans and loan guarantees in credit program
accounts. The cost is estimated as the present value of expected
disbursements over the term of the loan less the present value of
expected collections. \5\ For most credit programs, as with most other
kinds of programs, agencies can incur costs only if Congress has
appropriated funds sufficient to cover the costs in annual
appropriations acts.
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\5\ Present value is a standard financial concept that allows for the
time value of money, that is, for the fact that a given sum of money is
worth more at present than in the future because interest can be earned
on it.
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When an agency disburses a direct loan or when a non-federal lender
disburses a loan guaranteed by an agency, the program account outlays an
amount equal to the cost to a non-budgetary credit financing account.
For a few programs, the computed cost is negative, because the present
value of expected collections over the term of the loan exceeds that of
expected disbursements. In such cases, the financing account makes a
payment to the Treasury general fund where it is recorded as an
offsetting receipt in an account identified to the program. In a few
cases, the receipts are earmarked in a special fund established for the
program and are available for appropriation for the program.
The agencies responsible for credit programs must reestimate the cost
of the outstanding direct loans and loan guarantees, normally each year.
If an agency estimates the cost to have increased, the agency must make
an additional outlay from the program account to the financing account.
If the agency estimates the cost to have decreased, the agency must make
a payment from the financing account to the program's receipt account,
where it is recorded as an offsetting receipt. The Federal Credit Reform
Act provides a permanent indefinite appropriation to pay the increased
costs resulting from reestimates.
If the Government modifies the terms of an outstanding direct loan or
loan guarantee in a way that
[[Page 457]]
increases the cost, as the result of a law or the exercise of
administrative discretion under existing law, the agency must record an
obligation in the program account for an additional amount equal to the
increased cost and outlay the amount to the financing account. As with
the original costs, agencies may incur modification costs only if
Congress has appropriated funds to cover them. The Government may reduce
costs by modifications, in which case the agency makes a payment from
the financing account to the program's receipt account.
Credit financing accounts record all cash flows to and from the
Government arising from direct loan obligations and loan guarantee
commitments. These cash flows consist mainly of direct loan
disbursements and repayments, loan guarantee default payments, fees, and
amounts recovered from disposing assets acquired as a result of
defaults. Separate financing accounts record the cash flows of direct
loans and of loan guarantees for programs that do both. The budget
totals exclude the transactions of financing accounts because they are
not a cost to the Government. Financing account transactions affect the
means of financing a budget surplus or deficit (see Credit Financing
Accounts in the next section). The budget documents display the
transactions of the financing accounts, together with the related
program accounts, for information and analytical purposes.
The budget continues to account for the transactions associated with
direct loan obligations and loan guarantee commitments made prior to
1992 on a cash flow basis. The budget records these transactions in
credit liquidating accounts, which, in most cases, are the accounts that
were used for the programs prior to the enactment of the Credit Reform
Act.
BUDGET DEFICIT OR SURPLUS AND MEANS OF FINANCING
When outlays exceed receipts, the difference is a deficit. The
Government finances deficits by borrowing and, to a limited extent, with
the other means of financing discussed under this heading. The
Government's debt (debt held by the public) is approximately the
cumulative amount of borrowing to finance deficits, less repayments.
When receipts exceed outlays, the difference is a surplus. The
Government uses surpluses to reduce debt and applies it to the means of
financing. Most of the other means of financing may be either positive
or negative; that is, they may increase or decrease the Government's
borrowing needs or its ability to reduce the publicly held debt.
