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Order Code RL33228
Federal Spending by Agency and
Budget Function, FY2001-FY2006
Updated December 12, 2006
Philip D. Winters
Analyst in Government Finance
Government and Finance Division
Federal Spending by Agency and Budget Function,
FY2001-FY2006
Summary
This report provides data on federal spending by agency and by budget function
for FY2001 through FY2006.1 The agency and function data, ranked by size, reveal
the concentrated nature of federal spending. In 2006, the four largest agencies (of
51 listed) produced 82% of total outlays, and the six largest (of 19) budget functions
produced 84% of total outlays. Most of the spending by the largest agencies and
within the largest budget functions is either mandatory spending (such as Social
Security, Medicare, and income support), defense spending, or net interest spending
on federal debt.
Among the largest spending agencies or functions, minor reordering has
occurred over the six years of data in this report. Net interest fell as a share of total
spending, and in dollars slipped slightly, because of lower interest rates and slow
growth in federal debt early in the period (net interest began growing again in 2005).
The defense function spending grew as money was added for the war on terror and
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
For the largest agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services moved
from the second spot to the first, replacing the Social Security Administration, as
health care costs continued to accelerate. The Department of Defense (military)
moved from fourth to third, while the Treasury slipped into fourth (as net interest
payments fell). Many of the smaller agencies experienced substantial changes in
their ranking, such as Homeland Security, which moved from 15th to 8th , based on
its lead role in the war on terror and its funding for hurricane recovery in 2005 and
2006.
The concentration of federal spending in broadly popular or necessary activities
makes congressional efforts to find and implement large spending reductions
difficult. Without a substantial reordering of the public's priorities, as reflected in
the government's allocation of resources, or a consensus among policy makers to
reduce popular spending programs, spending reduction efforts seem destined to
remain small. The result is a likely limited effect on overall federal spending or
deficit reduction.
This report will be updated as new budget data become available.
1
Unless otherwise noted, all years mentioned in this report are fiscal years.
Contents
Outlays by Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Outlays by Budget Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Changing Rank and Share Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Budget Functions as Percentages of GDP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Notes on the Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
List of Figures
Figure 1. Selected Agency Outlays as Percent of Total Outlays,
FY2001-FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 2. Selected Budget Functions as Percent of Total Outlays,
FY2001-FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Figure 3. Selected Budget Functions as Percent of GDP, FY2001-FY2006 . . . . . 7
Figure 4. Selected Budget Functions and Total Outlays as Percent of GDP,
FY2001-FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
List of Tables
Table 1. Federal Outlays by Agency in Millions of Dollars,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 2. Federal Outlays by Agency in Percent of Total Outlays,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Table 3. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Millions of Dollars,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 4. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Percent of Total Outlays,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 5. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Percent of GDP,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Percent of GDP in FY2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Federal Spending by Agency and Budget
Function, FY2001-FY2006
The federal budget is a large and often confusing compilation of facts,
proposals, estimates, and expectations. This report compiles a portion of the
extensive budget information available to focus on the high degree of concentration
of federal spending within a relatively few areas or agencies.
Total federal spending has grown greatly over the last 21 years, from $946.4
billion in FY1985 to $2,654.9 billion in FY2006,2 in current dollars. In constant
(FY2000) dollars, outlays grew from $1,395.7 billion in 1985 to $2,313.6 billion in
2006 (est). As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), outlays have declined
from 22.9% of GDP in 1985 (a year of recession) to 20.3% of GDP in 2006. In
between, outlays fell to 18.4% of GDP in FY2000 (a year of rapid economic growth)
before climbing to the 2006 level.
The government spends this money on an immense number of activities through
a large number of federal agencies. To provide some sense of what this money is
spent on and in what amounts, this report ranks federal spending by federal agency
and by the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) 19 budget functions (which
OMB uses to characterize spending by broad categories) for the years 2001 through
2006. The data are arranged by size, from largest to smallest. For agencies and
budget functions, the data are shown in dollars and as percentages of total spending.
For budget functions, the data are also shown as percentages of gross domestic
product (GDP). The data are from the Budget of the United States Government for
Fiscal Year 2007, from the OMB, and from the Final Monthly Treasury Statements
for various years from the Treasury.
The data clearly show two general patterns to federal spending. The first is that
most federal spending is, and has been over this period, concentrated in a limited
number of agencies and in about a third of the budget functions. The second pattern
is that, except for a handful of agencies (usually smaller ones), the relative rank of
the various spending categories has changed relatively modestly and slowly over the
six years. The combination of these two patterns indicates that the distribution of
federal spending, although always in some flux, has been fairly stable over these
years.
One other observation related to the concentration of federal spending is worth
noting. Other than defense spending, the spending of the largest agencies or budget
functions is mostly composed of mandatory or required spending, such as Social
Security, Medicare, Medicaid, federal civilian and military retirement programs, and
2
Unless otherwise noted, all years mentioned in this report are fiscal years.
CRS-2
interest on the debt. OMB's short definition of mandatory spending states that,
"[m]andatory and related programs include direct spending and offsetting receipts
whose budget authority is provided by law other than appropriations acts."3 This puts
somewhere between 60% and 70% of total federal spending outside the annual
appropriations debate.
