The budget system of the United States Government provides the means by which the Government decides how much money to spend and what to spend it on, and how to raise the money it has decided to spend. Once these decisions are made, the budget system ensures that they are carried out. The Government uses the budget system to determine the allocation of resources among its major functions--such as ensuring the national defense, promoting commerce, and providing health care--as well as to determine the objectives and scope of individual programs, projects, and activities. While the focus of the budget system is on dollars, other resources, such as federal employment, are controlled through the budget system. 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.

This material provides an overview of the budget system. Summary dollar amounts are used to illustrate major concepts. These figures and more detailed amounts are discussed in more depth in other chapters of the budget document.

The budget system is governed by various laws that have been enacted to carry out requirements of the Constitution. The principal laws pertaining to the budget system are referred to by title throughout the text, and complete citations are given later in the document.

(1) formulation of the President's budget;
(2) congressional action on the budget; and
(3) budget execution.

The process of formulating the budget begins not later than the spring of each year, at least nine months before the budget is transmitted and at least 18 months before the fiscal year begins. (See the Budget Calendar below.) The President establishes general budget and fiscal policy guidelines. 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 the following four years, to guide the preparation of their budget requests.

During the formulation of the budget, there is a continual exchange of information, proposals, evaluations, and policy decisions among the President, the Director of OMB, other officials in the Executive Office of the President, the Secretaries of the departments, and other heads of Government agencies. Decisions concerning the upcoming budget are influenced by the results of previously enacted budgets, including the one for the fiscal year in progress, and reactions to the last proposed budget, which is being considered by Congress. Decisions are influenced also by projections of the economic outlook that are prepared jointly by the Council of Economic Advisers, OMB, and the Treasury Department.

In the fall, agencies submit budget requests to OMB, where analysts review them and identify for OMB officials issues that need to be discussed with agencies. Many issues are resolved between OMB and the agency. 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, employment levels, and the size of the beneficiary populations are some of the assumptions that must be made. Small changes in these assumptions can affect budget estimates by billions of dollars. (Chapter 1, "Economic Assumptions" in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 1996 budget provides more information on this subject.)

Budget decisions must also take into account any statutory limitations on receipts, outlays, and the deficit (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.

In most years, the President transmits the budget to Congress early in each calendar year, eight to nine months before the beginning of the next fiscal year on October first. The transmittal of the President's budget to Congress is scheduled in law for the first Monday in February. For various reasons, the budget has not always been transmitted on the scheduled date. In some years, Congress has been late in passing appropriations acts for the fiscal year prior to the budget year, which delays preparation of the budget. Also, this schedule does not require an outgoing President to transmit a budget, it is not practical for an incoming President to complete a budget within a few days of taking office on January 20th.[1]

Congressional review of the budget begins shortly after the President transmits the budget to Congress. Under the procedures established by the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Congress considers 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 appropriate levels for total receipts and for budget authority and outlays, in total and by functional category (see Functional Classification below). It also sets appropriate levels for the budget deficit (or surplus) and debt.

The explanatory statement that accompanies the budget resolution allocates amounts of budget authority and outlays within the functional category totals to the committees that have jurisdiction over the programs in the functions. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are required, in turn, to allocate amounts of budget authority and outlays among its respective subcommittees. Other committees may make allocations among their subcommittees but are not required to. There is no allocation at the program level. However, the functional allocations are based on certain assumptions about the level of funding for major programs. These assumptions may be included in the explanatory statement, but they are not binding on the committees of jurisdiction. The budget resolution may contain "reconciliation directives," which are discussed below.

The budget resolution is scheduled to be adopted by the whole Congress by April 15 of each year, but passage is often delayed. After passage of the budget resolution, a point of order can be raised to block consideration of bills that would cause a committee's allocation to be exceeded. Like the President's budget, the budget resolution is subject to spending limitations imposed in law through 1998.

Budget resolutions are not laws and, therefore, do not require the President's approval. However, Congress considers the Administration's views, 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 the framework of a deficit reduction plan. These agreements were reflected in the budget resolution and legislation passed for those years.