Borrowing and Debt Repayment
The budget treats borrowing and debt repayment as a means of
financing, not as receipts and outlays. If borrowing were defined as
receipts and debt repayment as outlays, the budget would be virtually
balanced by definition. This rule applies both to borrowing in the form
of Treasury securities and to specialized borrowing in the form of
agency securities (including the issuance of debt securities to
liquidate an obligation and the sale of certificates representing
participation in a pool of loans). In 1999, the Government repaid $89
billion of debt held by the public. This was the result of a $4 billion
surplus in that year. The rest of the surplus was needed to finance
direct loans disbursed in credit financing accounts, which are discussed
below, and for smaller changes in the other means of financing. At the
end of 1999, the debt held by the public was $3,633 billion. In addition
to selling debt to the public, the Treasury Department issues debt to
Government accounts, primarily trust funds that are required by law to
invest in Treasury securities. Issuing and redeeming this debt does not
affect the means of financing, because these transactions occur between
one Government account and another and thus do not raise or use any cash
for the Government as a whole. (See Chapter 12, ``Federal Borrowing and
Debt,'' in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget for a
fuller discussion of this topic.)
Debt Buyback Premiums and Discounts
The Treasury Department plans to buy back outstanding U.S. notes and
bonds as part of its efforts to manage efficiently the reduction of the
publicly held debt. The Treasury has made no firm decisions about the
timing or the amount of the buybacks at this time.
Because interest rates are now lower than the coupon rates on most of
the notes and bonds that Treasury might buy, the government will have to
pay a premium over the book value of these securities. However, because
any new securities issued to finance these purchases would carry a lower
coupon rate, these transactions would involve no net long-term cost to
the taxpayer; in fact, if the liquidity of all new issues of Treasury
securities is enhanced by the buybacks, as expected, total interest
costs should be reduced. This raised a question about the proper budget
treatment of any purchase premium.
There is no precise precedent for the budget treatment of debt
buybacks, in that the Treasury has not entered into the market to buy
outstanding Federal securities for cash during the past century. The
buyback premium is part of the cost of borrowing money for the period in
which the debt was outstanding, like a coupon interest payment. Interest
payments are normally recorded as budget outlays over the period in
which the debt is outstanding, but buyback premiums present special
problems, in that they would be paid when the debt is repaid.
In similar past circumstances (in particular, the small amounts of
unamortized original-issue discount that remained on several issues of
Treasury bonds that were called), the practice has been to record any
premium as interest at the time of the buyback--in the year the premium
was paid in cash. However, this shows the cost at a time different from
when it was incurred, and makes it appear that the buyback itself
results
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in an additional cost to the government. It also has the effect of
reducing the budget surplus, which could discourage buybacks, even
though they impose no additional cost to the government. Moreover, under
this accounting, the budget would record receipts if securities were
bought at a discount (which would be the case when current interest
rates were higher than the rates on outstanding securities). This would
create a perverse incentive to buy back securities that were available
at a discount to increase the recorded surplus, even though such
transactions would yield no long-term gain to the government.
There are three alternatives to recording buyback premiums and
discounts in the year of the buyback. Like immediate scoring, each has
advantages and disadvantages--no option is perfect.
Premiums and discounts could be spread retroactively over the years
when the securities were outstanding, by adjusting the historical
interest outlay figures. This would reflect the cost in the period in
which it was incurred, and would eliminate the perverse incentives
created by recording the premiums or discounts in the year of the
buyback. However, this method would record the interest cost for
securities that are bought back differently from that of otherwise
identical securities that remain outstanding. It would also require
changes to historical data every time Treasury bought back more
securities, making those data less useful and reducing their
credibility.
The outlays for premiums or receipts for discounts could be amortized
in future years--for example, over a period equal to the remaining lives
of the securities when they were bought back. This would reduce the
perverse incentives of the current treatment. However, it would record
outlays for premiums or receipts for discounts much later than the
period in which the costs were really incurred. It would lead future
recorded interest outlays (net of receipts from discounts) to be
inconsistent with the terms and amount of the debt outstanding in future
years. In the extreme, the budget could show interest outlays (because
of amortized premiums) after all debt had been retired.
There are many possible variations of these alternatives that would
record premiums (or discounts) over shorter or longer periods in the
past or the future. None of them would significantly alter the pros and
cons identified above.
