2017 United States federal budget

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2017 (2017) Budget of the United States federal government
SubmittedFebruary 9, 2016 [1]
Submitted by Barack Obama
Submitted to 114th Congress
Total revenue$3.644 trillion (requested) [2]
$3.316 trillion (actual) [3]
17.3% of GDP [3]
Total expenditures$4.147 trillion (requested) [2]
$3.982 trillion (actual) [3]
20.8% of GDP [3]
Deficit $503 billion (requested) [2]
$665 billion (actual) [3]
3.5% of GDP [3]
Debt$20.24 trillion (actual) 105.5% of GDP [4]
GDP $19.177 trillion (actual) [3]
Website Office of Management and Budget
  2016
2018  

The 2017 United States federal budget is the United States federal budget for fiscal year 2017, which lasted from October 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017. President Barack Obama submitted a budget proposal to the 114th Congress on February 9, 2016. The 2017 fiscal year overlaps the end of the Obama administration and the beginning of the Trump administration.

The government was initially funded through a series of three temporary continuing resolutions. Funding for military construction and the Department of Veterans Affairs was enacted on September 29, 2016 as part of the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act. The remaining funding was passed as an omnibus spending bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, enacted on May 5, 2017.

Background

The federal budget outlines the government’s plans for spending and revenue. In the United States, the federal budget request is first introduced by the president. The federal budget and all appropriations must then be written and approved by the United States Congress. In Congress the process begins with the House Budget Committee and the Senate Budget Committee creating their own budget. After both houses pass a budget resolution, representatives and senators come up with a conference report negotiating between both the House and Senate versions. Budget resolutions do not go to the president for a signature or veto. [5] [6] This budget does not directly enact the actual spending of the federal government, but it sets the amounts that each congressional committee is allowed to spend on the programs, agencies and departments for which it is responsible. Actual spending is driven by the final appropriations bills. [5]

The Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA) had established spending caps on defense and non-defense spending, which were first applied in FY2013. [7] Just before midnight on October 26, 2015, Republican and Democratic leaders reached an agreement, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, to increase the budget caps imposed by the BCA for fiscal years by $50 billion in FY2016 and $30 billion in FY2017, and temporarily suspend the debt limit until March 15, 2017. The increased spending was to be offset by changes in Medicare, Social Security disability insurance, selling off oil from the strategic petroleum reserves, and other changes. [8] [9]

Budget proposals

The Obama administration's proposed budget for 2017 proposed spending $4.2 trillion and raising $3.6 trillion in tax revenue. [10] The administration's stated priorities are creating jobs, building 21st century transportation, investing in medical research, addressing climate change, and increased funding for national security. [11]

Congress did not pass a regular budget resolution for the 2017 fiscal year during the 114th Congress, [12] but did so early in the 115th Congress, over three months after the fiscal year had actually begun. [13]

114th Congress

On September 28, 2016, Congress passed a continuing resolution which extended funding at previous years levels up to December 9, 2016. The continuing resolution avoided a government shutdown and directed funding specifically for protection against the Zika virus and flood relief in Louisiana. The resolution did not include funding some members of Congress requested for the lead crisis in Flint, Michigan. [14] [15] The continuing resolution was named as the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act. [16]

In November 2016, shortly after the 2016 presidential election, the incoming Trump administration advocated for a second continuing resolution funding the government only until the end of March, to allow the incoming administration influence over the 2017 budget. The House Republican leadership acceded to this plan, although some lawmakers expressed concern that delaying the final appropriations legislation would distract Congress from other priorities during the beginning of Trump's administration. [17] The final bill, the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017, extended funding through April 28, 2017. It was passed by the House and Senate on December 8 and 9, 2016, respectively. The passage of the bill in the Senate was delayed after Democrats objected to the fact that an extension of health benefits for retired miners would not last until the end of the year, but a compromise was made to take up the matter in January. [18]

