From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Federal Debt The Debt Ceiling Explained: Why You Should Care 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 / … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Nongermane Amendment photo credit: bfelice An amendment that would add new and different subject matter to, or may be irrelevant to, the bill or other measure it seeks to amend. Senate rules permit nongermane amendments in all but a few specific circumstances. The amending process … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Federal Financing Bank (FFB) photo credit: Alun Salt The Federal Financing Bank (FFB) is a government corporation, created by Congress in the Federal Financing Bank Act of 1973 (12 U.S.C. 2281 et seq.), under the general supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury (31 U.S.C. … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Financial Statements photo credit: Metro Centric A document that describes an entity’s financial activity and status for a specified period. Under federal law and applicable accounting standards, the financial statements for a federal agency usually include a balance sheet, statement of net cost, statement of … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Collections photo credit: thewebprincess Amounts received by the federal government during the fiscal year. Collections are classified into three major categories: (1) governmental receipts (also called budget receipts or federal receipts), (2) offsetting collections, and (3) offsetting receipts. Governmental receipts result from the exercise of … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Expense Achieving Transparency And Accountability In Federal Spending (Part 1 of 2) Outflow or other depletion of assets or incurrences of liabilities (or a combination of both) during some period as a result of providing goods, rendering services, or carrying out other activities … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Amendment Tree / Filling the Tree photo credit: kewl “Amendment trees” are charts that illustrate certain principles of precedence that guide the Senate amendment process. When all of the amendments permitted simultaneously by these principles of precedence have been offered and … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Expenditure / Tax Expenditure photo credit: 401K Expenditure: The actual spending of money; an outlay. Tax Expenditure: Loss of revenue attributable to an exemption, deduction, preference, or other exclusion under federal tax law. What are tax expenditures? Also see “Government Spending” – Wikipedia … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Off-Budget / Off-Budget Entities / On-Budget Entities David Certner: Social Security as an off-budget program Off-budget: Those budgetary accounts (either federal or trust funds) designated by law as excluded from budget totals. As of 2005, the revenues and outlays of the two Social … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Unified Budget Funding the Government: The Budget Process and Omnibus Spending Bills [Article I Initiative] Under budget concepts set forth in the Report of the President’s Commission on Budget Concepts (October, 1967), a comprehensive budget in which receipts and outlays from federal and … Read more