SPECIAL NOTE: Congress completed its work on the FY2011 budget on April 8, 2011, six months after the end of Fiscal Year 2010. The budget passed by Congress, and later signed by President Obama, was in the form of a Continuing Resolution (CR) that funded all government functions at FY2010 levels, except for: (1) the Department of Defense (for which a separate appropriation was passed as part of the overall spending bill) and (2) those programs for which funding was specifically cut. [Note: At a minimum, the spending package included a 0.2 percent “across the board” spending cut for all “non-security” discretionary spending.] The figures for FY2011 are estimates taken from the FY2012 request and are for comparison purposes only. For additional information on the FY2011 budget, see NPP’s “Analysis of the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Agreement.”

The Presidents Budget: Federal Spending Overview

The Obama Administration released its $3.7 trillion budget request for FY2012 on February 14, 2011.

The following bar chart shows spending data for fiscal years 2008, 2010 and 2012. FY2008 was included because it is the last fiscal year before major increases in federal spending that resulted from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and because it is the baseline year for a number of the deficit reduction plans being considered in Washington. See our website for complete 2007-2013 spending data.

Items of Special Interest: The budget caps “non-security” discretionary spending for five years. Total FY2012 military spending shows a decrease over FY2011. This is due to a 26% decrease in war funding. Yet the Pentagon’s annual budget actually increases by roughly 1.5%. Transportation receives a significant increase to begin repair of our nation’s infrastructure and create jobs.

Notes:

1. Numbers presented here are in billions of 2012 dollars and include both mandatory and discretionary spending. Mandatory spending is required by law and includes existing programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and interest on the national debt. Discretionary spending must be authorized each year by Congressional vote.
2. All numbers are Budget Authority which is the allowance or allotment given for spending in a particular category for the year, though the bills (obligations) may arrive in different months throughout that period and beyond.