115th Congress

On January 12, 2017, the Senate voted 51 to 48 to pass a FY2017 budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 3, that contained language allowing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act through the budget reconciliation process, which disallows a filibuster in the Senate. [13] [19] [20] The resulting bill, the American Health Care Act of 2017 was initially publicly released by House Republicans on March 6, 2017. [21] The bill was initially withdrawn on March 24 after it failed to gain sufficient House Republican support to pass it, [22] [23] but continuing attempts at compromise led to a new attempt to pass it in early May. [24]

The Trump administration released its preliminary 2018 federal budget request on March 16, 2017. The budget also proposed changes to the BCA spending caps for FY2017, with defense spending increasing by $25 billion (from $551 to $576 billion), and non-defense spending decreasing by $15 billion (from $519 billion to $504 billion). [25]

On April 28, 2017, Congress passed a one-week continuing resolution that extended funding through May 5, 2017. [26] [27] On May 1, a bipartisan agreement was announced on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017, which included all of the remaining appropriations bills. [28] [29] [30]

Near the end of the fiscal year, on September 8, additional disaster funding due to Hurricane Harvey was enacted as part of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 and Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017. [31] [32]

Total revenue

Receipts

Receipts by Source

   Social Security/other payroll tax (35%)
   Excise tax (2.5%)
   Estate and gift taxes (0.7%)
   Customs duties (1.0%)
  Miscellaneous receipts (3.9%)

Receipts by source: (in billions of dollars)

SourceRequested [33] Actual [3]
Individual income tax $1,788$1,587
Corporate income tax $418.7$297
Social Security and other payroll tax $1,141.2$1,161
Excise tax $110.1$83.8
Estate and gift taxes $22.4$22.8
Customs duties $39.5$34.6
Other miscellaneous receipts$123.8$129
Total$3,643.7$3,316

Related Research Articles

The United States budget process is the framework used by Congress and the President of the United States to formulate and create the United States federal budget. The process was established by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, and additional budget legislation.

Discretionary spending Type of government spending

In American public finance, discretionary spending is government spending implemented through an appropriations bill. This spending is an optional part of fiscal policy, in contrast to social programs for which funding is mandatory and determined by the number of eligible recipients. Some examples of areas funded by discretionary spending are national defense, foreign aid, education and transportation.

In the United States, a continuing resolution is a type of appropriations legislation. An appropriations bill is a bill that appropriates money to specific federal government departments, agencies, and programs. The money provides funding for operations, personnel, equipment, and activities. Regular appropriations bills are passed annually, with the funding they provide covering one fiscal year. The fiscal year is the accounting period of the federal government, which runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. When Congress and the president fail to agree on and pass one or more of the regular appropriations bills, a continuing resolution can be passed instead. A continuing resolution continues the pre-existing appropriations at the same levels as the previous fiscal year for a set amount of time. Continuing resolutions typically provide funding at a rate or formula based on the previous year's funding. The funding extends until a specific date or regular appropriations bills are passed, whichever comes first. There can be some changes to some of the accounts in a continuing resolution. The continuing resolution takes the form of a joint resolution, and may provide bridging funding for existing federal programs at current, reduced, or expanded levels.

PAYGO is the practice in the United States of financing expenditures with funds that are currently available rather than borrowed.

United States federal budget Budget of the U.S. federal government

The United States federal budget comprises the spending and revenues of the U.S. federal government. The budget is the financial representation of the priorities of the government, reflecting historical debates and competing economic philosophies. The government primarily spends on healthcare, retirement, and defense programs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office provides extensive analysis of the budget and its economic effects. It has reported that large budget deficits over the next 30 years are projected to drive federal debt held by the public to unprecedented levels—from 98 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020 to 195 percent by 2050.

The 2011 United States federal budget was the United States federal budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 2011. The budget was the subject of a spending request by President Barack Obama. The actual appropriations for Fiscal Year 2011 had to be authorized by the full Congress before it could take effect, according to the U.S. budget process.