Even the 30% to 40% of the budget that is subject to annual appropriations is
not completely discretionary. Much of the annual appropriated amounts are
necessary to fulfill legal commitments that the government had entered into in
previous time periods, such as contracts or other obligations. Unless Congress and
the President are willing to eliminate programs and the payroll costs for federal
employees that run them, a certain amount of the annual appropriations is needed for
federal salaries. In addition, approximately half of the annual appropriated amount
goes to defense spending, an activity that is difficult to reduce during a time of war.
In effect, much less than the 30% to 40% of the budget considered discretionary can
be reduced through appropriations alone.
Tables 1 and 2 rank federal spending by agency, including spending for the
legislative and judicial branches, by amount spent in FY2006, from largest to
smallest. The Other Independent Agency category in the tables combines the outlays
of a multitude of relatively small agencies. The International Assistance Program is
a collection of activities not included in a specific agency. Table 1 contains outlays
in millions of dollars and Table 2 shows the agencies by their percentages of total
outlays. In 2006, for example, the National Science Foundation ranked 25th, had
outlays of $5.5 billion, and accounted for 0.2089% of total outlays.
Tables 3 and 4 duplicate Tables 1 and 2 respectively but are ranked by the 19
federal budget functions instead of departments and agencies. As with the
departments and agencies, the functions are arranged in descending order by amount
spent in 2006. The Natural Resources and Environment budget function in 2006, for
example, had outlays of $33.1 billion, which were 1.2% of total outlays, and ranked
12th out of the 19 budget functions. In addition, Table 5 shows the budget functions
by their share of GDP. The Natural Resources and Environment budget function
used 0.27% of GDP in 2006 (in 2006, total outlays were 20.33% of GDP).
Outlays by Agency
Tables 1 and 2 contain 2001 through 2006 outlays listed by the largest amount
spent by an agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the
smallest amount spent by an agency, the General Services Administration, and on to
those agencies with negative outlays (in which the agency's outlays are offset by
collections credited to the agency -- see footnote 5). This ordering of federal
spending clearly shows the persistent concentration of federal spending in a few
agencies.
3
OMB. Budget Of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2006. February 2005.
Historical Tables. p. 15.
CRS-3
When combined, the four largest departments and agencies -- HHS, the Social
Security Administration (SSA), Defense(DOD), and the Treasury -- spent $2,136
billion, or 81.5% of the total outlays in 2006.4 The smallest of these four, the
Treasury ($464.3 billion), spent almost five times as much as the Department of
Agriculture ($95.4 billion), which ranks right below the Treasury in spending. The
department spending the most, HHS ($614.3 billion), spent 10 times what the tenth
largest, the Department of Transportation ($60.1 billion), spent in 2006. The two
largest, HHS and SSA, each spent over 22% of total outlays in 2006. The DOD
almost reached 19% of total outlays in 2006. The Treasury spent 17.5% of total
outlays. The next department in order, Agriculture, spent 3.5% of total outlays,
showing the large gulf between the four largest agencies and all others in the amounts
spent.
The next 14 departments or agencies in the table spent over $10 billion but less
than $100 billion in 2006.5 Their combined spending was $663.4 billion (25.0% of
total outlays). The 11 departments and agencies spending more than $1 billion but
less than $10 billion (including the Judicial and Legislative Branches), produced total
outlays of $63.9 billion and 2.4% of total outlays in 2006. These 11 combined spent
slightly more than the Office of Personnel Management alone (ranked ninth in the
list).
The final group of agencies with positive outlays, a group of 16, each spent less
than $1.0 billion. This group's combined outlays were only $6.5 billion and just
0.24% of total outlays in 2006. The amount spent by these 16 for FY2006 was a little
more than the amount spent by the Department of Commerce ($6.4 billion) and
approximately what HHS spent, on average, in just under four days.
The sum of the percentages of total outlays spent by the agencies with positive
outlays equals 109.2% of total outlays for 2006. The remaining six agencies with
negative outlays (also called offsetting outlays or offsetting receipts) plus the
negative outlays from the undistributed offsetting receipts category, produced $243.1
billion in outlay offsets (-9.2% of total outlays). Adding these offsetting outlays to
total (positive) outlays produces total net outlays for 2006 of $2,654.9 billion.6
4
Some of the money spent by SSA, Treasury, HHS, Defense, and the other departments and
agencies includes internal payments within the government itself. To avoid counting these
internal payments in total outlays (which represent government expenditures to the public),
they are offset either against the spending of the government recipient or are subtracted from
outlays through the undistributed offsetting receipts category, (a negative outlay amount
found at the bottom of the list in each table). The Treasury is somewhat of a special case.
Without the inclusion of total interest payments on federal debt in its totals, its outlays drop
in 2006 from $464 billion to $58 billion (and 2.2% of total outlays). Adding the net interest
portion of total interest to this non-interest portion of Treasury outlays produces modified
2006 Treasury spending of $285 billion (10.7% of total outlays), an amount substantially
larger than the next largest agency, the Department of Agriculture.