Congress does not enact a budget as such. It provides spending authority for specified purposes in several appropriations acts each year (usually thirteen). In making appropriations, Congress does not vote on the level of outlays (spending) directly, but rather on budget authority, which is the authority to incur legally binding obligations of the Government that will result in immediate or future outlays. In a separate process, prior to making appropriations, Congress usually enacts legislation that authorizes an agency to carry out a particular program and, in some cases, includes limits on the amount that can be appropriated for the program. Some programs require annual authorizing legislation, some are authorized for a specified number of years, and others are authorized indefinitely. Congress may enact appropriations for a program even though there is no specific authorization for it.

Appropriations bills are initiated in the House. The Appropriations Committee in each body has jurisdiction over annual appropriations. Those 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 approved by the committee and by the whole House, usually with amendments to the original version, it is forwarded to the Senate, where a similar review follows. In case of disagreement between the two Houses of Congress, a conference committee (consisting of Members of both bodies) meets to resolve the differences. The report of the conference committee is returned to both Houses for approval. When the measure is agreed to, first in the House and then in the Senate, it is ready to be transmitted to the President as an enrolled bill, for approval or veto.

If action on one or more appropriations bills is not completed by the beginning of the fiscal year, Congress enacts a joint continuing resolution to provide authority for the affected agencies to continue financing operations up to a specified date or until their regular appropriations are enacted. In some years, a portion or all of the Government has been funded for the entire year by a continuing resolution. Continuing resolutions must be presented to the President for approval or veto.

Congress provides spending authority in permanent laws as well as appropriations acts. These are laws that do not need to be reenacted each year. In fact, while spending authority for the majority of Federal programs is provided each year in appropriations acts, most of the total spending authority available in a year is provided by permanent laws. This is because the budget authority for interest on the public debt ($297 billion in 1994) and a few programs with large amounts of obligations each year, such as social security ($321 billion in 1994), are funded by permanent law. The outlays from permanent budget authority, together with the outlays from obligations incurred with budget authority provided in previous years, account for the majority of the outlay total for any year. Therefore, most outlays in a year are not controlled through appropriations actions for that year. The types of budget authority, their control by Congress, and the relation of outlays to budget authority are discussed in more detail in later in the chapter.

Almost all taxes and most other receipts result from permanent laws. Tax bills are initiated in the House. The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee have jurisdiction over tax laws.

The reconciliation directives in a budget resolution usually require changes in permanent laws. They instruct each designated committee to make changes in the laws under the committee's jurisdiction that will change the levels of receipts and spending controlled by the laws. The instructions specify the dollar amount of changes that each designated committee is expected to achieve through changes in law, but do not specify the laws to be changed or the changes to be made. However, the changes in receipt and outlay amounts are based on certain assumptions about how laws would be changed, and these assumptions may be included in the explanatory statement accompanying the budget resolution. Like other assumptions included in the explanatory statement, these are not binding on the committees of jurisdiction.

The committees that are subject to reconciliation directives are expected to prepare implementing legislation. Such legislation may, for example, change the tax code, change benefit formulas or eligibility requirements for entitlement 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 (OBRA), 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.

The Act divides spending into two types--discretionary spending and direct spending (sometimes called mandatory 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 controlled by permanent laws. Medicare and medicaid payments, unemployment insurance benefits, and farm price supports are examples of direct spending, because payments for those purposes are authorized in permanent laws. The Act specifically defines funding for the Food Stamp program as direct spending, even though funding for the program is provided in appropriations acts. The Act includes receipts under the same rules that apply to direct spending, because receipts are generally controlled by permanent laws.

The Act constrains discretionary spending differently from direct spending and receipts. Discretionary spending is constrained by dollar limits ("caps") on budget authority and outlays for each fiscal year through 1998. The caps are adjusted when the budget is transmitted each year for the difference between the inflation rates assumed when the caps were enacted and actual inflation rates. The Act requires the caps to be adjusted for certain other reasons, such as to reflect the enactment of emergency appropriations. The caps for this budget, adjusted to reflect proposed changes, are shown in the following table:

If the amount of budget authority provided in appropriations acts for the year exceeds the discretionary cap on budget authority, or the amount of outlays estimated to result from this budget authority is estimated to exceed the discretionary cap on outlays, the Act specifies a procedure, called sequestration, for reducing discretionary spending. Under a sequester, spending for most discretionary programs is reduced by a uniform percentage. Special rules apply in reducing some programs, and some programs are exempt from sequester by law.