A third alternative is to record payments for premiums or collections
for discounts not as outlays or receipts, but as a means of financing
the surplus or deficit, in the year of the buyback. This is the way that
borrowing and repayment of debt are treated. Under this accounting,
premiums would decrease the Treasury's cash balance, and discounts would
increase it, in the year of the buyback. Because the premiums or
discounts would not be recorded as outlays or receipts, this would avoid
the perverse incentives associated with recording outlays or receipts
all in the buyback year. It would not require repeated changes to the
historical data. It would not distort outlays in the current year or
future years as a measure of the costs incurred in those periods. A
disadvantage is that the budget would not record buyback premiums as
interest outlays or buyback receipts as interest receipts in any period
(though the premiums and discounts would be presented in the Budget
table on the Federal debt), and thus the budget would permanently
misstate the cumulative interest outlays over time.
After consulting with the Congressional Budget Office and the House
and Senate Budget Committees, the Administration has concluded that, on
balance, the best option is to account for buyback premiums and
discounts as a means of financing (although, like all of the other
options, it does have some disadvantages). However, this treatment
clearly would not be appropriate for any non-financial Federal
transaction. Debt buybacks would not use or transfer the control of real
resources, would not change the net worth (in economic terms) of the
Federal government or the private sector, and would not change net
credit flows. In contrast, any government transfer payment, or any
purchase of a good or service, would so allocate Federal resources, and
so must be recorded as a budgetary outlay. Most Federal financial
transactions, including the payment of coupon interest on outstanding
securities and the subsidy conveyed by direct loans and loan guarantees,
also impose a cost on the government and allocate resources, and
therefore must also be recorded as outlays. This is so even though a
government purchase might be deemed to have long-term benefits for the
Nation (in fact, all government purchases are deemed to be beneficial),
or might be undertaken under a legal obligation (such as the payment of
coupon interest on outstanding Treasury bonds, notes or bills).
The Treasury will begin conducting debt buybacks in the next few
months, and expects to conduct several such operations in the first half
of calendar year 2000. Based on the results of these first operations,
the Treasury expects to develop a plan for debt buybacks as a part of
its ongoing cash- and debt-management operations. Because it is
impossible to develop a firm plan prior to completion of the initial
operations, this budget includes no estimate of future buyback premiums.
When the buybacks do occur, future budgets will record any premium
payments or discount collections as a means of financing, and will
present them in a separate entry in the tables on the Federal debt that
show the means of financing.
Exercise of Monetary Power
Seigniorage is the profit from coining money. It is the difference
between the value of coins as money and their cost of production.
Seigniorage adds to the Government's cash balance, but unlike the
payment of taxes or other receipts, it does not involve a transfer of
financial assets from the public. Instead, it arises from the exercise
of the Government's power to create money. Therefore, the budget
excludes seigniorage from receipts and treats it as a means of financing
other than borrowing from the public. The budget treats prof
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its resulting from the sale of gold as a means of financing, since the
value of gold is determined by its value as a monetary asset rather than
as a commodity.
Credit Financing Accounts
The budget records the net cash flows of credit programs in credit
financing accounts, which are excluded from the budget totals and are
called net financing disbursements. (See FEDERAL CREDIT above.) Net
financing disbursements are defined in the same way as the outlays of a
budgetary account and are therefore a means of financing other than
borrowing from the public. Like outlays, they may be either positive or
negative.
The net financing disbursements result partly from intragovernmental
transactions with budgetary accounts (the receipt of subsidy payments
and the receipt or payment of interest) and partly from transactions
with the public (disbursement and repayment of loans, receipt of
interest and fees, payment of default claims, etc.). An
intragovernmental transaction affects the deficit or surplus and the
means of financing in equal amounts but with opposite signs, so they
have no combined effect on Treasury borrowing from the public. On the
other hand, financing account disbursements to the public increase the
requirement for Treasury borrowing in the same way as an increase in
budget outlays. Financing account receipts from the public can be used
to finance the payment of the Government's obligations and therefore
reduce the requirement for Treasury borrowing from the public in the
same way as an increase in budget receipts.