5
Negative outlays, usually as offsetting receipts, keep the totals from exceeding 100% of
total outlays. See footnote 5.
6
Negative outlays or offsetting receipts generally refer to collections by one agency from
(continued...)
CRS-4
Outlays by Budget Function
As mentioned earlier, Tables 3 and 4 list the budget functions ranked in
descending order of outlays for 2006 for the six fiscal years, 2001 through 2006. The
data in these tables make a similar point to those in Tables 1 and 2: the bulk of
federal outlays are concentrated in a relatively few large functions. Although not
showing quite the same concentration as the agency listing, the six largest budget
functions -- out of 19 -- account for 84.4% of total outlays. These six functions
include the major mandatory spending programs of the federal government plus
defense and net interest spending. Substantially increased spending within the
community and regional development function resulting from federal hurricane
recovery efforts, reduced slightly the concentration of federal spending in the largest
six functions in FY2006. In 2005, the six largest functions contained 85.2% of total
spending, which fell to 84.4% of total spending in 2006.
The smallest of the six largest budget functions, net interest, produced over
8.5% of total outlays in 2006 (and its share is expected to keep rising) while the
seventh largest function in the list -- education, training, employment, and social
services -- produced almost 4.5% of total outlays. Three other of the remaining
budget functions individually produced more than 2% of total outlays. The 12
smaller budget functions (excluding offsetting receipts), generated 18% of total
outlays in 2006, and funded all other federal activities.
The six largest functions use such a large share of total spending that even if
they were reduced by the amount of the undistributed offsetting receipts (which in
the budget function listing is mostly federal agency payments of the employer share
of federal employee retirement), they would still account for almost 82% of total
outlays.7
Total federal outlays were 20.3% of GDP in 2006. The largest budget function,
Social Security, was 4.2% of GDP. As with their share of total outlays, the six
largest functions accounted for most of federal spending as a share of GDP by a
substantial amount. The largest six combined were 17.2% of GDP in 2006; the
remaining 12 functions with positive outlays made up 3.7% of GDP in that year.
Undistributed offsetting receipts were -0.5% of GDP. Table 5 shows the budget
functions as percentages of GDP for each of the six years.
6
(...continued)
another agency and collections from the public that have a business-like or market-like
nature. These are then credited to appropriation or fund accounts. Offsetting receipts are
deposited in receipt accounts, but are used to offset outlays rather than being added to total
federal receipts.
7
Undistributed offsetting receipts (UOR) are not defined or measured the same way in the
two sets of tables. In Tables 1 and 2 the UOR include almost all of the outlay offsets in the
government accounts. Very few are offset against the spending in the departments and
agencies. In Tables 3, 4, and 5, many of the offsets are included within the various
functions, producing amounts in the functions that are essentially net outlays. The UOR in
these three tables represents a relatively small amount of offsets that are not distributed
among the functions for various reasons.
CRS-5
Changing Rank and Share Over Time
Some of the agencies and a few of the budget functions shifted their rank over
the 2001 to 2006 period, while many gained or lost share of total outlays or GDP
without a change in rank. These changes resulted from policy choices and external
forces (such as the war on terrorism and changing economic conditions, respectively)
acting on the budget.
Figure 1. Selected Agency Outlays as The four agencies with the
Percent of Total Outlays, FY2001-FY2006 largest outlays in 2006 were also
As Percent of Total the four largest in 2001, although
25% 24.8% 24.3% their order changed with HHS
23.5% 23.7% 23.5% and SSA swapping rank, as did
23.1%
23.4% 23.1%
DOD and Treasury. Health care
22.9% 23.2% 22.7% costs grew faster than Social
20.8% 22.1%
Security, moving HHS to the top,
20% 19.1% 18.8% while slower federal debt growth
18.4% 18.0% 19.2% and lower interest rates early in
16.4%
the period and higher defense
17.5%
16.5% 17.0% 16.6% spending raised DOD (military)
15% 15.6% above Treasury.
12.4% The combined share for the
11.7% 11.7%
11.5% four largest agencies fell from
12.1%
11.5% 84.0% in 2001 to 81.6% in 2006.
10% 11.1%
8.5% The fall in the Treasury's share of
8.5% 7.1% total spending, due to the fall in
7.4%
net interest outlays, explains
7.0% almost all of the decline for these
5% four agencies. A reduction in the
HHS SSA SSA's share contributed to the
Defense-Military Treasury fall, while growth in the DOD's
(Medicare) (Net Interest) share more than covered the SSA
0% reduction. The reversal (in 2005)
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 of the four-year fall in net interest
(within the Department of the
Treasury), and the expectation
that net interest (and gross interest) will continue growing, has increased the chances
of higher future concentrations of federal spending in these four agencies. Along
with interest payments, Social Security and federal health spending are also expected
to rise as shares of total outlays.
The outlays of the three largest agencies combined were 63.2% of total outlays
in 2001, rising to 64.0% in 2006 (which was down from their peak of 65.9% of total
outlays in 2004). These three agencies, HHS, SSA, and DOD, produced almost two-
thirds of total federal spending over this period.
