[Analytical Perspectives]
[Dimensions of the Budget]
[21. Outlays to the Public, Gross and Net]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]



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                21.  OUTLAYS TO THE PUBLIC, GROSS AND NET

  Outlays are the measure of Government spending. The Government records 
outlays when payments are made for such things as Federal employee 
salaries, purchases of supplies and equipment, grants to State and local 
governments, and benefits to individuals. The Government's gross outlays 
are the sum of all these payments. Net outlays equal gross outlays minus 
certain kinds of receipts or collections (discussed below) that are 
reported as negative amounts on the outlay side of the budget. The 
outlay totals in the budget, whether for the Government as a whole or 
for agencies, programs, and functions (such as national defense), are 
net outlays, unless otherwise specified.
  Two categories of receipts are reported in the budget as offsets 
(reductions) to outlays, instead of being shown on the receipts side of 
the ledger:
    Income the Government receives from business-like 
          transactions or market-oriented activities with the public, 
          such as fees charged for admittance to recreational areas, 
          proceeds from sales of electricity by the Power Marketing 
          Administrations, and proceeds from selling land or natural 
          resources. These collections are offset against the payments 
          made by the Government to provide those goods and services, so 
          that the budget totals for receipts and outlays represent 
          governmental rather than market activity.
    Collections for goods and services provided by one Federal 
          Government account to another. The amounts are deducted to 
          avoid double counting outlays--once as outlays of the 
          purchasing agency and again as outlays of the agency providing 
          the goods or services.
  As shown at the bottom of Table 21-1, total gross outlays to the 
public (i.e.; gross outlays adjusted to avoid double-counting of 
collections from one Federal account to another) were $3,051 billion in 
2007, and total net outlays were $2,730 billion. The difference--$321 
billion--represents business-like collections from the public, which is 
deducted from gross outlays. Fees collected by the Postal Service and 
premiums paid by Medicare recipients are the largest of these 
collections.
  Table 21-1 also shows outlays by major agency, gross and net of 
business-like collections from the public. These are rough 
approximations of each agency's transactions with the public. They are 
not exact because they include payments by each agency to other 
agencies, net of collections of payments received from other agencies. 
These payments and collections between agencies net to zero at the total 
Government level, but not at the individual agency level. Indeed, for 
2007 the table shows $260 billion of ``undistributed offsetting 
receipts'' in the net outlays column, of which $240 billion are 
collections of payments between agencies. Thus, the amounts shown for 
each agency as gross outlays to the public are overstated by $240 
billion in total. This has the largest impact on the Department of the 
Treasury, which shows gross outlays of $507 billion, of which $178 
billion is interest outlays to various trust funds that is not 
distributed by agency in this table.
  See the section on ``outlays'' in Chapter 26, ``The Budget System and 
Concepts,'' for a more detailed discussion of the outlay totals in the 
budget. Offsetting collections and offsetting receipts are discussed in 
more detail in Chapter 18 of this volume, ``User Charges and Other 
Collections.'' An illustration of the difference between gross receipts 
and net governmental receipts is shown in Chapter 22 of this volume, 
``Trust Funds and Federal Funds,'' Table 22-3.

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                                    Table 21-1.  TOTAL OUTLAYS, GROSS AND NET OF OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS AND RECEIPTS
                                                          FROM THE PUBLIC, BY AGENCY, 2007-2009
                                                                (In millions of dollars)
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                                                        2007                                  2008                                  2009
                                       -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Outlays                               Outlays                               Outlays
                                          Gross of    Offsetting                Gross of    Offsetting                Gross of    Offsetting
       Department or Other Unit         Collections  Collections              Collections  Collections              Collections  Collections
                                            and          and          Net         and          and          Net         and          and          Net
                                          Receipts     Receipts     Outlays     Receipts     Receipts     Outlays     Receipts     Receipts     Outlays
                                          from the     from the                 from the     from the                 from the     from the
                                           Public       Public                   Public       Public                   Public       Public
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Legislative Branch....................        4,374          -66       4,308        4,655          -69       4,586        5,023          -61       4,962
Judicial Branch.......................        6,104          -98       6,006        6,235          -74       6,161        7,060          -79       6,981

