A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Appropriation: The amount of funding Congress provides for a federal program to spend in a year.

Authorization: Legislation that establishes or continues a federal program or agency, specifies its general purpose, and usually sets a ceiling on the amount of money that can be appropriated for it.

B

Balanced Budget Requirement: Most state constitutions require balanced budgets. Unlike federal lawmakers, state legislators may not run deficits to sustain state programs and services. They may not enact into law a budget that does not balance.

Budget Authority: The legal authority Congress gives to federal agencies that allows the agencies to enter into obligations that will result in immediate or future outlays of federal government funds.

Baseline: A benchmark for measuring the effects of proposed changes in federal spending, revenue, and deficits on the budget based on the continuance of current policies for the upcoming year.

Budget Resolution, Concurrent: A concurrent resolution passed by both Houses of Congress setting, reaffirming, or revising the congressional budget for the U.S. Government for a fiscal year.

Budget Resolution, Continuing: An appropriations bill enacted by Congress to provide temporary budget authority for federal agencies to continue operations when their regular appropriation bill has not been enacted by the start of the new fiscal year (October 1).

D

Debt Ceiling: A statutory limit imposed on the total outstanding federal debt. The ceiling can be raised or lowered through an act of Congress.

Deficit: The amount by which the government's spending exceeds its revenues in a fiscal year.

Discretionary Programs: Programs funded by annual congressional appropriations bills.

Discretionary Spending: Spending for programs that the President and Congress must decide to fund each fiscal year through annual appropriations bills.

E

Entitlement: A benefit that the federal government is obligated to make to any person that meets the program’s statutory eligibility requirements. These obligations are funded through mandatory, not discretionary, spending.

F

Fiscal Year: The federal government's accounting period, which begins October 1 and ends September 30. Most states operate on a fiscal year calendar that runs from July 1 through June 30. The four exceptions are: New York (April 1), Texas (Sept. 1), and Alabama and Michigan (Oct. 1).


G

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The value of all finished goods and services produced in the country during a given period. GDP serves as the principal measure of the size of a country's economy.


M

Mandatory Spending: Federal spending on entitlement programs and interest on the national debt.

Mark Up: Meetings where congressional committees go through the original draft of a bill and offer amendments that can be accepted or rejected by the committees’ membership.


O

Outlay: Actual federal government expenses—not the amount that has been appropriated.

Off Budget: Federal spending or revenues excluded from the budget totals by law. The revenues and outlays of Social Security non-administrative costs and the transactions of the Postal Service are off budget are not included in the budget resolution.

On Budget: Federal budget totals excluding "off-budget" programs.

Omnibus Bill: A legislative package that combines a number of bills into a single bill for floor action.

Outlays: Expenditures made to fulfill a federal obligation.


P

Pay-As-You-Go Rules (Paygo): Paygo rules were a part of the now-expired Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, but many lawmakers have discussed the need to resurrect them. They require that any legislation that increases mandatory spending or reduces revenues be offset by cuts in other mandatory spending or by tax increases.

Payout Requirement: The minimum amount a private foundation is required to expend for charitable purposes (includes grants and necessary administrative expenses).

President's Budget: The document sent to Congress by the president in February of each year that proposes new budget authority for federal programs and estimates federal revenues and outlays for the coming fiscal year

R

Recession: A phase of the business cycle extending from a peak to the next trough characterized by widespread declines in output, income, employment, and trade in many sectors of the economy.

Reconciliation: A procedure used to change current law to bring it into conformity with the budget resolution. Reconciliation instructions are included in the budget resolution directing the appropriate committees to make changes in revenues or direct spending laws under their jurisdictions to achieve a specific budgetary result. The legislative changes are incorporated into an omnibus budget reconciliation bill, which is then considered under special expedited rules.

• The Congressional Budget Office's glossary of budget terms.
  
  
• The National Priorities Project's budget-related terms.

Last updated: April 24, 2006