CRS-6
Among the other agencies, increases in Department of Education funding
bumped it from the 10th spot in 2001 to the 6th spot in 2006. The Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) moved from 15th to 8th place in the list of agencies.8 One
of the larger changes in rank moved the Executive Office of the President from 35th
place in 2001 to 26th place in 2006. The Executive Office of the President's
responsibility for the Iraq Relief Reconstruction Fund produced most of the rise in
its rank. The Small Business
Figure 2. Selected Budget Functions as Administration (SBA) shifted
Percent of Total Outlays, FY2001-FY2006 from producing offsetting outlays
25% As Percent of Total (negative outlays) in 2001 to
23.2%
positive outlays in 2002 through
2006, moving it to 30th place (out
21.6%
22.7% 21.2% of 45 departments or agencies
22.0% 20.7%
with positive outlays in 2006).
20% 20.4% The Postal Service went the
18.7% 19.9% 19.9%
other way, dropping in the
17.3%
16.4%
rankings from 28th to 49th and
15.5% 15.5% from having positive outlays in
15% 14.5% 2001 to having offsetting outlays
14.0%
14.5% 13.3% in 2006 (it first had negative
outlays in 2003).
11.7% 11.5% 11.5% 11.7%
12.1% 12.4%
9.8%
The six largest budget
10% 11.1% 9.5%
functions, Social Security,
10.2% 10.5% 10.1%
9.2% defense, income security, net
8.5% 7.1% 7.0% 8.5% interest, Medicare, and health,
7.4% contain almost as much federal
5% spending and most of the same
Social Security
National Defense activities as the top four
Incom e Security agencies. The combined share
Medicare
Health for these six budget functions
Net Interest was 86.1% in 2001 and 84.4% in
0% 2006. Excluding the net interest
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 function from the top six still
produced three-quarters (or
more) of total outlays, 75.0% of total outlays in 2001 and 75.8% of total outlays in
2006. The concentration of federal spending can be expected to increase in the near
future as the federal programs for the elderly, such as Social Security and Medicare,
expand in response to the coming retirement of the baby-boom generation. The
expected faster growth in federal debt resulting from persistent deficits, along with
higher interest rates, may also raise net interest spending as a share of total outlays.
In 2006, spending for hurricane recovery increased spending outside the largest four
departments and six functions by enough to drive down their cumulative share of
total outlays.
8
OMB adjusts historical budget data to conform to current accounting, including
organization changes such as occurred with the creation of the Department of Homeland
Security.
CRS-7
Like the agency list, the largest budget functions show little change in rank over
the period. The four largest budget functions held their rank throughout the five
years. The fifth and sixth ranked budget functions, health and net interest, exchanged
positions, health moving to number five and net interest falling to number six. The
share of total outlays going to the national defense function, as one might expect,
increased over the five years, growing from 16.4% in 2001 to 19.9% in 2006 (the
defense function reached 20.4% of total outlays in 2005). See Table 4 for a listing
of the 19 budget functions showing their share of total outlays for the years 2001
through 2006.
Budget Functions as Percentages of GDP
As percentages of GDP (see Table 5), total outlays have increased since 2001,
rising from 18.5% to 20.3% in 2006. In other words, federal spending has grown
faster than the economy over these
Figure 3. Selected Budget Functions as six years. Its growth in 2006 in
Percent of GDP, FY2001-FY2006 relation to GDP was smaller than
As Percent of GDP
most of the other years in the
4.5% period. Of the overall increase,
4.26%
4.39% 4.39% 4.19% national defense increased its
4.30% 4.29%
4.0% 4.09% 4.03%
share by 1.0% of GDP. Increases
3.75% 3.95% in the shares of three other
functions (Medicare; health; and
3.5% 3.36% education, training, employment,
3.03% 3.10% and social services) produced
3.0% 2.82%
much of the remaining increase in
3.01% 2.70% total outlays as a percentage of
2.88%
2.68% GDP. Net interest lost 0.3% of its
2.5% 2.43%
2.22%
2.31% 2.33% 2.52% share of GDP over the period.
2.16% Figure 3 shows the six largest
2.04%
2.0% 1.89% 1.93% budget functions as percentages of
2.05% 2.03% 2.08%
GDP for the years 2001 through
1.65%
1.71% 1.73% 2006 (their cumulative share of
1.5% 1.39%
1.50% GDP was 15.9% in 2001 and
1.42% 17.1% in 2006). The changes, for
1.0% the most part, occurred over a
Social Security limited range. None of the
National Defense
Incom e Security functions changed its share of
0.5% Medicare GDP by more than 1% (the
Health
Net Interest National defense function
0.0% increased its share by exactly 1%).
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Most of the functions had changes
of less than 0.4% of GDP, many
much less. Changing the scale in
Figure 3 to show total outlays over the period (i.e., extending the vertical axis to
21% of GDP) makes the visual changes in most of the six functions look relatively
flat. (This is illustrated in Figure 4.)
CRS-8
During the six years, the individual functions showed varied patterns of change.
Defense spending grew rapidly in the early years of the period (from historically low
levels) as the funding for the war on terror grew, but leveled off in 2005 and 2006.