Deposit Fund Account Balances
The Treasury uses deposit funds, which are non-budgetary accounts, to
record amounts held temporarily until ownership is determined (for
example, earnest money paid by bidders for mineral leases) or held by
the Government as agent for others (for example, State and local income
taxes withheld from Federal employees' salaries and not yet paid to the
State or local government). Deposit fund balances may be held in the
form of either invested or uninvested balances. Changes in deposit fund
balances affect the Treasury's cash balances, even though the
transactions are not a part of the budget. To the extent that deposit
fund balances are not invested, changes in the balances are a means of
financing other than borrowing from the public. To the extent that the
balances are invested in Federal debt, changes in the balances are
reflected as borrowing from the public.
Exchanges with the International Monetary Fund
Under the terms of its participation in the IMF, the U.S. transfers
dollars to the IMF and receives Special Drawing Rights in return. The
SDR's are interest-bearing monetary assets and may be exchanged for
foreign currency at any time. These transfers are like bank deposits and
withdrawals. Following a recommendation of the 1967 President's
Commission on Budget Concepts, the budget excludes these transfers from
budget outlays or receipts. The budget does record interest paid by the
IMF on U.S. deposits (as an offsetting collection). It also records
outlays for foreign currency exchanges to the extent there is a realized
loss in dollars terms and offsetting collections to the extent there is
a realized gain in dollar terms.
FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT
The budget includes information on civilian and military employment
and personnel compensation and benefits. It also compares the Federal
workforce, State and local government workforces, and the United States
population. The budget provides two different measures of Federal
employment levels--actual positions filled and full-time equivalents
(FTE). One FTE equals one work year or 2,080 hours. For most purposes,
the FTE measure is more meaningful, because it takes into account part-
time employment, temporary employment, and vacancies during the year.
For example, one full-time employee and two half-time employees would
count as two FTE's but three positions. (Chapter 10, ``Federal
Employment,'' in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget
provides more information on this subject.)
TOTAL FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percent
1999 2000 2001 change
actual estimated estimated 1999 to
2000
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total FTE's................. 4,113,481 4,182,925 4,086,227 -0.7
Federal Executive Branch 9.7 9.8 9.4 -3.1
civilian employees per 1000
U.S. population.............
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BASIS FOR BUDGET FIGURES
Data for the Past Year
The past year column (1999) generally presents the actual
transactions and balances as recorded in agency accounts and as
summarized in the central financial reports prepared by the Treasury
Department for the most recently completed fiscal year. Occasionally the
budget reports corrections to data reported erroneously to Treasury but
not discovered in time to be reflected
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in Treasury's published data. The budget usually notes the sources of
such differences.
Data for the Current Year
The current year column (2000) includes estimates of transactions and
balances based on the amounts of budgetary resources that were available
when the budget was transmitted, including amounts appropriated for the
year. This column also reflects any supplemental appropriations or
rescissions proposed in the budget.
Data for the Budget Year
The budget year column (2001) includes estimates of transactions and
balances based on the amounts of budgetary resources that are estimated
to be available, including new budget authority requested under current
authorizing legislation, and amounts estimated to result from changes in
authorizing legislation and tax laws. The budget Appendix generally
includes the appropriations language for the amounts proposed to be
appropriated under current authorizing legislation. In a few cases, this
language is transmitted later because the exact requirements are unknown
when the budget is transmitted. The Appendix generally does not include
appropriations language for the amounts that will be requested under
proposed legislation; that language is usually transmitted later, after
the legislation is enacted. Some tables in the budget identify the items
for later transmittal and the related outlays separately. Estimates of
the total requirements for the budget year include both the amounts
requested with the transmittal of the budget and the amounts planned for
later transmittal.
Data for the Outyears
The budget presents estimates for each of the four years beyond the
budget year (2002 through 2005) in order to reflect the effect of budget
decisions on longer term objectives and plans.
