[Analytical Perspectives]
[Introduction]
[1. Introduction]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]


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                             1. INTRODUCTION

                         Purpose of This Volume

  The Analytical Perspectives volume presents analyses that highlight 
specific subject areas or provide other significant data that place the 
budget in context. This volume presents crosscutting analyses of 
Government programs and activities from several perspectives.
  Presidential budgets have included separate analytical presentations 
of this kind for many years. The 1947 Budget and subsequent budgets 
included a separate section entitled ``Special Analyses and Tables'' 
that covered four or more topics. For the 1952 Budget, the section was 
expanded to ten analyses, including many subjects still covered today, 
such as receipts, investment, credit programs, and aid to State and 
local governments. With the 1967 Budget this material became a separate 
volume entitled ``Special Analyses,'' and included 13 chapters. The 
material has remained a separate volume since then, with the exception 
of the Budgets for 1991-1994, when all of the budget material was 
included in one large volume. Beginning with the 1995 Budget, the volume 
has been named Analytical Perspectives.
  The Analytical Perspectives volume this year continues to reflect an 
interest in publishing more information on program performance, so that 
Executive agencies, the Congress, and the public will become 
increasingly informed about how well programs are performing. Increased 
performance information can help managers improve program effectiveness, 
and can help Executive and Congressional policymakers improve the 
allocation of public resources. The performance assessment information 
is summarized in Chapter 2, ``Budget and Performance Integration,'' and 
is discussed in many other chapters, especially those in the section, 
``Crosscutting Programs.'' One-page summaries of each program assessment 
are available at www.ExpectMore.gov.
  Again this year, several large tables are included as part of the 
Budget on the enclosed Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM. A list of the 
items on the CD-ROM is in the Table of Contents of this volume.

                        Overview of the Chapters

Introduction

  1. Introduction. This chapter discusses each of the subsequent 
chapters briefly and highlights the emphasis on performance in a 
crosscutting context.

Performance and Management Assessments

  2. Budget and Performance Integration. This chapter summarizes the 
performance and management assessments that have been completed to date 
using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). One-page summaries of 
the program evaluations, as well as detail on each of the assessments 
can be found at www.ExpectMore.gov.

Crosscutting Programs

  3. Homeland Security Funding Analysis. This chapter discusses homeland 
security funding and provides information on homeland security program 
requirements, performance, and priorities. Additional detailed 
information is available on the enclosed Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM.
  4. Strengthening Federal Statistics. This chapter discusses the 
development of standards that principal statistical programs can use to 
assess their performance and presents highlights of the related 2008 
Budget proposals.
  5. Research and Development. This chapter presents a crosscutting 
review of research and development funding in the Budget, including 
discussions about priorities, performance, and coordination across 
agencies.
  6. Federal Investment. This chapter discusses spending across Federal 
agencies that yields long-term benefits, and presents information on 
physical capital, research and development, and education and training. 
Also included in this chapter is material on the PART assessments 
related to direct Federal investment spending. There is also a section 
on capital stocks.
  7. Credit and Insurance. This chapter provides crosscutting analyses 
of the roles, risks, and performance of Federal credit and insurance 
programs and Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). It covers the 
categories of Federal credit (housing, education, business including 
farm operations, and international) and insurance programs (deposit 
insurance, pension guarantees, disaster insurance, and insurance against 
security-related risks). Two detailed tables, ``Table 7-10. Direct Loan 
Transactions of the Federal Government'' and ``Table 7-11. Guaranteed 
Loan Transactions of the Federal Government,'' are on the enclosed 
Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM.
  8. Aid to State and Local Governments. This chapter presents 
crosscutting information on Federal grants to State and local 
governments, including highlights of Administration proposals. This 
chapter also includes material on the PART assessments related to 
grants. An Appendix to this chapter includes State-by-State spending 
estimates of major grant programs.
  9. Integrating Services with Information Technology. This chapter 
presents a crosscutting look at investments in information technology 
(IT). It describes various aspects of the Administration's information 
technology agenda, with special emphasis on the performance, efficiency, 
and effectiveness of the Government's IT investments. Five detailed 
tables: ``Table 9-1. Effectiveness of Agency's IT Management and E-Gov 
Proc

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esses,'' ``Table 9-2. Management Guidance,'' ``Table 9-3. Agencies with 
IT Investments on the Management Watch List,'' ``Table 9-4. Status of 
Presidential E-Government Initiatives,'' and ``Table 9-5. Lines of 
Business (LoB) Update'' are on the enclosed Analytical Perspectives CD-
ROM.
  10. Federal Drug Control Funding. This chapter presents estimated drug 
control funding for Federal departments and agencies.
  11. California-Federal Bay-Delta Program Budget Crosscut (CALFED). 
This chapter presents information on Federal and State funding for the 
California-Federal Bay-Delta Program, in fulfillment of the reporting 
requirements for this program. Detailed tables on funding and project 
descriptions are on the enclosed Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM.