Income security rose from 2.7%
Figure 4. Selected Budget Functions and
of GDP in 2001 to 3.1% of GDP
Total Outlays as Percent of GDP,
in 2003, before falling back to
FY2001-FY2006
2.7% of GDP in 2006. Funding
As Percent of GDP
in this function increased with
20% the economic sluggishness in the
early years of the decade. Net
interest fell from 2.0% of GDP in
2001 to 1.4% of GDP in 2003
and 2004 before rising to 1.7%
of GDP in 2006 (a trend that is
15%
likely to continue and may
accelerate). The slow growth in
federal debt and low interest
Total
Social Security rates in the early 2000s reduced
National Defense the share of GDP used for net
10% Incom e Security interest. Medicare continued its
Medicare
Health fairly steady increase as a share
Net Interest of GDP. Although Social
Security fell slightly as a share of
GDP over these years, this trend
5% is unlikely to continue for long.
The coming retirement of the
baby boom generation beginning
early in the next decade will
increase (under current policy)
spending for Social Security at a
0%
rate fast enough to increase its
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
share of total spending.
CRS-9
Table 1. Federal Outlays by Agency in Millions of Dollars,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006
Agency 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1 Dept. Of Health And Human Services . . . . 426,311 465,812 505,345 543,389 581,463 614,318
(Medicare) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217,384 230,855 249,433 269,360 298,638 329,867
2 Social Security Administration . . . . . . . . . . 461,264 487,827 507,734 530,205 561,333 585,742
3 Department Of Defense -- Military . . . . . . 290,340 331,951 388,870 437,116 474,374 499,355
4 Department Of The Treasury . . . . . . . . . . . 386,906 370,558 366,987 375,360 410,726 464,267
(Net Interest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206,167 170,949 153,073 160,245 183,905 226,631
5 Department Of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68,001 68,738 72,374 71,769 85,333 93,534
6 Department Of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35,721 46,282 57,400 62,819 72,857 93,427
7 Department Of Veterans Affairs . . . . . . . . . 45,050 50,884 56,891 59,554 69,844 69,808
8 Department Of Homeland Security . . . . . . 15,025 17,557 31,967 26,537 38,717 69,100
9 Office Of Personnel Management . . . . . . . 50,914 52,512 54,135 56,535 59,500 62,400
10 Department Of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . 49,282 56,024 50,807 54,548 56,597 60,141
11 Other Defense Civil Programs . . . . . . . . . . 34,164 35,157 39,883 41,730 43,484 44,435
12 Department Of Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39,755 64,704 69,593 56,706 46,943 43,139
13 Dept Of Housing And Urban Development 33,939 31,876 37,474 45,019 42,448 42,434
14 Department Of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18,695 21,112 21,539 28,954 22,366 23,320
15 Department Of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,340 17,681 19,385 19,972 21,274 19,652
16 National Aeronautics And Space Adm. . . . 14,095 14,430 14,552 15,189 15,600 15,125
17 International Assistance Program . . . . . . . . 11,777 13,336 13,463 13,737 15,034 13,914
18 Department Of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,444 9,453 9,261 10,934 12,754 12,957
19 Department Of The Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,868 9,739 9,210 8,936 9,288 9,063
20 Environmental Protection Agency . . . . . . . 7,391 7,450 8,061 8,334 7,911 8,322
21 Corps Of Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,726 4,797 4,751 4,838 4,720 6,946
22 Federal Communications Commission . . . . 4,098 5,202 8,800 3,848 7,546 6,922
23 Department Of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,010 5,314 5,676 5,850 6,147 6,374
24 Judicial Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,405 4,823 5,123 5,392 5,543 5,820
25 National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . 3,690 4,188 4,736 5,118 5,432 5,546
26 Executive Office Of The President . . . . . . . 246 451 387 3,308 7,689 5,378
27 Legislative Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,035 3,219 3,427 3,885 3,995 4,129
28 Railroad Retirement Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,541 5,425 3,056 2,792 2,123 3,368
29 Other Independent Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . 1,041 1,256 1,649 2,563 3,448 2,019
30 Small Business Administration . . . . . . . . . -570 493 1,558 4,075 2,503 905
31 Corp. For National And Community Serv. 757 793 839 765 793 842
32 Smithsonian Institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 561 616 614 782 739 795
33 District Of Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539 927 781 805 659 671
34 Broadcasting Board Of Governors . . . . . . . 429 484 517 653 640 634
35 Corporation For Public Broadcasting . . . . . 360 375 411 437 466 460
36 Federal Drug Control Programs . . . . . . . . . 340 467 620 429 409 401
37 Legal Services Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 333 336 335 332 327
38 National Archives And Records Adm. . . . . 217 268 301 307 321 321
39 Equal Employment Opportunity Comm. . . 289 324 315 324 320 320
40 National Labor Relations Board . . . . . . . . . 220 230 231 242 245 248
41 Institute Of Museum And Library Serv. . . . 196 219 249 207 250 238
42 National Endowment For The Humanities 119 120 119 127 136 138
43 National Endowment For The Arts . . . . . . 104 107 112 120 124 121
44 Nuclear Regulatory Commission . . . . . . . . 31 40 48 71 110 57
45 General Services Administration . . . . . . . . -269 -271 323 -404 17 22
46 National Credit Union Administration . . . . -202 -623 -572 -351 -339 -279
47 Tennessee Valley Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . -662 124 267 -413 -205 -380
48 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . . . -1,220 -353 -793 -1,554 -874 -677
49 Postal Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,395 207 -5,169 -4,070 -1,223 -971
50 Securities And Exchange Commission . . . . -330 -536 -532 -685 -799 -1,033
51 Export-Import Bank Of The U.S. . . . . . . . . -1,749 -140 -3,248 -1,902 -801 -2,191
52 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . . . . . . . -190,948 -201,124 -210,446 -212,522 -226,210 -237,546
Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,863,190 2,011,153 2,160,117 2,293,006 2,471647 2,654,877
(See table notes at the end of report.)
