Budget Issues: Fiscal Year 1996 Agency Spending by Budget Function
(Letter Report, 05/13/97, GAO/AIMD-97-95).
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal
spending by budget function and subfunction for fiscal year 1996.
GAO noted that: (1) most federal departments and agencies address more
than one mission area; in fact, most made obligations in 1996 to three
or more budget functions; (2) if the analysis is continued to
subdepartments and subfunctions, the picture is often more complex; (3)
for example, the Department of Health and Human Services has about a
dozen subdepartments addressing eight missions ranging from Health Care
Services to Training and Employment; (4) the Department of the Interior
has over a dozen subdepartments addressing 11 missions ranging from
Recreational Resources to General Purpose Fiscal Assistance to
Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education; (5) focusing on the
missions of government, rather than federal organizations, produces a
similarly intricate picture; (6) excluding Social Security, Medicare,
and Net interest, 6 of the remaining 15 budget functions are addressed
by six or more executive branch departments and major agencies; (7) for
example, seven major federal organizations made obligations in 1996 to
the Natural Resources and Environment mission area and seven to
community and Regional Development; (8) lastly, in nominal dollar terms,
the significance of a department to a mission area, or of a mission area
to a department, varies considerably; (9) spending for the
Transportation mission area, for example, is almost entirely within the
Department of Transportation, which is also associated with that mission
area almost exclusively; (10) however, the Department of Agriculture,
with nearly two dozen subdepartments addressing 16 different
subfunctions, presents a different picture; (11) the Department is
responsible for almost all spending in the Agriculture function, but
half of the Department's obligations are associated with a different
function and subfunction (Food and Nutrition Assistance within Income
Security); (12) the function classifications can in some cases aggregate
very different activities; (13) a specific function or subfunction may
not fully encompass a set of logically related activities; (14)
subfunctions are based on a variety of organizing themes; (15) some are
based on divisible segments of broad mission areas, some on a set of
related activities, and some on common functions; and (16) although each
federal activity is placed in a function that best defines its most
important purpose, there is discretion when coding an individual budget*
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: AIMD-97-95
TITLE: Budget Issues: Fiscal Year 1996 Agency Spending by Budget
Function
DATE: 05/13/97
SUBJECT: Budget functions
Federal agencies
Agency missions
Budget obligations
Mission budgeting
Identification codes
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Cover
================================================================ COVER
Report to the Honorable
Richard K. Armey, Majority Leader, House of Representatives
May 1997
BUDGET ISSUES - FISCAL YEAR 1996
AGENCY SPENDING BY BUDGET FUNCTION
GAO/AIMD-97-95
Fiscal Year 1996 Spending
(935232)
Abbreviations
=============================================================== ABBREV
DOC - Department of Commerce
DOD - Department of Defense
DOE - Department of Energy
DOI - Department of the Interior
DOJ - Department of Justice
DOL - Department of Labor
DOS - Department of State
DOT - Department of Transportation
EOP - Executive Office of the President
EPA - Environmental Protection Agency
FAP - Funds Appropriated to the President
GSA - General Services Administration
HHS - Department of Health and Human Services
HUD - Department of Housing and Urban Development
NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
OPM - Office of Personnel Management
SBA - Small Business Administration
USDA - Department of Agriculture
VA - Department of Veterans Affairs
Letter
=============================================================== LETTER
B-276984
May 13, 1997
The Honorable Richard K. Armey
Majority Leader
House of Representatives
Dear Mr. Armey:
This report responds to your office's request for information on
federal spending by budget function and subfunction for fiscal year
1996. In the following appendixes, we display agency spending in
terms of gross obligations\1 reported against the broad federal
mission areas described by budget function classifications. As we
have suggested in previous products and testimony,\2
examining patterns of spending according to budget functions provides
a starting point for discussions of government restructuring and can
be useful in identifying possible program overlap by focusing on
which federal agencies are associated with which federal mission
areas.
Appendix I provides a brief description of each budget function and
subfunction. Appendix II provides a series of tables that classify
department and agency spending by subdepartment\3 and by subfunction;
appendix III summarizes spending for each budget function and
subfunction by federal departments and subdepartments. We compiled
the information presented in appendixes II and III from automated
information collected and maintained by the Office of Management and
Budget as part of its process to develop the President's fiscal year
1998 budget. We did not independently verify reported data, although
we did reconcile total obligations for departments and agencies to
published sources.