Executive Branch
  Department of Agriculture...........      103,739      -19,302      84,437      113,894      -19,130      94,764      112,213      -17,460      94,753
  Department of Commerce..............        9,130       -2,654       6,476       10,241       -2,090       8,151       11,470       -2,224       9,246
  Department of Defense--Military.....      542,965      -13,090     529,875      595,566      -12,509     583,057      663,603      -12,441     651,162
  Department of Education.............       72,988       -6,616      66,372       75,301       -7,255      68,046       68,116       -4,616      63,500
  Department of Energy................       26,115       -5,999      20,116       29,947       -6,738      23,209       30,153       -6,828      23,325
  Department of Health and Human            740,226      -68,191     672,035      782,062      -72,681     709,381      814,399      -75,766     738,633
   Services...........................
  Department of Homeland Security.....       49,932      -10,760      39,172       53,580      -11,240      42,340       56,282      -11,985      44,297
  Department of Housing and Urban            50,341       -4,780      45,561       55,803       -3,534      52,269       47,254       -1,624      45,630
   Development........................
  Department of the Interior..........       16,630       -6,140      10,490       18,077       -6,996      11,081       18,177       -7,938      10,239
  Department of Justice...............       24,264         -915      23,349       26,022         -996      25,026       27,481         -961      26,520
  Department of Labor.................       51,231       -3,687      47,544       53,522       -3,870      49,652       59,534       -5,342      54,192
  Department of State.................       14,969       -1,222      13,747       21,036       -2,144      18,892       24,325       -2,222      22,103
  Department of Transportation........       62,128         -431      61,697       69,163         -501      68,662       71,437         -333      71,104
  Department of the Treasury..........      506,521      -15,916     490,605      538,698      -18,535     520,163      567,044      -19,243     547,801
  Department of Veterans Affairs......       78,983       -6,163      72,820       93,049       -6,406      86,643       97,115       -5,300      91,815
  Corps of Engineers-Civil Works......        4,476         -558       3,918        8,254       -1,043       7,211        9,776       -1,004       8,772
  Other Defense Civil Programs........       47,129          -16      47,113       49,082          -15      49,067       51,234          -14      51,220
  Environmental Protection Agency.....        8,732         -473       8,259        7,927         -386       7,541        8,433         -434       7,999
  Executive Office of the President...        2,960           -4       2,956        2,081           -2       2,079          530           -2         528
  General Services Administration.....          901         -870          31          491         -134         357          816          -94         722
  International Assistance Programs...       30,250      -17,480      12,770       32,251      -17,027      15,224       32,205      -15,754      16,451
  National Aeronautics and Space             16,564         -703      15,861       17,556         -238      17,318       18,300         -163      18,137
   Administration.....................
  National Science Foundation.........        5,532           -3       5,529        6,258           -2       6,256        6,416           -2       6,414
  Office of Personnel Management......       70,113      -11,663      58,450       76,484      -12,311      64,173       80,238      -13,025      67,213
  Small Business Administration.......        1,994         -819       1,175        1,318         -788         530          865          -40         825
  Social Security Administration......      629,133       -7,370     621,763      664,332       -7,769     656,563      700,720       -7,937     692,783
  Export-Import Bank of the United              464       -1,829      -1,365          716       -1,200        -484          225         -249         -24
   States.............................
  Federal Deposit Insurance                    -406         -592        -998        3,962       -5,546      -1,584        6,898       -9,947      -3,049
   Corporation........................
  Postal Service......................       79,088      -73,891       5,197       78,005      -76,961       1,044       79,482      -78,322       1,160
  Railroad Retirement Board...........        6,217       -4,734       1,483        6,571       -3,313       3,258        6,876       -1,624       5,252
  Other Independent Agencies..........       26,870      -13,175      13,695       29,729      -13,562      16,167       31,084      -14,535      16,549

Allowances............................  ...........  ...........  ..........  ...........  ...........  ..........         -495  ...........        -495
Undistributed Offsetting Receipts.....     -239,742      -20,464    -260,206     -262,281      -23,300    -285,581     -276,738      -12,627    -289,365
                                       =================================================================================================================
Totals................................    3,050,915     -320,674   2,730,241    3,269,587     -338,365   2,931,222    3,437,551     -330,196   3,107,355
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