The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 created the Violent Crime Reduction Trust Fund and appropriated a specified amount to the Fund for each year from 1995 through 2000. Spending from the Fund is controlled by annual appropriations acts, however, it is not subject to the general purpose discretionary caps. Instead, the Act specified outlay caps, which are not adjustable, and effectively capped budget authority, as shown in the following table:

The Act amended the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act to require a separate sequester procedure, similar to the one required for general purpose discretionary spending, if the Violent Crime Reduction caps are exceeded.

Laws that would increase direct spending or decrease receipts are constrained through "pay-as-you-go" (PAYGO) rules. Under these rules, the cumulative effects of legislation affecting direct spending or receipts must not increase the deficit. Legislated increases in benefit payments, for example, have to be offset by legislated reductions in other direct spending or increases in receipts. Following the end of a session of Congress, OMB estimates the net effect on the deficit of laws enacted since the Act was passed that affect direct spending and receipts. If there is an estimated net increase in the deficit for the current fiscal year and the budget year combined, the Act specifies sequester procedures for the uniform reduction of most non-exempt direct spending programs. Special rules apply in reducing some non-exempt programs. Less than 3 percent of all direct spending is sequesterable; the rest is exempt from sequester by law.

The PAYGO rules do not apply to increases in direct spending or decreases in receipts that are not the result of new laws. For example, direct 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. Tax revenues decrease when the profits of private businesses decline as the result of economic conditions. To address the problem of rising direct spending, President Clinton issued Executive Order No. 12857, which established targets for direct spending (excluding deposit insurance and interest on the public debt) for 1994 through 1997. The targets were based on estimates made in 1994 and may be adjusted for unanticipated increases in the number of beneficiaries. If there is an actual or projected overage in any year, the President must submit a message to Congress, explaining the cause. Depending on the economic circumstances at the time, the President may recommend recouping or eliminating all, some, or none of the overage. If the President recommends reducing the overage, he must specify how. The House has instituted rules to expedite its response to such a message. (Chapter 15, "Review of Direct Spending and Receipts," in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 1996 budget provides more information on this subject.)

The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act requires OMB to make the estimates and calculations that determine whether there is to be a sequester and report them to the President and Congress. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is required to make the same estimates and calculations, and the Director of OMB is required to explain any differences between the OMB and CBO estimates. The estimates and calculation by OMB are the basis for sequester orders issued by the President. The President's orders may not change any of the particulars of the OMB report. The General Accounting Office is required to prepare compliance reports.

OMB and CBO are required 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 explains the adjustments that are required by law to the discretionary caps and publishes the revised caps. The preview report estimates are revised in the update and final reports to reflect the effects of laws enacted since the preview report. In addition to these reports, OMB and CBO are required to estimate the effects of appropriations acts and PAYGO laws immediately after each one is enacted. The OMB final report estimates trigger a sequester if the appropriations enacted for the current year exceed the caps or if the cumulative effect of PAYGO legislation are estimated to increase the deficit.

From the end of a session of Congress through the following June 30th, discretionary sequesters take place whenever an appropriation act for the current fiscal year causes a cap to be exceeded. Because a sequester in the last quarter of a fiscal year might be too disruptive, the Act specifies that a sequester that otherwise would be required then is to be accomplished by reducing the limit for the next fiscal year. These requirements ensure that supplemental appropriations enacted during the fiscal year are covered by the budget enforcement provisions.

If changes in laws or other factors make it necessary, Congress may enact supplemental appropriations. For example, a supplemental appropriation might be required to respond to an unusually severe natural disaster.

On the other hand, changing circumstance may reduce the need for certain spending for which funds have been appropriated. However, the President may withhold amounts appropriated from obligation, only under certain limited circumstances, in order 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. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 specifies the procedures that must be followed if funds are withheld. Deferrals, which are temporary withholdings, take effect immediately unless overturned by an act of Congress. In 1994, a total of $8.6 billion in deferrals were reported to Congress and none were overturned. Rescissions, which permanently cancel budget authority, do not take effect unless Congress passes a law approving them. If such a law is not passed within 45 days of continuous session, the withheld funds must be made available for spending. In total, Congress has approved less than one-third of the amount of funds that Presidents have proposed for rescission since enactment of the Impoundment Control Act. In 1994, the President proposed rescissions totalling $3.2 billion, and Congress enacted a total of $1.3 billion.