Appendixes II and III provide first-level observations on who does
what within the enormous complexity of federal missions and
organizations. This perspective can be augmented by linking these
department and subdepartment summaries to the account-level detail
provided in our recent product, Compendium of Budget Accounts:
Fiscal Year 1998 (GAO/AIMD-97-65, April 1997). And, for additional
detail, the budget account summaries in the compendium can be further
linked to the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year
1998 - Appendix, and to agency budget justifications provided to the
Congress. In this manner, a reader can "drill down" as needed to
inquire into any particular spending pattern within any function,
subfunction, or agency.
The budget function classification system provides a comprehensive
and consistent means to capture federal spending according to area of
national need. Because of this, budget functions are the categories
used by the Congress in its concurrent resolution on the budget and
will likely be the classification system used to summarize federal
spending in governmentwide financial statements, which are required
by the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (as expanded by the
Government Management Reform Act of 1994), and in the February 1998
governmentwide performance plan, which is required by the Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993. Some of the patterns disclosed
by arraying spending by function include the following.
Most federal departments and agencies address more than one mission
area; in fact, most made obligations in 1996 to three or more
budget functions. If the analysis is continued to
subdepartments and subfunctions, the picture is often more
complex. For example, the Department of Health and Human
Services has about a dozen subdepartments addressing eight
missions ranging from Health Care Services to Training and
Employment. The Department of the Interior has over a dozen
subdepartments addressing 11 missions ranging from Recreational
Resources to General Purpose Fiscal Assistance to Elementary,
Secondary and Vocational Education.
Focusing on the missions of government, rather than federal
organizations, produces a similarly intricate picture.
Excluding Social Security, Medicare, and Net Interest, 6 of the
remaining 15 budget functions are addressed by six or more
executive branch departments and major agencies. For example,
seven major federal organizations made obligations in 1996 to
the Natural Resources and Environment mission area and seven to
Community and Regional Development.
Lastly, in nominal dollar terms, the significance of a department
to a mission area, or of a mission area to a department, varies
considerably. Spending for the Transportation mission area, for
example, is almost entirely within the Department of
Transportation, which is also associated with that mission area
almost exclusively. However, the Department of Agriculture,
with nearly two dozen subdepartments addressing 16 different
subfunctions, presents a different picture. The Department is
responsible for almost all spending in the Agriculture function,
but half of the Department's obligations are associated with a
different function and subfunction (Food and Nutrition
Assistance within Income Security).
Care must be exercised in drawing specific conclusions from the
information contained in the enclosed tables. All of these data are
reported as part of the annual executive budget formulation process;
none of the data are audited. Additional limitations to note include
the following.
The function classifications can in some cases aggregate very
different activities. For example, the Income Security function
involves 15 federal organizations, but these organizations are
not all dealing with the same type of "Income Security." Income
Security actually involves three broad subfunctions: (1)
retirement and disability, addressed by nine different federal
entities, many of which administer separate employee pension
programs; (2) cash assistance, provided by five federal
organizations; and (3) housing, food, and nutrition assistance
programs, concentrated in two major departments spread across
seven components with some small participation by two
independent agencies.
A specific function or subfunction may not fully encompass a set of
logically related activities. For example, the Commerce and
Housing Credit function does not include the Housing Assistance
subfunction, which is in Income Security. Similarly, the Income
Security function does not include, for example, Social Security
or Income Security for Veterans.
Subfunctions are based on a variety of organizing themes. Some are
based on divisible segments of broad mission areas (e.g., Water
Transportation), some on a set of related activities (e.g.,
Health Care Services), and some on common functions (e.g.,
Central Fiscal Operations).
Although each federal activity is placed in a function that best
defines its most important purpose, there is discretion when
coding an individual budget account against the function
categories. If the account finances activities in two or more
subfunctions within a single function, the general function code
is used; if the account is associated with two or more
functions, a general multi-function code is used.\4
We are sending copies of this report to the Chairmen and Ranking
Minority Members of the Senate Committee on Appropriations; Senate
Committee on the Budget; Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs;
House Committee on Appropriations; House Committee on the Budget;
House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight; and other
interested parties. We will also make copies available to others on
request.