Allowances
The budget may include lump-sum allowances to cover certain
transactions that are expected to increase or decrease budget authority,
outlays, or receipts but are not, for various reasons, reflected in the
program details. For example, the budget might include an allowance to
show the effect on the budget totals of a proposal that would actually
affect many accounts by relatively small amounts, in order to avoid
unnecessary detail in the presentations for the individual accounts.
Congress does not enact the allowances as such.
Baseline
The budget baseline is an estimate of the receipts, outlays, and
deficits or surplus that would result from continuing current law
through the period covered by the budget. The baseline assumes that
receipts and mandatory spending, which generally are authorized on a
permanent basis, will continue in the future as required by current law.
The baseline assumes that the future funding for discretionary programs,
which generally are funded annually, will equal the most recently
enacted appropriation, adjusted for inflation. The baseline represents
the amount of real resources that would be used by the Government over
the period covered by the budget on the basis of laws currently enacted.
(Chapter 14, ``Current Services Estimates,'' in the Analytical
Perspectives volume of the 2001 budget provides more information on the
baseline.)
The baseline serves several useful for purposes:
It may warn of future problems, either for Government
fiscal policy as a whole or for individual tax and spending
programs; or it may show the resources available for future
use to reduce the publicly held debt, increase spending
programs, or cut taxes.
It provides a starting point for formulating the
President's budget.
It provides a ``policy-neutral'' benchmark against which
the President's budget and alternative proposals can be
compared to assess the magnitude of proposed changes.
OMB uses it, under the BEA, to determine how much will be
sequestered from each account and the level of funding
remaining after sequestration.
PRINCIPAL BUDGET LAWS
The following basic laws govern the Federal budget process:
Article 1, section 8, clause 1 of the Constitution, which
empowers the Congress to collect taxes.
Article 1, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution, which
requires appropriations in law before money may be spent from
the Treasury.
Antideficiency Act (codified in Chapters 13 and 15 of Title
31, United States Code), which prescribes rules and procedures
for budget execution.
Chapter 11 of Title 31, United States Code, which
prescribes procedures for submission of the President's budget
and information to be contained in it.
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974
(Public Law 93-344), as amended. This Act comprises the:
--Congressional Budget Act of 1974, as amended, which prescribes
the congressional budget process; and
--Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which controls certain aspects
of budget execution.
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Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985
(Public Law 99-177), as amended, which prescribes rules and
procedures (including ``sequestration'') designed to eliminate
excess spending. This Act is commonly known as the Gramm-
Rudman-Hollings Act.
Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (Title XIII, Public Law 101-
508) significantly amended key laws pertaining to the budget
process, including the Congressional Budget Act and the
Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. The Budget
Enforcement Act of 1997 (Title X, Public Law 105-33) extended
the BEA requirements through 2002 (2006 in part) and altered
some of the requirements. The requirements generally referred
to as BEA requirements (discretionary spending limits, pay-as-
you-go, sequestration, etc.) are part of the Balanced Budget
and Emergency Deficit Control Act.
Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990 (as amended by the Budget
Enforcement Act of 1997), a part of the Budget Enforcement Act
of 1990, which amended the Congressional Budget Act to
prescribe the budget treatment for Federal credit programs.
Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, which
emphasizes managing for results. It requires agencies to
prepare strategic plans, annual performance plans, and annual
performance reports.
GLOSSARY OF BUDGET TERMS
Agency means a department or establishment of the Government.
Allowance means a lump-sum included in the budget to represent
certain transactions that are expected to increase or decrease budget
authority, outlays, or receipts but that are not, for various reasons,
reflected in the program details.
Balances of budget authority means the amounts of budget authority
provided in previous years that have not been outlayed.
Baseline means an estimate of the receipts, outlays, and deficit or
surplus that would result from continuing current law through the period
covered by the budget.
Budget means the Budget of the United States Government, which sets
forth the President's comprehensive financial plan for allocating
resources and indicates the President's priorities for the Federal
Government.
Budget authority (BA) means the authority provided by law to incur
financial obligations that will result in outlays. (For a description of
the several forms of budget authority, see Budget Authority and Other
Budgetary Resources earlier in this chapter.)