Economic Assumptions and Analyses

  12. Economic Assumptions. This chapter reviews recent economic 
developments; presents the Administration's assessment of the economic 
situation and outlook, including the effects of macroeconomic policies; 
and compares the economic assumptions on which the Budget is based with 
the assumptions for last year's budget and those of other forecasters. 
This chapter also covers topics related to the effects on the budget of 
changes in economic conditions and assumptions.
  13. Stewardship. This chapter assesses the Government's financial 
condition and sustainability in an integrated framework that includes 
Federal assets and liabilities; 75-year projections of the Federal 
budget under alternative assumptions for discretionary spending, health 
costs, productivity, and demographics; actuarial estimates for the 
shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare; a discussion of tax 
compliance; a national balance sheet that shows the Federal contribution 
to national wealth; and a table of economic and social indicators. 
Together these elements serve similar analytical functions to a 
business's accounting statements.
  14. National Income and Product Accounts. This chapter discusses how 
Federal receipts and outlays fit into the framework of the National 
Income and Product Accounts (NIPAs) prepared by the Department of 
Commerce. The NIPA measures are the basis for reporting Federal 
transactions in the gross domestic product (GDP) and for analyzing the 
effect of the budget on aggregate economic activity.

Budget Reform Proposals

  15. Budget Reform Proposals. This chapter includes a brief description 
of the Administration's budget reform agenda for addressing the need for 
responsible budgeting and other reforms.

Federal Borrowing and Debt

  16. Federal Borrowing and Debt. This chapter analyzes Federal 
borrowing and debt and explains the budget estimates. It includes 
sections on special topics such as the trends in debt, agency debt, 
investment by Government accounts, and the debt limit.

Federal Receipts and Collections

  17. Federal Receipts. This chapter presents information on receipts 
estimates, enacted tax legislation, and the receipts proposals in the 
Budget.
  18. User Charges and Other Collections. This chapter presents 
information on receipts from regulatory fees and on collections from 
market-oriented activities, such as the sale of stamps by the Postal 
Service, which are recorded as offsets to outlays rather than as Federal 
receipts.
  19. Tax Expenditures. This chapter describes and presents estimates of 
tax expenditures, which are defined as revenue losses from special 
exemptions, credits, or other preferences in the tax code. An appendix 
discusses possible alternatives to the current tax expenditure 
baselines.

Dimensions of the Budget

  20. Comparison of Actual to Estimated Totals. This chapter compares 
the actual receipts, outlays, and deficit for 2006 with the estimates 
for that year published two years ago in the 2006 Budget. It also 
includes a historical comparison of the differences between receipts, 
outlays, and the deficit as originally proposed with final outcomes.
  21. Outlays to the Public, Gross and Net. This chapter provides 
information on outlays gross and net of offsetting collections and 
offsetting receipts by agency. Outlays are a measure of Government 
spending. Offsetting collections and offsetting receipts are netted 
against gross outlays and result primarily from the Government's 
business-like activities, such as the sale of stamps by the Postal 
Service.
  22. Trust Funds and Federal Funds. This chapter provides summary 
information on Federal funds and trust funds, which comprise the entire 
budget. For trust funds the information includes income, outgo, and 
balances.
  23. Off-Budget Federal Entities and Non-Budgetary Activities. This 
chapter discusses off-budget Federal entities (Social Security and 
Postal Service) and non-budgetary activities (such as cash flows for 
credit programs, deposit funds, and regulation).
  24. Federal Employment and Compensation. This chapter provides summary 
data on the level and recent trends in civilian and military employment, 
personnel compensation and benefits, overseas staffing, and the full 
compensation of military personnel.

Current Services Estimates

  25. Current Services Estimates. This chapter presents estimates, based 
on rules similar to those contained in the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA), 
of what receipts, outlays, and the deficit would be if no changes were 
made to laws already enacted. It discusses the conceptual framework for 
these estimates and describes differences with the BEA requirements. Two 
detailed tables, ``Table 25-13. Current Services Budget Authority by 
Function, Category, and Program'' and ``Table 25-14. Current Services 
Outlays by Function, Category, and

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Program,'' are on the enclosed Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM.

Budget System and Concepts

  26. The Budget System and Concepts. This chapter includes a basic 
reference to the budget process, concepts, laws, and terminology, and 
includes a glossary of budget terms.

Other

  The following material appears only on the enclosed Analytical 
Perspectives CD-ROM:
    Detailed Functional Tables. Table 27-1. ``Budget Authority 
          and Outlays by Function, Category, and Program''.
    Federal Programs by Agency and Account. Table 28-1. 
          ``Federal Programs by Agency and Account''.