Means of Financing (CongressionalGlossary.com)

From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms

Means of Financing

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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; Seigniorage.)

More

• Current Fiscal Conditions – GAO
• “How Budget Surpluses Change Federal Debt,” CRS Report RS20767 (8-page PDF)
• “Overview of the Federal Debt,” CRS Report R41815 (32-page PDF)
• CBO’s Long-Term Budget Analysis
• “Overview of Funding Mechanisms in the Federal Budget Process, and Selected Examples,” CRS Report R44582 (45-page PDF)
• “Spending and Tax Expenditures: Distinctions and Major Programs,” CRS Report R44530 (21-page PDF)
• “The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases,” CRS Report RL31967 (43-page PDF)
• “Financing the U.S. Trade Deficit,” CRS Report RL33274 (24-page PDF)
• “Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund: Programs and Policy Issues,” CRS Report R42770 (37-page PDF)
• “The Debt Limit Since 2011,” CRS Report R43389 (44-page PDF)
• The Economic Effects of Financing a Large and Permanent Increase in Government Spending, Congressional Budget Office, CBO Working Paper 57201, March 2021 (42-page PDF)
• “Clearing the Air on the Debt Limit,” CRS Report R45011 (33-page PDF)

Courses

• Congressional Operations Briefing – Capitol Hill Workshop
• Drafting Federal Legislation and Amendments
• Writing for Government and Business: Critical Thinking and Writing
• Custom Training
• Congressional Operations Poster, with Federal Budget Process Flowchart
• Federal Budgeting, a Five-Course series on CD
• Congress, the Legislative Process, and the Fundamentals of Lawmaking Series, a Nine-Course series on CD

Publications

The Federal Budget Process 2E

Pocket Constitution

Citizen’s Handbook to Influencing Elected Officials: A Guide for Citizen Lobbyists and Grassroots Advocates

Congressional Procedure

CongressionalGlossary.com, from TheCapitol.Net