Between the 1st Monday in January and the 1st Monday in February	President transmits the budget, including a sequester 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 sequester preview.
October 1	Fiscal year begins.
15 days after the end of a session of Congress	OMB issues final sequester report, and the President issues a sequester order, if necessary.

Neither the on-budget nor the off-budget totals include transactions of Government-sponsored enterprises, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae). These enterprises were established by federal law for public policy purposes but are privately owned and operated corporations. Because of their close relationship to the Government, these enterprises are discussed in several parts of the budget, and their financial data are reported in the Appendix to the Budget of the United States Government and some detailed tables.

A presentation for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System is included in the Appendix 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 Systems net earning are transferred annually to the Treasury, and are recorded in the budget as receipts.

The following criteria are used in the establishment of functional categories and the assignment of activities to them:

• A function comprises activities with similar purposes addressing an important national need. The emphasis is on what the Federal Government seeks to accomplish rather than the means of accomplishment, the objects purchased, or the clientele or geographic area served.

• 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 predominant 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.

• Activities and programs are normally classified according to their primary purpose (or function) regardless of which agencies conduct the activities.

Chapter 6, "Federal Spending by Function, Subfunction, and Major Program" in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 1996 budget provides information on budget authority and outlays by function and subfunction.

Federal funds comprise several types of funds. The general fund, which is the greater part of the budget, is credited with receipts not earmarked by law for a specific purpose, such as almost all income tax receipts, and is also credited with the proceeds of general borrowing. General fund appropriation accounts record general fund expenditures. General fund appropriations are drawn 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 are earmarked by law for specific purposes and associated appropriation accounts for the expenditure of the earmarked receipts. Public enterprise (revolving) funds are used for programs authorized by law to conduct a cycle of business-type operations, primarily with the public, in which outlays generate collections. The collections and the outlays of the fund are recorded in the same account. Intragovernmental funds are revolving funds that conduct business-type operations primarily within and between Government agencies.

Trust funds are established to 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 (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" 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. (Chapter 18, "Trust Funds and Federal Funds," in the Analytical Perspectives volume of the 1996 budget provides more information on this subject.)

• Governmental receipts, which are compared in total to outlays (net of offsetting collections) in calculating the surplus or deficit.

• Offsetting collections, which are deducted from gross outlays to produce net outlay figures.

Offsetting collections are classified into two major categories: offsetting collections credited to appropriation or fund accounts, and offsetting receipts, which are deposited in receipt accounts. The offset is applied differently for each type.

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. These are labeled as "offsetting governmental collections."

• Proprietary receipts from the public.--These are collections from the public, deposited in receipt accounts, 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. A limited number of proprietary receipts, 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 rent 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 and subfunction that administers the transactions.

• Intragovernmental transactions.--These are collections from appropriation or fund 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 if attributed to the agencies.

• Offsetting governmental receipts.--These are collections that are governmental in nature but are required by law to be treated as offsetting.

There are several categories of intragovernmental transactions. Intrabudgetary transactions include all payments from on-budget expenditure accounts to on-budget receipt accounts. These are subdivided into three categories: (1) interfund transactions, where the payment is from an expenditure account in one fund group (either Federal funds or trust funds) to a receipt account in the other fund group; (2) Federal intrafund transactions, where the payment and receipt both occur within the Federal fund group; and (3) trust intrafund transactions, where the payment and receipt both occur within the trust fund group. In addition, there are intragovernmental transactions that are not intrabudgetary--payments from on-budget expenditure accounts to off-budget receipt accounts, and from off-budget expenditure accounts to on-budget receipt accounts.

In deciding the amount of budget authority to request for a program, project, or activity, Government officials estimate the total amount of obligations that will need to be incurred 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 expenses, the amount requested usually is the amount estimated to be needed for the year. For major procurement programs and construction projects, a full funding policy generally applies. Under this policy, an amount that is estimated to be adequate to complete the procurement or project must be requested to be appropriated in the first year, even though it may be obligated over several years. This policy is intended to avoid piecemeal funding of programs and projects that cannot be used until they have been completed.

