WikiLeaks Document Release http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 February 2, 2009 Congressional Research Service Report RS22605 FY2008 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO Availability Jennifer Teefy, Knowledge Services Group August 29, 2007 Abstract. This report provides brief descriptions of the budget volumes and related documents, together with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices to obtain these publications. It also tells how to find locations of government depository libraries, which can provide both printed copies for reference use and Internet access to the text. Order Code RS22605 Updated August 29, 2007 FY2008 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO Availability Jennifer Teefy Information Research Specialist Knowledge Services Group Summary Every year, the President submits to Congress a series of volumes that provide the http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 text of the President's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. By law, the proposal is due by the first Monday in February. Neither the Congressional Research Service (CRS) nor the Library of Congress can provide giveaway copies of the budget documents. This report provides brief descriptions of the budget volumes and related documents, together with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices to obtain these publications. It also tells how to find locations of government depository libraries, which can provide both printed copies for reference use and Internet access to the text. This report1 will be updated as events warrant. Introduction The President's budget for FY2008 consists of a multivolume set of materials issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The materials contain information on new budget proposals, summary tables, detailed financial information on individual programs and accounts, economic analysis, historical data, explanations of the budget processes, and supporting documents. Every year, the President submits these materials to Congress at the start of the budget cycle for the next fiscal year. The President's submission is required on or after the first Monday in January, but not later than the first Monday in February (31 U.S.C. Sec. 1105a). Other budget-related documents released early each calendar year include the annual Economic Report of the President, issued in February by the Council of Economic Advisors, and the Budget and Economic Outlook, an annual publication issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). See below for details about these publications. 1 This report was originally authored by Justin Murray. CRS-2 The President's Budget Documents, Fiscal Year 2008 Both the OMB and the Government Printing Office (GPO) provide Internet access to the main and supporting budget documents, spreadsheet files, the public budget database, and budget amendments and supplementals proposed by the President. See [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/] and [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ usbudget/fy08/browse.html], respectively. To perform word searches across budget documents online, go to [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/index.html] and scroll down to the search box. Budget of the United States Government, FY2008; GPO stock number 041-001-00635-4, $39, 176 pages. This document contains information and color photos, charts, and graphs pertaining to the President's new budget proposals and overviews of government activities by agency and topic (e.g., "Expanding Economic Opportunity," the "Nation's Fiscal Outlook," and "Managing for Results"). Summary tables (pp. 151-172) contain projections of budget baselines, receipts, and outlays; deficits; debt; discretionary spending; and economic assumptions from FY2007 to http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 FY2012 and, in some cases, to FY2017. Budget of the United States Government CD-ROM, FY2008; GPO stock number 041-001-00641-9, $21. The FY2008 Budget CD-ROM contains the budget documents and software required to support reading, printing, and searching the documents; presents many of the tables in spreadsheet form; and contains the material included on the Analytical Perspectives CD-ROM described below. Budget of the United States Government, FY2008 Appendix; GPO stock number 041-001-00639-7, $73, 1,237 pages. Designed primarily for the use of the House and Senate appropriations committees, the FY2008 Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriations accounts than any of the other budget documents submitted by the President. For each agency, it provides the following: ! the proposed text of the appropriation language ! budget schedules for each account ! new legislative proposals ! explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed ! proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or groups of agencies These elements are distinguished by varying the font and typeface, so that proposed appropriations and prior year funding can be compared at a glance. The box that follows provides an example from the FY2008 Appendix. CRS-3 Language printed in roman type is used as a base, [brackets] enclose material proposed for deletion, and italic type indicates proposed new language. For necessary expenses to carry out the environmental compliance and restoration functions of the United States Coast Guard under chapter 19 of title 14, United States Code, [$10,880,000] $12,079,000, to remain available until expended.2 Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, FY2008; GPO stock number 