CRS-10
Table 2. Federal Outlays by Agency in Percent of Total Outlays,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006
Agency 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1 Dept. Of Health And Human Services . . . . 22.8807%23.1614%23.3943%23.6977%23.5211%23.1436%
(Medicare) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6673 11.4787 11.5472 11.7470 12.0804 12.4273
2 Social Security Administration . . . . . . . . . . 24.7567 24.2561 23.5049 23.1227 22.7068 22.0670
3 Department Of Defense -- Military . . . . . . 15.5830 16.5055 18.0023 19.0630 19.1891 18.8125
4 Department Of The Treasury . . . . . . . . . . . 20.7658 18.4252 16.9892 16.3698 16.6145 17.4906
(Net Interest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.0653 8.5000 7.0863 6.9884 7.4392 8.5380
5 Department Of Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6497 3.4178 3.3505 3.1299 3.4518 3.5238
6 Department Of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.9172 2.3013 2.6573 2.7396 2.9472 3.5197
7 Department Of Veterans Affairs . . . . . . . . . 2.4179 2.5301 2.6337 2.5972 2.8253 2.6299
8 Department Of Homeland Security . . . . . . 0.8064 0.8730 1.4799 1.1573 1.5662 2.6032
9 Office Of Personnel Management . . . . . . . 2.7326 2.6110 2.5061 2.4655 2.4069 2.3508
10 Department Of Transportation . . . . . . . . . . 2.6450 2.7857 2.3520 2.3789 2.2894 2.2657
11 Other Defense Civil Programs . . . . . . . . . . 1.8336 1.7481 1.8463 1.8199 1.7590 1.6740
12 Department Of Labor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1337 3.2173 3.2217 2.4730 1.8989 1.6252
13 Dept. Of Housing And Urban Development 1.8216 1.5850 1.7348 1.9633 1.7171 1.5986
14 Department Of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0034 1.0497 0.9971 1.2627 0.9047 0.8785
15 Department Of Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.8770 0.8791 0.8974 0.8710 0.8606 0.7404
16 National Aeronautics And Space Adm. . . . 0.7565 0.7175 0.6737 0.6624 0.6310 0.5698
17 International Assistance Program . . . . . . . . 0.6321 0.6631 0.6233 0.5991 0.6081 0.5242
18 Department Of State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.3995 0.4700 0.4287 0.4768 0.5159 0.4881
19 Department Of The Interior . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4223 0.4842 0.4264 0.3897 0.3757 0.3414
20 Environmental Protection Agency . . . . . . . 0.3967 0.3704 0.3732 0.3635 0.3200 0.3135
21 Corps Of Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2537 0.2385 0.2199 0.2110 0.1909 0.2617
22 Federal Communications Commission . . . . 0.2199 0.2587 0.4074 0.1678 0.3052 0.2608
23 Department Of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2689 0.2642 0.2628 0.2551 0.2487 0.2401
24 Judicial Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2364 0.2398 0.2372 0.2351 0.2242 0.2193
25 National Science Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1980 0.2082 0.2192 0.2232 0.2197 0.2089
26 Executive Office Of The President . . . . . . . 0.0132 0.0224 0.0179 0.1443 0.3110 0.2026
27 Legislative Branch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1629 0.1601 0.1586 0.1694 0.1616 0.1556
28 Railroad Retirement Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.2974 0.2697 0.1415 0.1218 0.0859 0.1269
29 Other Independent Agencies . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0559 0.0625 0.0763 0.1118 0.1395 0.0761
30 Small Business Administration . . . . . . . . . -0.0306 0.0245 0.0721 0.1777 0.1013 0.0341
31 Corp. For National And Community Serv. 0.0406 0.0394 0.0388 0.0334 0.0321 0.0317
32 Smithsonian Institution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0301 0.0306 0.0284 0.0341 0.0299 0.0300
33 District Of Columbia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0289 0.0461 0.0362 0.0351 0.0267 0.0253
34 Broadcasting Board Of Governors . . . . . . . 0.0230 0.0241 0.0239 0.0285 0.0259 0.0239
35 Corporation For Public Broadcasting . . . . . 0.0193 0.0186 0.0190 0.0191 0.0189 0.0173
36 Federal Drug Control Programs . . . . . . . . . 0.0182 0.0232 0.0287 0.0187 0.0165 0.0151
37 Legal Services Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.0172 0.0166 0.0156 0.0146 0.0134 0.0123
38 National Archives And Records Adm. . . . . 0.0116 0.0133 0.0139 0.0134 0.0130 0.0121
39 Equal Employment Opportunity Comm. . . 0.0155 0.0161 0.0146 0.0141 0.0129 0.0121
40 National Labor Relations Board . . . . . . . . . 0.0118 0.0114 0.0107 0.0106 0.0099 0.0093
41 Institute Of Museum And Library Services 0.0105 0.0109 0.0115 0.0090 0.0101 0.0090
42 National Endowment For The Humanities 0.0064 0.0060 0.0055 0.0055 0.0055 0.0052
43 National Endowment For The Arts . . . . . . 0.0056 0.0053 0.0052 0.0052 0.0050 0.0046
44 Nuclear Regulatory Commission . . . . . . . . 0.0017 0.0020 0.0022 0.0031 0.0044 0.0021
45 General Services Administration . . . . . . . . -0.0144 -0.0135 0.0150 -0.0176 0.0007 0.0008
46 National Credit Union Administration . . . . -0.0108 -0.0310 -0.0265 -0.0153 -0.0137 -0.0105
47 Tennessee Valley Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . -0.0355 0.0062 0.0124 -0.0180 -0.0083 -0.0143
