From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Budget Deficit / Budget Surplus

The relationship between spending and revenues is reflected in the surplus or deficit figure. A surplus is an excess of revenues over outlays, while a deficit is an excess of outlays over revenues. Congress controls the enactment of legislation providing budget authority and raising revenues, but not the occurrence of outlays. Because of this, Congress’ efforts to control the level of the surplus or the deficit are less effective over the short run compared to the long run.

The difference between government revenues and outlays in a fiscal year equals the budget deficit or budget surplus. A budget deficit results when outlays exceed revenues; a budget surplus results when revenues exceed outlays. What is counted as government revenues and outlays, however, depends on the presentation of the federal budget. The federal budget typically is presented in the form of the unified budget, reflecting a unified budget deficit or surplus. The unified budget, or consolidated budget, includes the revenues and outlays of all budget accounts, including federal funds and trust funds, regardless of whether they are designated in law as on-budget or off budget. The unified budget represents a comprehensive picture of the federal government’s financial activities.

The federal budget also is presented to distinguish between on-budget and off-budget accounts. That is, the federal budget also presents an on-budget deficit or surplus and an off-budget deficit or surplus. The on-budget deficit or surplus includes all accounts not designated in law as off budget. The off-budget deficit or surplus includes those accounts designated in law as off-budget. Currently, there are three accounts designated in law as off-budget: the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund (Social Security retirement), the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund (Social Security disability), and the Postal Service Fund.

To strengthen control over spending and deficit levels, and to promote more efficient legislative action on budgetary issues, Congress and the president enacted the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985. A key issue confronting the president and Congress in early 2011 was the need to raise the statutory limit on the public debt by a significant amount to accommodate the persistent, high deficits projected by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The resulting compromise was the the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 contains many elements, including a phased increase in the statutory debt limit amounting to $2.1 trillion in total, a requirement that the House and Senate vote on a balanced-budget constitutional amendment by the end of 2011, and various changes in House and Senate budget procedures. The core elements, however, involve the reinstitution of statutory limits on discretionary spending and a process under which a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “Joint Committee”) is required to develop significant deficit-reduction legislation.

As long as the federal government incurs annual deficits and trust funds incur annual surpluses, the public-debt limit must be increased periodically. The frequency of congressional action to raise the debt limit has ranged in the past from several times in one year to once in several years.

The Historical Tables in the president’s budget provide data, covering an extended time period, on receipts, budget authority, outlays, deficits and surpluses, federal debt, and other matters.

Also see Baseline Budgeting; Byrd Rule; Congressional Budget Act; Federal Debt; Fiscal Year; Off-Budget / Off-Budget Entities; On-Budget; Outlay; Public Debt; Revenue; Statutory Limit on the Public Debt; Unified Budget; § 7.60 Spending, Revenue, and Debt-Limit Legislation, § 7.100 Debt-Limit Legislation, in Congressional Deskbook.

More

• Bureau of the Public Debt
• Federal Debt Basics – GAO
• Debt Subject to Limit Graph – Treasury Direct
• “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases,” CRS Report RL31967
• “Reducing the Budget Deficit: The President’s Fiscal Commission and Other Initiatives,” CRS Report R41784
• “Uncertainty in Budget Projections,” CRS Report RL30854
• “Reducing the Budget Deficit: Policy Issues,” CRS Report R41778
• “The Congressional Budget Process Timetable,” CRS Report 98-472
• “The Congressional Budget Process: A Brief Overview,” CRS Report RS20095
• “Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology,” CRS Report 98-410
• “The Debt Limit,” CRS Report IB93054
• “Public Debt Ceiling: Its Current Status (1984),” CRS Report IB82081 (7-page PDF)
• “Overview of the Federal Debt,” CRS Report R41815
• “Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present,” CRS Report R41814
• “The Debt Limit: The Need to Raise It After Four Years of Surpluses,” CRS Report RS21111
• “The Federal Government Debt: Its Size and Economic Significance,” CRS Report RL31590