041-001-00640-1, $50, 410 pages (includes Chapters 27 and 28 on CD-ROM). This volume includes economic and accounting and "crosscutting" analyses of government programs and activities designed to highlight specific subject areas and provide other significant presentations of budget data to place the budget in perspective. It includes information on federal receipts and collections, detailed information on borrowing and debt, homeland security funding, baseline or current service estimates, economic assumptions, budget reform proposals, tax expenditures, trust funds, budget systems and concepts, and other technical presentations. Chapter 8, "Aid to State and Local Governments," contains a series of tables (pp. 120- http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 152) that provide information on state-by-state obligations for major federal formula grant programs. The FY2008 Analytical Perspectives volume includes a CD-ROM with information that in previous years was published in this volume or in other parts of the budget. The CD-ROM contains Chapters 27 and 28 of the volume, which include detailed function tables, federal programs by agency and account tables, and individual pages of program summaries of federal agencies using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART). Chapters 27and 28 are also available at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/ spec.html] and [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/spec.html]. Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, FY2008; GPO stock number 041-001-00636-2, $49, 329 pages. Detailed tables cover budget deficit/surplus, outlays, receipts, discretionary and mandatory spending, federal debt, federal employment, payments for individuals, spending by function and agency, and grants to states and local governments. This volume provides some data from 1940 (or earlier) through estimates for FY2012. Historical data are adjusted by OMB to be consistent with the 2008 budget and to provide comparability over time. Mid-Session Review, Budget of the United States Government, FY2008. Released by OMB on July 11, 2007, this update of the President's FY2008 budget projections contains OMB revised estimates of the budget deficit, receipts, outlays, budget authority for FY2007 through FY2012, and other summary information, as required by statute. GPO does not offer this publication in its catalog; it is only available online at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2008/pdf/08msr.pdf]. 2 Excerpt from p. 468, FY2008 Budget Appendix, Department of Homeland Security, United States Coast Guard. CRS-4 Economic Report of the President Economic Report of the President, 2007. GPO stock number 040-000-00777-6, $35, 358 pages. This year's annual Economic Report of the President, transmitted to Congress on February 12, 2007, presents the Administration's report on its economic policies and contains the annual report of the Council of Economic Advisors. Appendix B of the Economic Report includes current and historical statistics on major aspects of economic activity (pp. 221-358). Statistics include national income and expenditures from 1959 to 2006, government finance, population, employment, wages, productivity, prices, debt measures, corporate finance, and international statistics, in some cases back to 1929. The report is available from the GPO website at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/ index.html]. A searchable database of the Economic Report of the President for each year from 1996 to the present is also available at this site. Spreadsheet files from the Appendix B of the report can be accessed at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/eop/ tables06.html]. The entire report is available from the White House website at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/pubs.html]. http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 Agency Budget Justifications Each year in July, OMB issues instructions to all federal executive departments and agencies for submitting budget data and materials for inclusion in the President's budget documents. These instructions are in a document entitled, Circular No. A -- 11: Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget. After the President's budget documents are released in February, Congress begins to hold hearings on agency budget requests, and agencies must submit their budget justifications to the appropriations subcommittees holding the hearings. Budget justifications generally contain more detailed descriptions of an agency's proposals and programs than is provided in the President's budget documents.3 As mandated by Section 22.6 of the 2006 edition of Circular A-11, beginning with the FY2008 budget cycle, agencies are required to post their congressional budget justification materials on the Internet within two weeks of transmittal to Congress. Circular A-11 is available on the White House website at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars/a11/current_year/a_11_2006.pdf]. Access budget justification documents for each executive agency through the following links: Department of Agriculture at [http://www.obpa.usda.gov/explan_notes.html]. Department of Commerce at [http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/FY08CJB.htm]. Department of Defense at [http://www.defenselink.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2008/index.html]. Department of Education at [http://www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget08/justifications/index.html]. Department of Energy at [http://www.energy.gov/about/budget.htm]. 