The 2012 United States federal budget was the budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year 2012, which lasted from October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The original spending request was issued by President Barack Obama in February 2011. That April, the Republican-held House of Representatives announced a competing plan, The Path to Prosperity, emboldened by a major victory in the 2010 Congressional elections associated with the Tea Party movement. The budget plans were both intended to focus on deficit reduction, but differed in their changes to taxation, entitlement programs, defense spending, and research funding.

The 2014 United States federal budget is the budget to fund government operations for the fiscal year (FY) 2014, which began on October 1, 2013 and ended on September 30, 2014.

The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2014 refers to appropriations bills introduced during the 113th United States Congress. There are two different versions: H.R. 2609 in the House of Representatives and S. 1245 in the Senate. The bill was later incorporated as Division D of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, which was enacted in January 2014.

Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014

The Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014 is a bill that was introduced into the United States House of Representatives on September 10, 2013. The original text of the bill was for a continuing resolution that would make continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 2014 United States federal budget. Though versions of the bill passed each house of Congress, the House and Senate were not able to reconcile the bills and pass a compromise measure.

The October 2013 mini-continuing resolutions were a set of continuing resolutions that would have provided funding for a limited set of federal agencies during the United States federal government shutdown of 2013. The bills were part of a Republican strategy to fund portions of the government which have bipartisan support, in order to spare those agencies and programs from the effects of the shutdown. The bills all passed the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress, but were ignored by the United States Senate. These selective continuing resolutions became moot upon the passage of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 which funded the entire government, ending the shutdown.

2015 United States federal budget U.S. budget from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015

The 2015 United States federal budget was the federal budget for fiscal year 2015, which runs from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015. The budget takes the form of a budget resolution which must be agreed to by both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in order to become final, but never receives the signature or veto of the President of the United States and does not become law. Until both the House and the Senate pass the same concurrent resolution, no final budget exists. Actual U.S. federal government spending will occur through later appropriations legislation that would be signed into law.

Every year, the United States Congress is responsible for writing, passing, reconciling, and submitting to the President of the United States a series of appropriations bills that appropriate money to specific federal government departments, agencies, and programs for their use to operate in the subsequent fiscal year. The money provides funding for operations, personnel, equipment, and activities. In 2014, Congress was responsible for passing the appropriations bills that would fund the federal government in fiscal year 2015, which runs from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015.

The United States Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2016 began as a budget proposed by President Barack Obama to fund government operations for October 1, 2015 – September 30, 2016. The requested budget was submitted to the 114th Congress on February 2, 2015.

Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017

The Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017 is a continuing resolution that extended fiscal year 2017 funding for the United States federal government from December 9, 2016 until April 28, 2017. The bill contains a boost to defense spending as well as bipartisan health programs.

2018 United States federal budget U.S. budget from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018

The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2018, which ran from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018, was named America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again. It was the first budget proposed by newly elected president Donald Trump, submitted to the 115th Congress on March 16, 2017.

The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019. Five appropriation bills were passed in September 2018, the first time five bills had been enacted on time in 22 years, with the rest of the government being funded through a series of three continuing resolutions. A gap between the second and third of these led to the 2018–19 federal government shutdown. The remainder of government funding was enacted as an omnibus spending bill in February 2019.

The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2020 ran from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The government was initially funded through a series of two temporary continuing resolutions. The final funding package was passed as two consolidated spending bills in December 2019, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 and the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020. A series of supplemental appropriations bills were passed beginning in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2021 ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. The government was initially funded through a series of five temporary continuing resolutions. The final funding package was passed as a consolidated spending bill on December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. A budget resolution for the 2021 fiscal year began to be considered in February 2021 for the purpose of passing a COVID-19 pandemic relief bill through the budget reconciliation process.

Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 Appropriations and pandemic relief bill

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 is a $2.3 trillion spending bill that combines $900 billion in stimulus relief for the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States with a $1.4 trillion omnibus spending bill for the 2021 federal fiscal year and prevents a government shutdown. The bill is one of the largest spending measures ever enacted, surpassing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, enacted in March 2020. The legislation is the first bill to address the pandemic since April 2020. According to the Senate Historical Office, at 5,593 pages, the legislation is the longest bill ever passed by Congress.

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