Courses

• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Congressional Briefing Conference – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
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• Advanced Legislative Strategies
• Research Workshops

Publications

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Means of Financing

photo credit: photosteve101

Ways in which a budget deficit is financed or a budget surplus is used. A budget deficit may be financed by the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) (or agency) borrowing, by reducing Treasury cash balances, by the sale of gold, by seigniorage, by net cash flows resulting from transactions in credit financing accounts, by allowing certain unpaid liabilities to increase, or by other similar transactions. It is customary to separate total means of financing into “change in debt held by the public” (the government’s debt, which is the primary means of financing) and “other means of financing” (seigniorage, change in cash balances, transactions of credit financing accounts, etc.) (See also Debt, Federal; Debt Service; Financing Account under Credit Reform Accounts under Federal Credit; Seigniorage.)

More

• Budget and Federal Debt – GAO
• “How Budget Surpluses Change Federal Debt,” CRS Report RS20767
• CBO’s 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook

Courses

• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Understanding Congressional Budgeting and Appropriations

Publications

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Statutory Limit on the Public Debt / Budget Control Act of 2011

In the Infinity Room, by Guy West

The maximum amount, established in law, of public debt that can be outstanding. The limit covers virtually all debt incurred by the Federal Government (primarily the Treasury Department), including borrowing from trust funds, but excludes some debt incurred by agencies.

On August 2, 2011, Congress and the President enacted the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S. 365) (P.L. 112-25) establishing procedures for raising the debt limit by a cumulative total of between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion. The Budget Control Act also included limits on discretionary spending for fiscal years 2012 to 2021 and other provisions related to deficit reduction.

The CBO has prepared a list of CBO publications that analyze the budgetary impact of the Budget Control Act of 2011 (3-page PDF).

A key issue confronting President Barack Obama and Congress toward the beginning of 2011 was the need to raise the statutory limit on the public debt by a significant amount to accommodate the persistent, high deficits projected by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The president wanted Congress to raise the debt limit by more than $2 trillion, which was the amount judged necessary to last beyond the November 2012 elections. Members of both parties in the House and Senate were concerned that the public would not accept such an increase, given that the debt limit already stood at the record level of $14.3 trillion, without a strengthened commitment also being made to control spending and curb the deficit.

The Simpson-Bowles Commission (officially known as the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform) and various other groups, such as the “Gang of Six” in the Senate, made recommendations to reduce the deficit over the coming decade by as much as $4 trillion. In an effort to reach a “grand bargain” on the federal budget, in which the deficit would be reduced by amounts comparable to what others had proposed, President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner carried out negotiations but could not conclude such a deal.

With Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issuing dire warnings about economic catastrophe if the debt limit was not raised in a timely way, Standard and Poor’s downgrading the federal government’s credit rating, turbulence in the stock market, and other factors adding to the urgency of the situation, the president and Congress finally reached a scaled-back agreement. The president signed the compromise measure, the Budget Control Act of 2011, into law on August 2, 2011, as P.L. 112-25 (125 Stat. 240-267).

The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 contains many elements, including a phased increase in the statutory debt limit amounting to $2.1 trillion in total, a requirement that the House and Senate vote on a balanced-budget constitutional amendment by the end of 2011, and various changes in House and Senate budget procedures. The core elements, however, involve the reinstitution of statutory limits on discretionary spending and a process under which a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (the “Joint Committee”) is required to develop significant deficit-reduction legislation. Under the terms of the BCA, the Joint Committee’s recommendations would be considered under an expedited timetable and a process that precluded the offering of amendments. If the Joint Committee’s recommendations were not enacted into law, spending reductions would occur under a fallback sequestration procedure that was scheduled to take effect in January 2013. The discretionary spending limits and the Joint Committee’s recommendations (or, alternatively, the fallback sequestration procedure) together were expected to produce at least $2.1 trillion in deficit reduction over the ten year period covering FY2012–2021, thus equaling the total amount of the debt-limit increases.