48 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation . . . -0.0655 -0.0176 -0.0367 -0.0678 -0.0354 -0.0255
49 Postal Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.1285 0.0103 -0.2393 -0.1775 -0.0495 -0.0366
50 Securities And Exchange Commission . . . . -0.0177 -0.0267 -0.0246 -0.0299 -0.0323 -0.0389
51 Export-Import Bank Of The United States -0.0939 -0.0070 -0.1504 -0.0829 -0.0324 -0.0825
52 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . . . . . . . -10.2484 -10.0004 -9.7423 -9.2683 -9.1505 -8.9492
Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
(See table notes at the end of report.)
CRS-11
Table 3. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Millions of
Dollars, FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006
Function 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1 Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432,958 455,980 474,680 495,548 523,333 548,573
2 National Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304,880 348,555 404,920 455,908 503,155 528,811
3 Income Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269,774 312,720 334,632 333,059 346,785 353,701
4 Medicare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217,384 230,855 249,433 269,360 298,638 329,867
5 Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172,270 196,544 219,576 240,134 250,420 252,609
6 Net Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206,167 170,949 153,073 160,245 183,905 226,631
7 Ed., Training, Empl. and Social Services 57,143 70,544 82,568 87,948 95,889 116,472
8 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54,447 61,833 67,069 64,627 68,102 70,801
9 Veterans Benefits And Services . . . . . . . 45,039 50,984 57,022 59,779 70,150 69,843
10 Community And Regional Development 11,773 12,981 18,850 15,822 25,268 53,925
11 Administration Of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . 30,202 35,061 35,340 45,576 34,508 35,503
12 Natural Resources And Environment . . . 25,623 29,454 29,703 30,725 28,174 33,062
13 International Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16,493 22,351 21,209 26,891 34,330 29,491
14 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26,253 21,966 22,497 15,440 28,421 27,907
15 General Science, Space, And Technology 19,784 20,767 20,873 23,053 20,468 20,218
16 General Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14,263 16,925 23,054 22,321 17,459 18,871
17 Commerce And Housing Credit . . . . . . . 5,739 -399 735 5,273 7,460 6,085
18 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 475 -735 -166 406 755
19 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . . . . . -47,011 -47,392 -54,382 -58,537 -65,223 -68,249
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,863,190 2,011,153 2,160,117 2,293,006 2,471,647 2,654,878
(See table notes at the end of report.)
Table 4. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Percent of Total
Outlays, FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Outlays in FY2006
Function 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1 Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23.237% 22.673%21.975% 21.611%21.173% 20.663%
2 National Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16.363 17.331 18.745 19.883 20.357 19.918
3 Income Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14.479 15.549 15.491 14.525 14.031 13.323
4 Medicare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11.667 11.479 11.547 11.747 12.083 12.425
5 Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.246 9.773 10.165 10.472 10.132 9.515
6 Net Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11.065 8.500 7.086 6.988 7.441 8.536
7 Ed., Training, Empl. and Social Services . . . . . . 3.067 3.508 3.822 3.835 3.880 4.387
8 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.922 3.075 3.105 2.818 2.755 2.667
9 Veterans Benefits And Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.417 2.535 2.640 2.607 2.838 2.631
10 Community And Regional Development . . . . . . 0.632 0.645 0.873 0.690 1.022 2.031
11 Administration Of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.621 1.743 1.636 1.988 1.396 1.337
12 Natural Resources And Environment . . . . . . . . . 1.375 1.465 1.375 1.340 1.140 1.245
13 International Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.885 1.111 0.982 1.173 1.389 1.111
14 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.409 1.092 1.041 0.673 1.150 1.051
15 General Science, Space, And Technology . . . . . 1.062 1.033 0.966 1.005 0.828 0.762
16 General Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.766 0.842 1.067 0.973 0.706 0.711
17 Commerce And Housing Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.308 -0.020 0.034 0.230 0.302 0.229
18 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.000 0.024 -0.034 -0.007 0.016 0.028
19 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . . . . . . . . . . .-2.523 -2.356 -2.518 -2.553 -2.639 -2.571
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
(See table notes at the end of report.)