We will continue to work with your office to provide timely
information and assistance as you analyze these data. If you have
any questions, please call me at (202) 512-9573. The major authors
of this correspondence were Michael J. Curro, Assistant Director,
who can be reached at (202) 512-2991; Laura Hamilton; and John
Mingus.
Sincerely yours,
Paul L. Posner
Director, Budget Issues
--------------------
\1 Obligations reflect orders placed, contracts awarded, services
received, and other similar transactions during a fiscal year. As an
expression of an agency's total financial commitments for a given
period, gross obligations portray the relative size of an
organization, without regard to the type of underlying budgetary
resource or when resulting outlays may occur. When aggregated,
however, gross obligations may overstate both department and
governmentwide totals. For example, an agency's obligations may
include commitments made to another agency, which may then be
reobligated by the receiving agency in the same fiscal year.
\2 This report updates a series of products we prepared for the
Chairman, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, in 1995. See
Government Restructuring: Identifying Potential Duplication in
Federal Missions and Approaches (GAO/T-AIMD-95-161, June 7, 1995);
Budget Function Classification: Agency Spending by Subfunction and
Object Category, Fiscal Year 1994 (GAO/AIMD-95-116FS, May 10, 1995);
and Budget Function Classification: Agency Spending and Personnel
Levels for Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (GAO/AIMD-95-115FS, April 11,
1995).
\3 In this report, the term "subdepartment" generally refers to
second-tier organizational structures, such as bureaus,
administrations and services, and to individual independent agencies,
such as the U.S. Postal Service or the Federal Maritime Commission.
\4 Where an account's obligations were reported to more than one
function, we allocated the obligations on the same percentage basis
as reported for the account's gross budget authority; for accounts
lacking gross budget authority, we allocated the obligations on the
same percentage basis as reported for the account's gross outlays.
DESCRIPTION OF BUDGET FUNCTIONS
=========================================================== Appendix I
Function Description Subfunction
---------------------------- -------------------- ----------------------------
National Defense (050) Common defense and Department of Defense--
security of the Military (051)
United States,
including raising, Atomic Energy Defense
equipping, and Activities (053)
maintaining of armed
forces; development Defense-related Activities
and utilization of (054)
weapons systems;
direct compensation
and benefits paid to
active military and
civilian personnel;
defense research,
development,
testing, and
evaluation; and
procurement,
construction,
stockpiling, and
other activities
undertaken to
directly foster
national security.
International Affairs (150) Maintaining peaceful International Development
relations, commerce, and Humanitarian Assistance
and travel between (151)
the United States
and the rest of the International Security
world and promoting Assistance (152)
international
security and Conduct of Foreign Affairs
economic development (153)
abroad.
Foreign Information and
Exchange Activities (154)
International Financial
Programs (155)
General Science, Space and Resources allocated General Science and Basic
Technology (250) to science and Research (251)
research activities
of the federal Space Flight, Research, and
government that are Supporting Activities (252)
not an integral part
of the programs
conducted under any
other function.
Energy (270) Promoting an Energy Supply (271)
adequate supply and
appropriate use of Energy Conservation (272)
energy to serve the
needs of the Emergency Energy
economy. Preparedness (274)
Energy Information, Policy,
and Regulation (276)
Natural Resources and Developing, Water Resources (301)
Environment (300) managing, and
maintaining the Conservation and Land
nation's natural Management (302)
resources and
environment. Recreational Resources
(303)
Pollution Control and
Abatement (304)
Other Natural Resources
(306)
Agriculture (350) Promoting the Farm Income Stabilization
economic stability (351)
of agriculture and
the nation's Agricultural Research and
capability to Services (352)
maintain and
increase
agricultural
production.
Commerce and Housing Credit Promotion and Mortgage Credit (371)
(370) regulation of
commerce and the Postal Service (372)
housing credit and
deposit insurance Deposit Insurance (373)
industries, which
pertain to Other Advancement of
collection and Commerce (376)
dissemination of
social and economic
data (unless they
are an integral part
of another function,
such as health);
general purpose
subsidies to
business, including
credit subsidies to
the housing
industry; and the
postal service fund
and general fund
subsidies of that
fund.
Transportation (400) Providing for the Ground Transportation (401)
transportation of
the general public Air Transportation (402)
and/or its property,
whether local or Water Transportation (403)
national and
regardless of the Other Transportation (407)
particular mode of
transportation.