Budget totals mean the totals included in the budget for budget
authority, outlays, and receipts. Some presentations in the budget
distinguish on-budget totals from off-budget totals. On-budget totals
reflect the transactions of all Federal Government entities except those
excluded from the budget totals by law. The off-budget totals reflect
the transactions of Government entities that are excluded from the on-
budget totals by law. Under current law, the off-budget totals include
the Social Security trust funds (Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance
and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds) and the Postal Service
Fund. The budget combines the on- and off-budget totals to derive
unified or consolidated totals for Federal activity.
Budgetary resources mean amounts available to incur obligations in a
given year. The term comprises new budget authority and unobligated
balances of budget authority provided in previous years.
Cap means the legal limits on the budget authority and outlays for
each fiscal year provided by discretionary appropriations.
Cash equivalent transaction means a transaction in which the
Government makes outlays or receives collections in a form other than
cash. (For a examples, see the section on Outlays earlier in this
chapter.)
Credit program account means a budget account that receives and
obligates appropriations to cover the subsidy cost of a direct loan or
loan guarantee and disburses the subsidy cost to a financing account.
Deficit means the amount by which outlays exceed receipts in a fiscal
year. It may refer to the on-budget, off-budget, or unified budget
deficit.
Direct loan means a disbursement of funds by the Government to a non-
Federal borrower under a contract that requires the repayment of such
funds with or without interest. The term includes the purchase of, or
participation in, a loan made by another lender. The term also includes
the sale of a Government asset on credit terms of more than 90 days
duration as well as financing arrangements for other transactions that
defer payment for more than 90 days. It also includes loans financed by
the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) pursuant to agency loan guarantee
authority. The term does not include the acquisition of a federally
guaranteed loan in satisfaction of default or other guarantee claims or
the price support loans of the Commodity Credit Corporation. (Cf. loan
guarantee.)
Direct spending--See mandatory spending.
Discretionary appropriations means budgetary resources (except those
provided to fund mandatory
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spending programs) provided in appropriations acts. (Cf. mandatory
spending.)
Emergency appropriation means an appropriation that the President and
the Congress have designated as an emergency requirement. Such spending
is not subject to the limits on discretionary spending, if it is
discretionary spending, or the pay-as-you-go rules, if it is mandatory.
Federal funds group refers to the moneys collected and spent by the
Government other than those designated as trust funds. Federal funds
include general, special, public enterprise, and intragovernmental
funds. (Cf. trust funds.)
Financing account means a non-budgetary account (its transactions are
excluded from the budget totals) that records all of the cash flows
resulting from post-1991 direct loan obligations or loan guarantee
commitments. At least one financing account is associated with each
credit program account. For programs that make both direct loans and
loan guarantees, there are separate financing accounts for the direct
loans and the loan guarantees. (Cf. liquidating account.)
Fiscal year means the Government's accounting period. It begins on
October 1st and ends on September 30th, and is designated by the
calendar year in which it ends.
General fund means the accounts for receipts not earmarked by law for
a specific purpose, the proceeds of general borrowing, and the
expenditure of these moneys.
Liquidating account means a budget account that records all cash
flows to and from the Government resulting from pre-1992 direct loan
obligations or loan guarantee commitments. (Cf. financing account.)
Loan guarantee means any guarantee, insurance, or other pledge with
respect to the payment of all or a part of the principal or interest on
any debt obligation of a non-Federal borrower to a non-Federal lender,
exept for the insurance of deposits, shares, or other withdrawable
accounts in financial institutions. (Cf. direct loan.)
Mandatory spending means spending controlled by laws other than
appropriations acts (including spending for entitlement programs) and
spending for the food stamp program. Although the Budget Enforcement Act
use the term direct spending to mean this, mandatory spending is
commonly used instead. (Cf. discretionary appropriations.)
Intragovernmental fund--see revolving fund.
Obligated balance means the cumulative amount of budget authority
that has been obligated but not yet outlayed. (Cf. unobligated balance.)
