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U.S. Government Information: Federal Budget

Guide to information resources by and about the federal government.

Congressional Budget Office

Recurring CBO Budget Documents – estimates and analysis reports, including:

  • Accuracy of CBO’s Baseline Projections
  • Analysis of the President's Budget
  • Automatic Stabilizers in the Federal Budget
  • Budget and Economic Outlook and Updates
  • Budget Infographics
  • Budget Options
  • CBO’s Waterfall Model for Projecting Discretionary Spending
  • Economic Forecasting Record
  • Enacted Legislation That Affects Mandatory Spending or Revenues
  • Expired and Expiring Authorizations of Appropriations
  • Estimates of the Cost of Federal Credit Programs
  • Federal Debt and the Statutory Limit
  • Federal Mandatory Spending for Means-Tested Programs
  • Federal Receipts and Expenditures in the National Income and Product Accounts
  • Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance
  • How Changes in Revenues and Outlays Would Affect Debt Service, Deficits, and Debt
  • Long-Term Budget Outlook
  • Long-Term Projections for Social Security
  • Monthly Budget Review
  • Sequestration
  • Troubled Asset Relief Program
  • Workbook for How Changes in Economic Conditions Might Affect the Federal Budget

Status of Appropriations

Separate reports for the House and Senate, summarizing CBO's cost estimates of proposed discretionary appropriations contained in legislation considered by the chamber

Additional CBO budget products

This is CBO's main budget page, which links to many additional publications.

 

White House Documents

Budget of the United States Government

Contains the budget message of the president, information on the president’s priorities, and summary tables

Supplemental volumes include: (select a report year from the main Budget link above to find supplemental volumes)

  • Analytical Perspectives
    • analyses designed to highlight specified subject areas or provide other significant presentations of budget data that place the budget in perspective. Includes economic and accounting analyses, information on federal receipts and collections, analyses of federal spending, information on federal borrowing and debt, baseline or current services estimates, and other technical presentations
  • Appendix (Technical Supplement)
    • contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts than any of the other budget documents. Includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language; budget schedules for each account; legislative proposals; narrative explanations of each budget account; and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies
  • Historical Tables
    • provide a wide range of data on federal government finances. Many of the data series begin in 1940 and include estimates from the President’s Budget
  • Mid-session Review
    • reports on the administration’s estimates for receipts, outlays, and the deficit for changes that have occurred since the President’s Budget  was completed

Economic Report of the President

Annual report written by the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. It overviews the nation's economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. The report is transmitted to Congress no later than ten days after the submission of the Budget of the United States Government.

Executive Agencies

Departments and agencies must submit various documentation for the budget process. Unfortunately, there is no consistency as to which documents are made available on their websites and there is no centralized source for most of these documents. Links below go to the agency's main budget page; from there, you will need to review the available documents. 

Congressional Budget Justifications (CJs) are often the most useful documents. These provide detailed descriptions of the agency’s programs and their purposes. They also include explanations for proposed changes in the next fiscal year, often focusing on the proposed increase or decrease in spending. CJ's are supposed to be accessible on each agency's website with a standard url of agency.gov/cj (e.g. hhs.gov/cj), and USASpending.gov serves as a centralized list of these links.