Implementation of the BCA began immediately upon its enactment, with an increase of $400 billion in the debt limit. In late September 2011, the limit was increased by another $500 billion (to $15.2 trillion). A third and final increase in the limit, amounting to $1.2 trillion (bringing the limit to $16.4 trillion), is expected to occur during the first part of 2012. The BCA established procedures under which Congress could block the last two debt-limit increases by means of joint resolutions of disapproval, but it was not anticipated that these procedures would be successful. (The House approved a joint resolution of disapproval, H.J.Res. 77, on September 14, 2011, but it was not acted on by the Senate.)

With respect to the required vote on a balanced-budget constitutional amendment, the House failed to pass such a measure (H.J.Res. 2) under the suspension procedure on November 18, 2011, by a vote of 261 to 165 (twenty-three votes short of the necessary two-thirds threshold). The Senate considered two versions of the constitutional amendment, S.J.Res. 10 and S.J.Res. 24, on December 13 and 14, 2011, rejecting them by votes of 47 to 53 and 21 to 79, respectively.

The BCA reestablished discretionary spending limits for FY2012–2021 by amending the pertinent portion of the underlying law, Section 251 of the 1985 Balanced Budget Act (the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, which established the original discretionary spending limits, did so by amending the 1985 act). Because the limits are set below the baseline levels of discretionary spending projected at the time by CBO, the enactment of annual appropriations acts in compliance with the limits is expected to reduce such spending (and the deficit) by $917 billion over the ten-year period, according to CBO estimates. Total budget authority available under the limits begins at $1.043 trillion for FY2012 and climbs to $1.234 trillion by FY2021.

Under the revised Section 251 of the 1985 act, discretionary spending is divided into two categories, “security” and “nonsecurity,” for FY2012 and FY2013; afterward, there is a single “discretionary” category. The security category is defined as including all discretionary spending for the Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs Departments; all budget accounts in the international affairs (150) function, and a few other items. As with the earlier limits, the new ones are adjusted for several factors during the year as the budget process unfolds, such as designated emergencies or changes in budget concepts.

The BCA provided that the Joint Committee, a bipartisan panel consisting of six House and six Senate members evenly divided by party, report its legislative recommendations by a November 23, 2011, deadline. In the event the Joint Committee’s legislation was not reported by that date, and enacted into law by January 15, 2012, the BCA provided a fallback procedure intended to produce the $1.2 trillion in savings that the Joint Committee had been tasked to produce. After extensive deliberations, the co-chairs of the Joint Committee (Representative Jeb Hensarling and Senator Patty Murray) announced on November 21, 2011 that the group had failed to reach a consensus: “After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee’s deadline.”

Under the BCA, the failure of the Joint Committee to report recommendations by the November 23, 2011, deadline means that the fallback procedure will be triggered on January 2, 2013. The delay in triggering the procedure gives Congress and the president a little more than a year to intervene by enacting legislation under regular legislative procedures that would prevent the fallback procedure from taking effect, should they choose to do so.

For discretionary spending, a sequester for FY2013 would be implemented on January 2, 2013, under the revised categories. For each fiscal year thereafter, when the preliminary sequestration report is issued for that year (in conjunction with the submission of the president’s budget in January or February), the limits on discretionary spending for the revised categories are adjusted downward by the appropriate amounts and any required sequester is implemented. The president may exempt military personnel accounts from a sequester, but the reductions in spending for the remaining defense discretionary programs must be increased so that the total required reductions are achieved.

For mandatory spending, a sequester would occur automatically for each fiscal year over the nine-year period, from FY2013–2021. Many mandatory spending programs, such as Social Security, Medicaid, and unemployment compensation, are exempt from the sequestration process. Any required reduction in the Medicare program is limited to 2 percent; if the limitation comes into play, then the reductions in the other discretionary and direct spending programs in the nondefense category must be increased so that the total required reductions are achieved.

