From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Revenues photo credit: DonkeyHotey Revenues: Income from individual and corporate income taxes, social insurance taxes, excise taxes, fees, tariffs, and other sources collected under the sovereign powers of the federal government. Revenues, also known as receipts, are the funds collected from the public primarily as … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Unfilled Customer Orders photo credit: Sam Beebe / Ecotrust The dollar amount of orders accepted from other accounts within the government for goods and services to be furnished on a reimbursable basis. In the case of transactions with the public, these orders are amounts advanced … Read more
Filibuster / Unlimited Debate Creative Commons License photo credit: PatrickRohe When a senator is recognized to speak on a pending measure, few limitations are placed on her. Debate is generally unlimited on all pending measures. A senator may yield to another senator for a question, but the senator still controls the floor. One of the … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Cloture / Rule XXII / Nuclear Option photo credit: Robbie1 Cloture is the process by which a filibuster can be ended in the Senate other than by unanimous consent. Cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to set an end to … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Public Debt / Debt Ceiling / Debt Limit Debt Limit – A Guide to American Federal Debt Made Easy Public Debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The … 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 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 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 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