There have been a lot of stories coming out of Washington lately, and the federal budget really hasn't been one of them. That will likely change soon. As of May 15 Congress can begin considering appropriations bills for the 2014 fiscal year, meaning between now and September we can expect to hear more about how much money federal agencies will have to spend in the coming year.
Despite its seemingly unlimited pockets, Congress is required to abide by specific spending limits each year. Who sets these limits? The President's Budget gets a lot of attention when it's released each February (or April as was the case this year), but these budget recommendations are just that — recommendations. Congress actually sets its own spending limits with an annual budget resolution, usually passed in April.
By law, once the president has released a recommended budget, both the Senate and the House of Representatives draw on that document and their own priorities to draft separate budget resolutions. Once each house approves its own resolution, they swap notes and hammer out their differences in a report that becomes a binding outline of next year's spending. The final budget resolution is the basis for appropriations bills that portion out money to specific agencies.
Of course nothing's straightforward in the Congress, and lawmakers have failed to agree on a final budget resolution for the last three fiscal years. A budget resolution for 2014 also appears to be dead in the water.
So how much does Congress have to spend in 2014? Well, it depends where you look.
Fiscal Year 2014 Outlays by Category (in millions of dollars)
Technically, when Congress fails to pass a budget resolution the previous year's resolution remains in effect. The last successful budget resolution was Senate Concurrent Resolution 13 (S.Con.Res. 13 ENR). It was passed for the 2010 fiscal year but includes spending levels for 2011 through 2014. In years when no final budget resolution is passed, the House sometimes formally adopts its own resolution as binding for the purposes of making appropriations.
The charts above show spending levels for 2014 outlined in S.Con.Res. 13 alongside those proposed by the House and the Senate in separate resolutions this spring. None of these is a definitive guideline for next year's appropriations, but it's fun to compare them.
It's also fun to compare spending levels for each category over time.
Notice how Homeland Security got its own spending category in 2005. The Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terror category was originally called Overseas Deployments and Other Activities when it showed up in the 2008 budget.
U.S. Federal Budget Outlays by Category, 2000-2012 (in millions of dollars)
Data Sources: 2014 - S.Con.Res. 13 ENR (111th Congress), H.Con.Res. 25 PCS, (113th Congress); S.Con.Res. 8 ES (113th Congress); 2012 - H.Con.Res. 34 (112th Congress); 2011 - H.Res. 1493 (111th Congress); 2010 - S.Con.Res. 13 ENR (111th Congress); 2009 - S.Con.Res. 70 ENR (110th Congress); 2008 - S.Con.Res. 21 ENR (110th Congress); 2007 - H.Con.Res. 376 EH (109th Congress); 2006 - H.Con.Res. 95 ENR (109th Congress); 2005 - S.Con.Res. 95 (108th Congress); 2004 - H.Con.Res. 95 ENR (108th Congress); 2003 - H.Con.Res. 353 EH (107th Congress); 2002 - H.Con.Res. 83 ENR (107th Congress); 2001 - H.Con.Res. 290 ENR (106th Congress); 2000 - H.Con.Res. 68 ENR (106th Congress).
Accessed through THOMAS between May 14, 2013, and May 20, 2013.
Chart Tool: Google Docs
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