CRS-12
Table 5. Federal Outlays by Budget Function in Percent of GDP,
FY2001-FY2006, Ranked by Percent of GDP in FY2006
Function 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
1 Social Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.305% 4.394% 4.393% 4.292% 4.258% 4.200%
2 National Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.031 3.359 3.747 3.949 4.094 4.049
3 Income Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.682 3.013 3.097 2.885 2.822 2.708
4 Medicare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.161 2.225 2.308 2.333 2.430 2.526
5 Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.713 1.894 2.032 2.080 2.038 1.934
6 Net Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.050 1.647 1.417 1.388 1.496 1.735
7 Ed., Training, Empl. and Social Services . . . . . . 0.568 0.680 0.764 0.762 0.780 0.892
8 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.541 0.596 0.621 0.560 0.554 0.542
9 Veterans Benefits And Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.448 0.491 0.528 0.518 0.571 0.535
10 Community And Regional Development . . . . . . 0.117 0.125 0.174 0.137 0.206 0.413
11 Administration Of Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.300 0.338 0.327 0.395 0.281 0.272
12 Natural Resources And Environment . . . . . . . . . 0.255 0.284 0.275 0.266 0.229 0.253
13 International Affairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.164 0.215 0.196 0.233 0.279 0.226
14 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0.261 0.212 0.208 0.134 0.231 0.214
15 General Science, Space, And Technology . . . . . 0.197 0.200 0.193 0.200 0.167 0.155
16 General Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.142 0.163 0.213 0.193 0.142 0.144
17 Commerce And Housing Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.057 -0.004 0.007 0.046 0.061 0.047
18 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
0.000 0.005 -0.007 -0.001 0.003 0.006
19 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts . . . . . . . . . . . -0.467 -0.457 -0.503 -0.507 -0.531 -0.523
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.525 19.380 19.991 19.860 20.110 20.327
(See table notes at the end of report.)
CRS-13
Notes on the Tables
Tables 1 and 2
The negative outlays (shown for several agencies and for offsetting receipts)
near the bottom of these two tables generally represent fees, charges, proprietary
receipts from the public (such as loan repayments; interest; or sale of property,
products, or services), or intra-governmental transactions (such as payments by
federal agencies into federal employee retirement accounts, payments from one
agency to another, or the intra-governmental payment of interest). The accounts for
some agencies may be credited with more income than with outlays, producing
negative outlays.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) includes Medicare,
Medicaid, and other social support programs. Defense (military) includes only
military defense programs; civilian defense programs are shown separately. Treasury
spending includes total federal interest payments on the public debt and the IRS, as
well as other activities.9
The All Other category includes spending for the multitude of agencies with
very small budgets. These small agencies include the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation, the United States Institute of Peace, the National Mediation Board, and
the Marine Mammal Commission, among numerous others.
Tables 3 and 4
The budget functions shown in Tables 3 and 4 are the standard budget functions
used in the budget by the Administration and in the congressional budget resolution.
The components of the largest budget functions are mostly self -- explanatory.
Defense is mostly the Department of Defense; Social Security is the Social Security
program; Net interest is a measure of federal interest payments to the public; Income
security includes unemployment compensation, food and nutrition assistance, and
federal civilian and military retirement; Medicare is the Medicare program; and
Health includes the Medicaid program, as well as other federal health spending.
General
The data in this report are from the Budget of the United States Government for
Fiscal Year 2007 (February 2006) and the Final Monthly Treasury Statement of
Receipts and Outlays of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2006 (FTMS;
September 2006) from the Department of the Treasury. Data for the functional tables
9
The overwhelming part of the billions spent by the Treasury ($464.3 billion in 2006) is
spent on interest on the public debt ($405.9 billion in 2006). Of the 17.5% of total outlays
coming from the Treasury, 15.3% of total outlays came from gross interest on the public
debt. Net interest, shown in all the tables, subtracts from gross interest both the intra-
governmental payment of interest and payments of interest by the public to the government.
Net interest was $226.6 billion and 8.5% of total outlays in 2006.
CRS-14
were taken from the Historical Tables volume of OMB's 2007 budget documents and
the FMTS for 2006.
The 2006 function data in this report used revised function data made available
in November 2006 by the Treasury . The revised data corrected errors that appeared
in the function table (Table 9) published in the FMTS for 2006 (in the September
2006 issue). The revised data included slightly larger total outlays and very slightly
smaller total receipts. Outlays were larger by almost $500 million, less than 0.02%
of the original total outlays. Receipts were smaller by $6 million, only 0.002% below
the original receipt total. The revised outlay total was used to calculate the
percentage shares of spending by agency and by function. It had an insignificant
effect on the spending by agency as a percentage of total outlays, compared to the
original outlay total.
Additional detail on the programs within the departments and agencies and the
budget functions can be found in the annual budget documents issued by OMB. The
data in the tables are internally consistent based on the data from OMB. If the tables
in this report are compared to similar data from other years' budget documents they
may not match because of the revisions that the government makes in its budgetary
accounting and its accounts over time.
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