Budget authority takes several forms:

• appropriations, which permit obligations to be incurred and payments to be made;

• borrowing authority, which permits obligations to be incurred but requires that funds be borrowed, generally from the general fund of the Treasury, to make payment; and

• contract authority, which permits 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.

The form of budget authority is usually determined in the authorizing statute for a program. The authorizing statute may authorize a particular type of budget authority to be provided in annual appropriations acts, or it may actually provide the budget authority in one of its forms. Most programs are funded by appropriations. An appropriation may make funds available from the general fund, special funds, 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.

Because offsetting collections (offsetting receipts and offsetting collections credited to expenditure accounts) are deducted from gross budget authority, they are referred to as negative budget authority for some purpose, such as Congressional Budget Act provisions that pertain to budget authority.

Budget authority that is provided in an annual appropriations act is available for obligation only during the fiscal year to which the appropriations act applies, unless the appropriation language providing the budget authority specifies that it is to remain available for a longer period. Typically, budget authority for current operations is made available for obligation in only one year. Some budget authority is made available for a specified number of years. Other budget authority, including most provided for construction, some for research, and many appropriations of trust fund receipts, is made available for obligation until the amount appropriated has been expended or until the program objectives have been attained.

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 fiscal year if necessary to meet benefit payments in excess of the specific amount appropriated for the year.

When budget authority is made available by law for a specific period of time, any part that is not obligated during that period expires and cannot be used later. Provisions of law that extend the availability of unobligated amounts that have expired or would otherwise expire are called reappropriations. Reappropriations are counted as new budget authority in the fiscal year in which the balances become newly available. For example, if a 1995 appropriations act extends the availability of unobligated budget authority that otherwise would expire at the end of 1994, new budget authority would be recorded for 1995.

Budget authority is classified in the budget as current or permanent. Generally, budget authority is current if it is provided by annual appropriations acts and permanent if it becomes available pursuant to standing authorizing legislation. Advance appropriations of budget authority are classified as permanent, even though they are provided in annual appropriations acts, because they become available a year or more following the year to which the act pertains. The authority to spend offsetting collections credited to appropriation and revolving fund accounts usually is provided by authorizing legislation and, therefore, is usually a form of permanent budget authority.

Obligations and outlays resulting from permanent budget authority, including the authority to spend offsetting collections credited to expenditure accounts, account for more than half of the budget totals. Put another way, less than half of the obligations and outlays in the budget result from annual appropriations acts. Most permanent budget authority, other than the authority to spend offsetting collections, arises from the authority to spend trust fund receipts and the authority to pay interest on the public debt. Most authority to spend offsetting collections applies to public enterprise revolving funds.

Budget authority also is classified in the budget as definite or indefinite. Budget authority is definite if the legislation that provides it specifies a definite dollar amount (including an amount not to be exceeded). Budget authority 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. Such authority is considered to be indefinite budget authority. In some such cases, only some of these amounts are counted as budget authority, because they are 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).

The treatment of interest varies. Outlays for the interest on the public issues of Treasury debt securities are recorded as the interest accrues, not when the cash is paid. Interest on special issues of the debt securities held by trust funds and other Government accounts is normally stated on a cash basis. When a Government account invests 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, in the case of two trust funds in the Department of Defense, the Military Retirement Trust Fund and the Education Benefits Trust Fund, the differences between purchase price and par are routinely relatively large. For these funds, the budget records the holdings of debt at par but records the differences between purchase price and par as adjustments to the assets of the funds that are amortized over the life of the security. Interest is recorded as the amortization occurs. The special issues of zero-coupon bonds held by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are recorded at market value and the interest is accrued.

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).

Refunds of receipts (such as income taxes in excess of tax liabilities) are recorded as reductions of receipts, rather than as outlays.

Outlays during a fiscal year may be for the payment of obligations incurred in the same year or in prior years. Obligations, in turn, may be incurred under budget authority provided in the same or in prior years. Outlays, therefore, flow in part from unexpended balances of prior year budget authority and in part from budget authority provided for the year in which the money is spent. 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.

