The President creates a budget request for the next fiscal year, with the help of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and submits it to Congress. The budget has several categories of spending that are referred to as functions (and within those, subfunctions). Functions, such as “National Defense” or “Energy” or “Veterans Benefits and Services” cut across agency lines. Aspects of “National Defense” for example, can be found both in the Department of Defense as well as in the Department of Energy.
Estimates for each function are made for both discretionary and mandatory spending. Discretionary spending requires an authorization bill and happens under the authorization of Congress. Mandatory spending is based on law. Programs that require mandatory spending are termed “entitlement programs” because citizens are “entitled” to the funds if they meet the eligibility requirements dictated by law. Social Security and Medicare are two such entitlement programs.
The chart on page 1 of The President's Budget: National Impact is based on the functions and subfunctions for each government agency budget found in theBudget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2010, Analytical PerspectivesandPublic Budget Database Fiscal Year 2010. The analysis of the budget is based on the budget authority for fiscal years 2008-2010 and all numbers from this page are given in billions of 2009 dollars.
The categories in the bar chart are defined as follows:
Income Security & Labor: Job training, disability, retirement, and unemployment insurance, social security. This includes subfunctions 504, 505, 601, 602, 603, 609, 651.
Health: Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and other health-related expenses. This includes subfunctions 551, 552, 554, 571.
Military: National defense and security, nuclear weapons activities, and international security assistance. This includes subfunctions 051, 053, 054, 152.
Net Interest on the Debt: This includes subfunctions 901, 902, 908, 909.
Food: Agriculture and nutritional assistance. This includes subfunctions 351, 352, 605.
Veterans' Benefits: Health care, housing, and income benefits for veterans. This includes subfunctions 701, 702, 703, 704, 705.
Housing & Community: Housing assistance and credit, community development, disaster assistance, and services supporting social needs. This includes subfunctions 371, 451, 452, 453, 506, 604, 925.
Transportation: Development and support of air, water, ground, and other transportation. This includes subfunctions 401, 402, 403, 407.
Environment, Energy, & Science: Natural resources and environment, supply and use of energy, and science and research activities. This includes subfunctions 251, 252, 271, 272, 274, 276, 301, 302, 303, 304, 306.
Education: Elementary, secondary, higher and vocational education. This includes subfunctions 501, 502, 503.
Government: Commerce, law enforcement, overhead costs of federal government, and undistributed offsetting receipts. This includes subfunctions 372, 373, 376, 751, 752, 753, 754, 801, 802, 803, 804, 805, 806, 808, 809, 922, 951, 952, 953, 954, 959.
International Affairs: Diplomatic, development, and humanitarian activities abroad. This includes subfunctions 151, 153, 154, 155.
The table on page 2 of The President's Budget: Federal Aid to States – Selected Programs is compiled from charts found in Chapter 8 ofBudget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2010, Analytical Perspectivesand all numbers from this page are given in millions of 2009 dollars.