The BCA prescribes the method by which the automatic reductions under the fallback procedure are calculated. Although the final determinations will be made by the OMB director as scheduled under the BCA, CBO has made preliminary estimates that provide a general idea of the reductions that will be required. According to the estimates, the $1.2 trillion in required savings would be achieved over the nine-year period by reducing defense and nondefense spending categories each by about $55 billion annually, requiring annual uniform reductions ranging from 8.5 percent to 10.0 percent for defense and from 5.5 percent to 7.8 percent for nondefense (except for a 2 percent limit on Medicare reductions).

See also Budget Enforcement Act; Congressional Budget Office (CBO); Deferral of Budget Authority; Federal Debt; Government Accountability Office / GAO / Comptroller General; Gramm-Rudman-Hollings; Impoundment; Public Debt / Debt Ceiling / Debt Limit; Rescission; § 7.10 Key Budget Process Laws, § 7.13 Estimated Savings from Automatic Reductions, § 7.40, Presidential Budget Process, in Congressional Deskbook; The Federal Budget Process.

More

• House Budget Committee
• Senate Budget Committee
• Federal Budget Links and Research Tools – TheCapitol.Net
• 31 U.S.C. § 3101, Public Debt Limit
• “Quick summary of the Budget Control Act,” by Keith Hennessey, August 1, 2011
• Bureau of the Public Debt
• “Delays Create Debt Management Challenges and Increase Uncertainty in the Treasury Market,” GAO Report GAO-11-203,
• United States public debt – Wikipedia
• “Legislative Procedures for Adjusting the Public Debt Limit: A Brief Overview,” CRS Report RS21519 (11-page PDF)
• “The Budget Control Act of 2011: Effects on Spending Levels and the Budget Deficit,” CRS Report R42013
• “Budget Control Act: Potential Impact of Automatic Spending Reduction Procedures on Health Reform,” CRS Report R42051
• “The Federal Budget: Issues for FY2011, FY2012, and Beyond,” CRS Report R41685
• “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases,” CRS Report RL31967
• Budget Control Act of 2011 (Pub.L. 112-25, S. 365, 125 Stat. 239) – Wikipedia

Courses

• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Congressional Briefing Conference – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Understanding Congressional Budgeting and Appropriations
• Advanced Legislative Strategies
• Research Workshops

Publications

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Public Debt / Debt Ceiling / Debt Limit

Public Debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government).

Debt Ceiling / Debt Limit: When the revenues collected by the federal government are not sufficient to cover its expenditures, it must finance the shortfall through borrowing. In addition, the federal government is compelled to incur debt because of requirements that trust fund surpluses be invested in federal securities. Federal borrowing is subject to a public-debt limit established by statute: public debt is subject to a statutory limit, 31 U.S.C. 3101. As long as the federal government incurs annual deficits and trust funds incur annual surpluses, the public-debt limit must be increased periodically. The frequency of congressional action to raise the debt limit has ranged in the past from several times in one year to once in several years.

Legislation to raise the public-debt limit falls under the jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. Congress has developed debt-limit legislation over the years in three ways: (1) under regular legislative procedures; (2) as part of reconciliation legislation; or (3) in the House, under Rule XXVII (referred to as the “Gephardt rule” after its author, former Representative Richard Gephardt (D-MO, 1977-2005). House Rule XXVII required that the House Clerk automatically engross and transmit to the Senate, upon the adoption of the budget resolution, a joint resolution changing the public debt limit to the level specified in the budget resolution. This automatic engrossing process was added to the House rules in 1979, remained in the House rules until it was removed at the beginning of the 107th Congress, was restored at the beginning of the 108th Congress, and was removed again at the beginning of the 112th Congress in 2011. The Senate has no procedure comparable to the Gephardt rule. The Senate may add nongermane provisions to debt-limit legislation considered under regular legislative procedures. For example, the 1985 Balanced Budget Act (Gramm-Rudman-Hollings) was an amendment to a debt-limit bill.

The Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011 contains many elements, including a phased increase in the statutory debt limit amounting to $2.1 trillion in total.

Also see Budget Deficit / Budget Surplus; Federal Debt; § 7.60 Spending, Revenue, and Debt-Limit Legislation, § 7.100 Debt-Limit Legislation, in Congressional Deskbook.

More

• Bureau of the Public Debt
• Federal Debt Basics – GAO
• Debt Subject to Limit Graph – Treasury Direct
• House Rule XXI – Restrictions On Certain Bills
• “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases,” CRS Report RL31967
• “Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present,” CRS Report R41814
• “Reaching the Debt Limit: Background and Potential Effects on Government Operations,” CRS Report R41633
• “The Debt Limit: The Need to Raise It After Four Years of Surpluses,” CRS Report RS21111
• “Growth in Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt,” CRS Report RL33723
• National Debt Clock – Wikipedia
• Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD) – Treasury Direct
• “Government Debt and Deficits,” by John J. Seater
• “Public Principles of Public Debt: A Defense and Restatement,” by James Buchanan
• The global debt clock – The Economist
• Country Comparison: Public debt – CIA World Factbook

Courses

• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Congressional Briefing Conference – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Understanding Congressional Budgeting and Appropriations
• Advanced Legislative Strategies
• Research Workshops

Publications

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Federal Debt

photo credit: horslips5

The federal debt consists of public debt, which occurs when the Treasury of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) borrows money directly from the public or other funds or accounts, and government debt / agency debt, which is incurred when a federal agency other than the Treasury of the FFB is authorized by law to borrow money from the public or another fund or account.

Total debt of the federal government can increase in two ways. First, debt increases when the government sells debt to the public to finance budget deficits and acquire the financial resources needed to meet its obligations. This increases debt held by the public, i.e., public debt. Second, debt increases when the federal government issues debt to certain government accounts, such as the Social Security, Medicare, and Transportation trust funds, in exchange for their reported surpluses. This increases debt held by government accounts. The sum of debt held by the public and debt held by government accounts is the total federal debt. Surpluses reduce debt held by the public, while deficits raise it. Total federal debt outstanding was $14,251 billion on April 1, 2011.

The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit, 31 U.S.C. 3101.

The gross federal debt, almost all of which is subject to statutory limitation, consists of the debt held by the public plus the debt held by government accounts. The debt held by the public is the total net amount borrowed from the public by the federal government to cover its budget deficits over the years. Usually, analysts use the debt held by the public as the measure of the impact of the federal government’s borrowing on the economy. It is this portion of federal debt that not only reflects the amount of the nation’s wealth invested in federal government securities rather than in private investment, but also determines the level of real resources the government must acquire to make interest and principal payments. The debt held by government accounts is the total net amount of federal debt issued to specialized federal accounts, primarily trust funds. It represents internal transactions of the federal government.

Also see Budget Deficit / Budget Surplus; Public Debt / Debt Ceiling; § 7.60 Spending, Revenue, and Debt-Limit Legislation, § 7.100 Debt-Limit Legislation, in Congressional Deskbook.

More

• Bureau of the Public Debt
• Federal Debt Basics – GAO
• Debt Subject to Limit Graph – Treasury Direct
• “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases,” CRS Report RL31967
• “Votes on Measures to Adjust the Statutory Debt Limit, 1978 to Present,” CRS Report R41814
• “The Debt Limit: The Need to Raise It After Four Years of Surpluses,” CRS Report RS21111
• “Reaching the Debt Limit: Background and Potential Effects on Government Operations,” CRS Report R41633
• “Growth in Foreign Holdings of Federal Debt,” CRS Report RL33723
• “Basic Federal Budgeting Terminology,” CRS Report 98-410
• National Debt Clock – Wikipedia
• Monthly Statement of the Public Debt (MSPD) – Treasury Direct
• “Government Debt and Deficits,” by John J. Seater
• “Public Principles of Public Debt: A Defense and Restatement,” by James Buchanan
• The global debt clock – The Economist
• Country Comparison: Public debt – CIA World Factbook