Outlays for an account are stated both gross and net of offsetting collections, but function, agency, and Government-wide outlay totals are only stated net. Total outlays for the Federal Government include both on-budget and off-budget outlays. (See the table, "Totals for the Budget and Federal Government," which appears earlier in this chapter.)

A change in the amount of obligations incurred from one year to the next is not necessarily accompanied by an equal change in either the budget authority or the outlays of that same year. Conversely, a change in budget authority in any one year may cause changes in the level of obligations and outlays for several years.

Under credit reform, the estimated long-term cost to the Government arising from the direct loans and loan guarantees of a credit program must be estimated and recorded in the budget in a credit program account. The cost is estimated as the present value of expected disbursements over the term of the loan less the present value of expected collections.[4] For most programs, direct loan obligations and loan guarantee commitments cannot be made unless Congress has appropriated funds for the costs in advance in annual appropriations acts. In addition, the appropriation language for most credit programs includes annual limitations on the amount of obligations for direct loans and commitments for loan guarantees.

When a direct or guaranteed loan is disbursed, the program account makes a payment equal to the cost, which is recorded as an outlay, to a non-budgetary credit financing account. For a few programs, the computed cost is negative for a portion or all of the direct loans and loan guarantees. In such cases, the financing account makes a payment to a special fund receipt account established for the program, where it is recorded as an offsetting receipt.

The cost of the outstanding direct and guaranteed loans is reestimated each year. If the cost is estimated to have increased, an additional outlay is made from the program account to the financing account, and, if the cost is estimated to have decreased, a payment is made from the financing account to the program's special fund receipt account, where it is recorded as an offsetting receipt. A permanent appropriation is available to pay the increased costs resulting from reestimates.

If the terms of an outstanding direct loan or loan guarantee are modified in a way that increases the cost, an outlay in the amount of the increased cost is made from the program account to the financing account. The additional cost is recorded as an obligation against the budget authority provided for the costs of the program for that year. The requirement to record the costs of modification applies to pre-credit reform, as well as post-credit reform, direct loans and loan guarantees.

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 and loan guarantee default payments. The cash flows of direct loans and of loan guarantees are recorded in separate financing accounts for programs that do both. The transactions of the financing accounts are displayed in the budget documents for information and analytical purposes, together with the related program accounts, but are excluded from the budget totals because they are not a cost to the Government. Financing account transactions are a means of financing a budget surplus or deficit (see Credit Financing Accounts below).

The transactions associated with direct loan obligations and loan guarantee commitments made prior to 1992 continue to be accounted for on a cash flow basis and are recorded in liquidating accounts. In most cases, the liquidating account is the account that was used for the program prior to the enactment of credit reform in 1990.

The baseline is useful for several reasons. It warns of future problems, either for Government fiscal policy as a whole or for individual tax and spending programs. It provides a starting point for formulating the President's budget. It is a "policy-neutral" benchmark against which the President's budget and alternative proposals can be compared to see the magnitude of proposed changes. And it is used, under the Budget Enforcement Act, to determine how much will be sequestered from each account and what level of funding will be available after sequestration.

• Article 1, section 9, clause 7 of the Constitution, which requires appropriations in law before money may be spent from the Treasury.

• 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.

• 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 deficits. This Act is commonly known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act.

• Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 (Title XIII, Public Law 101-508), which significantly amended the laws pertaining to the budget process, including the Congressional Budget Act and the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act. The provisions of this act, which would have expired after 1995, were extended through 1998 by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66).

• Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, a part of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, which amended the Congressional Budget Act to prescribe the budget treatment for Federal credit programs.

• Antideficiency Act (codified in Chapters 13 and 15 of Title 31, United States Code), which prescribes rules and procedures for budget execution.

[2] For a fuller discussion of the congressional budget process, see Allen Schick, Robert Keith, and Edward Davis, Manual on the Federal Budget Process (Congressional Research Service Report 91-902 GOV, December 24, 1991) and Davis and Keith, Budget Process Changes Adopted in August 1993 (CRS Report 93-778 GOV, December 6, 1993).

[3] Additional information is provided in a separate report,"Balances of Budget Authority," which is available from the National Technical Information Service, Department of Commerce, shortly after the budget is transmitted.

[4] 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.