From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Bases of Budgeting photo credit: Scott Ableman Methods for calculating budget figures. Not all methods are mutually exclusive. For example, the federal budget includes both net and gross figures and reports both obligations and cash or cash equivalent spending. As a general rule, budget receipts … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Budget Authority photo credit: Carly & Art The key terms of federal spending are budget authority, obligations, outlays, and spendout rate. Congress and the president enact budget authority in law. Budget authority allows federal agencies to incur obligations, such as entering into contracts, employing personnel, … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms “Emergency” Spending / Emergency photo credit: vonderauvisuals Spending with the “emergency” designation does not count against budget caps. While often used for one-time, unforeseen events, this designation has also been used to circumvent budget limits. For example, spending for the census has been designated as … Read more
From the Congressional Glossary – Including Legislative and Budget Terms Governmental Receipts photo credit: ben_osteen Collections from the public based on the government’s exercise of its sovereign powers, including individual and corporate income taxes and social insurance taxes, excise taxes, duties, court fines, compulsory licenses, and deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve System. Gifts … Read more
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 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 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 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