Courses

• Congressional Dynamics and the Legislative Process
• Congressional Briefing Conference – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Understanding Congressional Budgeting and Appropriations
• Advanced Legislative Strategies
• Research Workshops

Publications

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net

The United States Constitution

The Borrowing Clause is one of Congress’ enumerated powers found in the Constitution of the United States, Article. I. Section. 8., clause 2:

(Clause 2 – Borrowing power)

[The Congress shall have Power] To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

From the U.S. Senate web site:

Congress can borrow money through the issuance of bonds and other means. When it borrows money, the United States creates a binding obligation to repay the debt and cannot repudiate it.

photo credit: alancleaver_2000

You haven’t heard of the Bureau of the Public Debt before? We’re a small agency within the Department of the Treasury. Our customers are your neighbors, co-workers, and most likely you, too. You’re our customer if you’ve ever bought any type of Treasury security for yourself or, as millions have done in the case of savings bonds, as a gift for someone else.

Our job is to borrow the money needed to operate the federal government and to account for the resulting debt. In a nutshell, we borrow by selling Treasury bills, notes, and bonds, as well as U.S. Savings Bonds; we pay interest to investors; and, when the time comes to pay back the loans, we redeem investors’ securities. Every time we borrow or pay back money, it affects the outstanding debt of the United States.

Bureau of the Public Debt

More

• The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription – The National Archives
• United States Constitution: Texts, Commentaries, Historical Texts and Judicial Decisions – Law Library of Congress
• The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation – FDsys
• “Federalism and the Constitution: Limits on Congressional Power,” CRS Report RL30315
• “Legislative Powers of Congress: A Brief Reference Guide,” CRS Report 97-434 (16-page PDF) (Open CRS)
• Clause 2. Borrowing Power – from Findlaw
• Clause 2. Borrowing Power – from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute
• “Overview of the Federal Debt,” CRS Report R41815 (27-page PDF)
• United States public debt – from Wikipedia
• Balanced Budget Amendment – from Wikipedia
• Tax Foundation
• Citizens Against Government Waste
• National Taxpayers Union
• US Debt Clock.org
• Washington Watch

A free download of our Pocket Constitution is available on Scribd.

Free Copy of our Pocket Constitution: details on our web site.

Also see our FREE pocket edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense.

The Constitution of the United States: Amendment 16 (16th Amendment)

Amendment XVI. (Income Tax)

Passed by Congress July 2, 1909. Ratified February 3, 1913.

Note: Article I, section 9, of the Constitution was modified by amendment 16.

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

More

• The Constitution of the United States: Amendments 11-27, from The National Archives
• Sixteenth Amendment – CRS Annotated Constitution
• Sixteenth Amendment – Wikipedia
• Sixteenth Amendment – Findlaw
• The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription – The National Archives
• United States Constitution: Texts, Commentaries, Historical Texts and Judicial Decisions – Law Library of Congress
• The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation – FDsys
• “Federalism and the Constitution: Limits on Congressional Power,” CRS Report RL30315
• “Ratification of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” CRS Report 97-922
• Federal Debt
• Public Debt
• “Estate Tax Legislation in the 109th Congress,” CRS Report RL32818
• “Individual Capital Gains Income: Legislative History,” CRS Report 98-473
• “A History of Federal Estate, Gift, and Generation-Skipping Taxes,” CRS Report 95-444
• “Tax Havens: International Tax Avoidance and Evasion,” CRS Report R40623
• “Tax Return Confidentiality,” CRS Report IB75039
• “Tax Reform Effects,” CRS Report IB87010
• The Federal Budget Process

A free download of our Pocket Constitution is available on Scribd.

Free Copy of our Pocket Constitution: details on our web site.