Research Guides: U.S. Law & Government Information: Federal Budget

Background Information and Secondary Sources

Start with secondary sources in order to get background information and context on your topic.

Library Search
Look for books on your topic with the Library Catalog filter. Books are a great way to gain a sense of scope for a topic (instead of just piecing together very specific articles).
Congressional Publications: Browse Topics
Browse for your topic to get recommended background reading, viewpoints and news coverage. This is an easy way to find some GAO and CRS reports.
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
CRS creates reports to Congress on a variety of topics, including the budget. This can be a good resource for getting context and background. Covers the early 90s to present. Reports are updated, and date is noted on the front.

Political Science Complete This link opens in a new window
Find analysis on budget and related policy and politics topics.
PAIS This link opens in a new window
Find scholarly articles, periodical articles, reports and primary sources on the budget. Include "United States" as a location and "budget" as a subject to filter results.

Westlaw Campus: Secondary Sources
Find scholarly articles on the budget as related to legal aspects.

Primary Source Documents

Budget Tables

Budget of the United States Government (1921-2021)
The Budget Message of the President, information on the President's priorities, budget overviews organized by agency, and summary tables issued by the OMB annually. Includes historical tables, budget appendix, and analytical perspectives.
Budget of the United States Government (1996-present)
Access official presidential budget proposals, budget documents, and historical tables by fiscal year issued by the OMB.
Economic Report of the President
An annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers that overviews the nation's economic progress with narrative and data tables.
Spending Explorer (2017-present)
Use this tool to get a better sense of how Congress distributes funding to agencies and how agencies spend that funding.

Agency Reports

Each year, agencies provides summary tables and supporting documents as justification of their budget requests. Documents can provide information about the agency's goals, performance, and proposals for specific agency programs or components.

These should be published to the agency's website with a consistent url of agency.gov/cj (e.g. epa.gov/cj) after the documents have been sent to Congress. You may also be able to find past budget requests and supporting documents.

U.S. Department of the Treasury: Budget, Financial Planning
Find strategic plans, budget-in-brief, congressional justification, and more. Dates vary with some archives going back to FY08-FY12. This agency manages federal finances by collecting taxes and paying bills and by managing currency, government accounts and public debt.
Government Accountability Office (GAO) Reports
GAO’s reports on various topics: how money was spent and recommendations for future spending. This agency gathers information to help Congress determine how effectively executive branch agencies are doing their jobs.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
The CBO provides independent analyses of budgetary and economic issues to Congress, including reports and cost estimates for proposed legislation. 1975-present. This agency produces nonpartisan analysis of economic and budgetary issues to support the Congressional budget process.
Department of Defense Comptroller
Budget reports and tables for the Department of Defense.

Congressional Materials

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Appropriations Status Table
Charts with budgetary legislative activity by year, with links to legislative text, committee reports, and press releases. Covers 1999-present.

Congressional Publications This link opens in a new window
Find reports and hearings from relevant Congressional committees.

Joint Committee on Taxation
This committee of accountants, lawyers, and economists assists Congress on tax legislation. Find revenue estimates, background information, and legislative histories.

Federal Budget Process

Knowing what information is generated when and where in the process makes it easier to research the federal budget. The actual process the budget takes may deviate from the formal budget process.

Discretionary Spending

Federal agencies make requests to the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
The OMB releases the President's budget request for the next fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1.
Based on the President's proposal, the House and Senate budget committees propose budget resolutions, which set targets for the overall budget its major categories as well as targets for tax revenue.
Budget resolutions are sent to the floor for a vote and differences between chambers are resolved in conference.
House and Senate appropriations committees divide the discretionary spending from the budget resolution amongst their 12 subcommittees, which conduct hearings on the respective programs. They vote on a bill. These hearings can be a good information source.
The full appropriations committee marks out a bill and sends it to the floor to be voted on. Differences are resolved in conference. Typically appropriations bill start in the House and are amended in the Senate.
The bill is sent to the President for a signature or a veto before Oct. 1 (though this deadline is often not met).

Mandatory Spending

If Congress needs to legislate changes in mandatory spending or in tax laws to meet the targets of the budget resolution, reconciliation occurs.

Relevant committees create a plan that is reported to the budget committee.
Budget committee combines all bills into an omnibus bill to be voted on the floor. Differences are resolved in conference.
The bill is sent to the President for a signature or veto.

Terminology

Different kinds of spending in the federal budget:

Mandatory spending or entitlements are for programs that are ongoing (Medicare, Social Security)
Discretionary spending enacted through the federal appropriates act, so subject to annual approval by Congress
Debt interest

Projected expenditures (or outlays) and actual expenditures are different.

Continuing resolution: if budget bills are not passed before the new fiscal year, Congress may pass a continuing resolution for temporary funding