Included are
construction of
facilities; purchase
of equipment;
research, testing,
and evaluation;
provision of
communications
related to
transportation;
operating subsidies
for transportation
facilities and
industries; and
regulatory
activities directed
specifically toward
the transportation
industry rather than
toward business.
Community and Regional Development of Community Development (451)
Development (450) physical facilities
or financial Area and Regional
infrastructures Development (452)
designed to promote
viable community Disaster Relief and
economies. Insurance (453)
Education, Training, Promoting the Elementary, Secondary, and
Employment, and Social extension of Vocational Education (501)
Services (500) knowledge and
skills, enhancing Higher Education (502)
employment and
employment Research and General
opportunities, Education Aids (503)
protecting workplace
standards, and Training and Employment
providing services (504)
to the needy.
Other Labor Services (505)
Social Services (506)
Health (550) Programs other than Health Care Services (551)
Medicare whose basic
purpose is to Health Research and Training
promote physical and (552)
mental health,
including the Consumer and Occupational
prevention of Health and Safety (554)
illness and
accidents.
Medicare (570) Federal hospital Medicare (571)
insurance and
federal
supplementary
medical insurance,
along with general
fund subsidies of
these funds and
associated
offsetting receipts.
Income Security (600) Support payments General Retirement and
(including Disability Insurance
associated (excluding Social Security)
administrative (601)
expenses) to persons
for whom no current Federal Employee Retirement
service is rendered. and Disability (602)
Included are
retirement, Unemployment Compensation
disability, (603)
unemployment,
welfare, and similar Housing Assistance (604)
programs, except for
social security and Food and Nutrition
income security for Assistance (605)
veterans, which are
in other functions. Other Income Security (609)
Social Security (650) Federal old age and Social Security (651)
survivors and
disability insurance
trust funds, along
with general fund
subsidies of these
funds and associated
offsetting
collections.
Veterans Benefits and Programs providing Income Security for Veterans
Services (700) benefits and (701)
services, the
eligibility for Veterans Education,
which is related to Training, and Rehabilitation
prior military (702)
service, but the
financing of which Hospital and Medical Care
is not an integral for Veterans (703)
part of the costs of
national defense. Veterans Housing (704)
Other Veterans Benefits and
Services (705)
Administration of Justice Programs to provide Federal Law Enforcement
(750) judicial services, Activities (751)
police protection,
law enforcement Federal Litigative and
(including civil Judicial Activities (752)
rights),
rehabilitation and Federal Correctional
incarceration of Activities (753)
criminals, and the
general maintenance Criminal Justice Assistance
of domestic order. (754)
General Government (800) General overhead Legislative Functions (801)
cost of the federal
government, Executive Direction and
including Management (802)
legislative and
executive Central Fiscal Operations
activities; (803)
provision of central
fiscal, personnel, General Property and Records
and property Management (804)
activities; and
provision of Central Personnel Management
services that cannot (805)
reasonably be
classified in any General Purpose Fiscal
other major Assistance (806)
function.
Other General Government
(808)
Deductions for Offsetting
Receipts (809)
Net Interest (900) Transactions which Interest on the Public Debt
directly give rise (901)
to interest payments
or income (lending) Interest Received by On-
and the general Budget Trust Funds (902)
shortfall or excess
of outgo over income Interest Received by Off-
arising out of Budget Trust Funds (903)
fiscal, monetary,
and other policy Other Interest (908)
considerations and
leading to the
creation of
interest-bearing
debt instruments
(normally the public
debt).
Undistributed Offsetting Offsetting receipts Employer Share, Employee
Receipts (950) that are not Retirement (on Budget)
included as (951)
deductions from
outlays in the Employer Share, Employee
applicable function Retirement (off Budget)
or subfunction, (952)
above, and are thus
"undistributed." Rents and Royalties on the
Outer Continental Shelf
(953)
Sales of Major Assets (954)
Other Undistributed
Offsetting Receipts (959)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: Subfunction code 999 is assigned to those budget accounts
whose activities are associated with two or more functions.
FISCAL YEAR 1996 FEDERAL SPENDING
BY DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY
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FISCAL YEAR 1996 FEDERAL SPENDING
BY BUDGET FUNCTION AND SUBFUNCTION
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