Obligation means a binding agreements that will result in outlays,
immediately or in the future. Budgetary resources must be available
before obligations can be incurred legally.
Off-budget--See budget totals.
Offsetting collections mean collections that are deducted from gross
budget authority and outlays, rather than added to receipts, and, by
law, are credited directly to expenditure accounts. Usually, they may be
spent for the purposes of the account without further action by
Congress. They result from business-type or market-oriented activities
with the public and other Government accounts. (Cf. receipts and
offsetting receipts.)
Offsetting receipts mean collections that are deducted from gross
budget authority and outlays, rather than added to receipts, and are not
authorized to be credited to expenditure accounts. Instead, they are
credited to offsetting receipt accounts. The legislation that authorizes
the offsetting receipts may require them to be appropriated in annual
appropriation acts before they can be spent. Like offsetting
collections, they result from business-type or market-oriented
activities with the public and other Government accounts. (Cf. receipts
and offsetting collections.)
On-budget--See budget totals.
Outlay means a payment to liquidate an obligation (other than the
repayment of debt). Outlays are the measure of Government spending.
Except where they are labeled as gross, they are stated net of any
related refunds and offsetting collections or receipts. Outlays
generally are equal to cash disbursements but also are recorded for
cash-equivalent transactions, such as the subsidy cost of direct loans
and loan guarantees, and interest accrued on public issues of public
debt.
Pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) means the requirements of the Budget
Enforcement Act that result in a sequestration if the estimated combined
result of legislation affecting mandatory spending or receipts is a net
cost for a fiscal year.
Outyear estimates means estimates presented in the budget for the
years beyond the budget year (usually four) of budget authority,
outlays, receipts, and other items (such as debt).
Public enterprise fund--See revolving fund.
Receipt means a collection that results from the Government's
exercise of its sovereign power to tax or otherwise compel payment and
gifts of money to the Government. They are compared to outlays in
calculating a surplus or deficit. (Cf. offsetting collections and
offsetting receipts.)
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Revolving fund means a fund that conducts continuing cycles of
business-like activity, in which the fund charges for the sale of
products or services and uses the proceeds to finance its spending,
usually without requirement for annual appropriations. There are two
types of revolving funds: Public enterprise funds, which conduct
business-like operations mainly with the public, and intragovernmental
revolving funds, which conduct business-like operations mainly within
and between Government agencies.
Scorekeeping means measuring the budget effects of legislation,
generally in terms of budget authority, receipts, and outlays for
purposes of the Budget Enforcement Act.
Sequestration means the cancellation of budgetary resources provided
by discretionary appropriations or mandatory spending legislation,
following various procedures prescribed by the Budget Enforcement Act. A
sequestration may occur in response to a discretionary appropriation
that causes discretionary spending to exceed the discretionary spending
caps or in response to net costs resulting from the combined result of
legislation affecting mandatory spending or receipts (referred to as a
``pay-as-you-go'' sequestration).
Special fund means a Federal fund accounts for receipts earmarked for
specific purposes and for the expenditure of these receipts. (Cf. trust
fund.)
Subsidy means the same as cost when it is used in connection with
Federal credit programs.
Surplus means the amount by which receipts exceed outlays.
Supplemental appropriation means an appropriation enacted subsequent
to a regular annual appropriations act, when the need for funds is too
urgent to be postponed until the next regular annual appropriations act.
Trust fund refers to a type of account, designated by law as a trust
fund, for receipts earmarked for specific purposes and the expenditure
of these receipts. Some revolving funds are designated as trust funds,
and these are called trust revolving funds. (Cf. special fund and
revolving fund.) Trust funds group refers to the moneys collected and
spent by the Government through trust fund accounts. (Cf., Federal funds
group.)
Unobligated balance means the cumulative amount of budget authority
that is not obligated and that remains available for obligation under
law.
User fee means a fee, charge, and assessment levied on a class
directly benefiting from, or subject to regulation by, a Government
program or activity, to be utilized solely to support the program or
activity.