3 See CRS Report RS20268, Agency Justification of the President's Budget by Bill Heniff Jr., for more information. CRS-5 Department of Health and Human Services at [http://www.hhs.gov/budget/docbudget.htm]. Department of Homeland Security at [http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/budget/]. Department of Housing and Urban Development at [http://www.hud.gov/offices/cfo/reports/2008/main_toc.cfm]. Department of Interior at [http://www.doi.gov/budget/2008/index_for_2008.html]. Department of Justice at [http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/2008justification/]. Department of Labor at [http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/]. Department of State at [http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/statecbj/2008/]. Department of Transportation at [http://www.dot.gov/cfo/cj2008/]. Department of Treasury at [http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/management/budget/budget-documents/cj/]. Department of Veterans Affairs at [http://www.va.gov/budget/summary/index.htm]. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Budget and Economic Outlook: FY2008-FY2017; GPO stock number 052-070-07493-1, $26, 173 pages. CBO's baseline budget projections run for 10 http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 years in its budget reports. The Budget and Economic Outlook includes separate chapters on the economic outlook, outlays, and receipts. The data cover FY2007 through FY2017. In addition to chapters on the budget and economic outlooks, this publication also includes a glossary and historical budget and economic data. The report is available on the CBO website at [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=7731&sequence=0]. An Analysis of the President's Budgetary Proposals for Fiscal Year 2008. This report provides an analysis of the President's budgetary proposals and CBO's updated baseline budget projections. The report is available on the CBO website at [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=7878&sequence=0]. Budget Options (February 2007). CBO issues this compendium of budget options every two years to help inform Congress about the possible implications of various policy choices. This volume presents more than 250 options to change spending or revenues over a broad range of federal activities. The budgetary effects shown for each option cover each year from FY2008 to FY2012; also presented are the total effects over those five years and over the FY2008-FY2017 period. Budget Options is available on the CBO website at [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=7821&sequence=0]. Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update. This update to CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook provides revised baseline budget projections, including deficit and surplus projections. The report also includes CBO's revised economic forecast and projections through 2017. The report is available on the CBO website at [http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/85xx/doc8565/08-23-Update07.pdf]. GPO Ordering Information Printed copies of these government publications are available from GPO and may be purchased using Discover, MasterCard, Visa, or American Express cards: ! online at the GPO website at [http://bookstore.gpo.gov/] CRS-6 ! by telephone, (866) 512-1800 ! by fax, (202) 512-2104 ! by mail (check or money order), addressed to: Superintendent of Documents P.O. Box 371954 Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954 Depository Libraries These documents are often available for reference use at large public or university libraries, or at a federal government depository library. Addresses of the closest depository libraries can be obtained through a local library or from GPO's Customer Services department, (866) 512-1800. Internet users may obtain this information from the GPO Access website at [http://www.gpoaccess.gov/libraries.html], which can be searched by state or area code. Websites on Budget Legislation http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CRS-RS22605 Congressional Staff. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has developed (for Members of Congress and their staffs) two websites covering the budget and appropriations process for congressional offices: ! Appropriations Analysis and Status Table. For CRS reports, current appropriations bills, a listing of CRS appropriations experts, and other appropriations-related resources, congressional staff can access the CRS website at [http://apps.crs.gov/cli/cli.aspx?PRDS_CLI_ITEM_ID=615 &from=3&fromId=73]. For tracking current appropriations legislation, see the CRS Appropriations Status Table with links to votes, committee and conference reports, and public laws at [http://www.crs.gov/products/appropriations/appover.shtml]. ! CRS Budget Fact Sheets. Short explanations of budget concepts, terminology, the congressional and executive budget process, congressional budget timetable, budget resolutions and reconciliation, the authorization and appropriations process, entitlements and discretionary spending, the Budget Enforcement Act, sequestration, and surpluses/deficits are available from the CRS website at [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/budget/factsheets/MenuBudgetFa ctSheets.shtml]. Public Use. Constituents have access to THOMAS at [http://thomas.loc.gov], the legislative website produced by the Library of Congress with data from the House and Senate, which provides a Status Table of Appropriations with links to bills, committee and conference reports, and votes for the 12 regular and any supplemental appropriations bills.