Budget FY1999: A Chronology with Internet Access

Mary Frances Bley
Information Research Specialist
Congressional Reference Division

Updated July 23, 1998

98-199

CONTENTS

• SUMMARY
• Status
• Congressional Legislative Action
• Where Can I Find ... on the Internet?
• • Appropriations: CRS Products and Legislation (including Supplementals and Rescissions)
  • Appropriations Locator: Finding Programs, Agencies, Departments
  • Appropriations: Mark-up and Hearing Schedules
  • Appropriations: Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs) on Appropriation and Non-Appropriation Bills Scheduled for House or Senate Floor Action
  • Debt: Current, Projections, Historical
  • Deficits/Surpluses: Current, Projections, Historical
  • Deficits/Surpluses: Balanced Budgets -- Historical
  • Line Item Vetoes
  • Pie Charts and Tables:
    
    The Federal Dollar -- Where It Comes From and Where It Goes
• Congressional Publications and Prepared Testimony
• Presidential Action and Executive Budget-Related Documents
• Other Budget Internet Sites
• • Budget, Deficit, and Economic Information and Data
  • Congressional Agencies
  • Glossaries of Appropriations and Budget Terms
  • Income and Poverty
  • Statistics
  • White House
• Addresses and Phone Numbers
• For Additional Reading
• • CRS Issue Briefs
  • CRS Reports

SUMMARY

This is a select chronology of, and a finding guide for information on, congressional and presidential actions and documents related to major budget events in calendar year 1998, covering the FY1999 budget (October 1, 1998 -- September 30, 1999). Brief information is provided for the President's budget, congressional budget resolutions, appropriations measures (regular, continuing, supplementals, and rescissions), budget reconciliation, House and Senate votes, line-item vetoes, publications, testimony, charts, and tables.

Examples of Internet connections to full-text material found in this report include CRS products, when they become available, on the budget process, reconciliation, and each of the 13 appropriation bills, pie charts such as "The Federal Dollar -- Where the Money Comes From and Where it Goes," Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publications including the Economic and Budget Outlook: Fiscal Years 1999-2008, and General Accounting Office (GAO) reports such as Federal Debt: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Other Internet-linkages provide full access to budget, deficit, debt and economic data tables and charts, selected congressional testimony including that of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and CBO Director June O'Neill, the full text of line item vetoes, and bills, reports, and public laws for FY1997-FY1999 appropriations legislation.

If Internet access is not available, addresses and phone numbers are listed for congressional committees, executive branch agencies mentioned in this report, and the sources of other publications.

Status

Table 1. Status of Budget Legislation, FY1999

Click on the bill to see the latest status steps and votes.

Congressional Legislative Action

6/5/98 -- The FY1999 Budget Resolution (H.Con.Res. 284, H.Rept.105-555) passed the House by a vote of 216-204. Republicans (R) 213-9 and Democrats (D) 3-194. CR, 6/5/98, p. H4188-H4226, vote on p. H4225, H.Vote#210, 1998.

-- Spratt Amendment #HA658, Democratic budget resolution, failed the House by a vote of 164-257. (R 223-0 and D 164-33). CR, 6/5/98, p. H4205-19, vote on p. H4219, H.Vote#209, 1998.

-- Neumann Amendment #HA657, Republican Conservative Action Team (CATs) budget resolution, failed the House by a vote of 158-262. (R 155-67 and D 3-194). CR, 6/5/98, p. H4188-H4205, vote on p. H4219, H.Vote#208, 1998.

4/2/98 -- S.Con.Res. 86, S.Rept. 105-170. The FY1999 Budget Resolution, passed the Senate by vote of 57-41 (S.Vote #84, 1998). CR, 4/2/98, p. S3107, vote #84. The text of S.Con.Res. 86 was printed later in the CR, 4/20/98, p. S3277-95.
http://www.congress.gov/r105/r105.html

For action on FY1998 supplementals and rescissions, see CRS Report 98-123, Supplemental Appropriations and Rescissions for FY1998, covering H.R. 3579 ( P.L. 105-174) and H.R. 3580.

Where Can I Find ... on the Internet?

Full-text FY1999, FY1998 and FY1997 Appropriation Bills, Reports, Laws:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/legislation/99appro.html
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/legislation/98appro.html
http://www.house.gov/appropriations/97bills.htm

Discretionary Appropriations (CBO, House, Senate). FY1998 estimates of discretionary appropriations outlays and budget authority.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=494&sequence=0&from=5

Unauthorized Appropriations and Expiring Authorizations (CBO). "The purpose of the report is to help the Congress adopt authorizing legislation that should be in place before it considers the 13 regular appropriation bills for fiscal year 1999 (which begins October 1, 1998)."
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=315&sequence=0&from=7

House and Senate Appropriations Committees Home Pages
http://www.house.gov/appropriations/ and http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/

Appropriations Locator: Finding Programs, Agencies, Departments

"I'm looking for a particular program, but I don't know which appropriation bill it's in."

Indexes for finding specific entities in the 13 appropriation bills can be consulted at:
http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/jurisd.htm
http://www.loc.gov/crs/products/appprogs.html

Appropriations: Mark-up and Hearing Schedules

House: http://www.house.gov/appropriations/markup.htm

Senate: http://www.senate.gov/~appropriations/hearing.htm

Appropriations: Statements of Administration Policy (SAPs) on Appropriation and Non-Appropriation Bills Scheduled for House or Senate Floor Action
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OMB/SAP/

Debt: Current, Projections, Historical

The gross federal debt as of July 21, 1998 was $5,535,209,449,941.52. The Bureau of the Debt provides a daily "Debt to the Penny" and historical data:
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opd.htm

Table 2. Gross Federal Debt Projections in Billions of Dollars

Debt Per Capita

To find the debt per capita, divide the debt by the population, using these two sites.
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/popclock

Federal Debt: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (GAO)

" ... the prose is intended to be clear, concise and easily understandable to provide information to a nontechnical audience." http://www.gao.gov/AIndexFY97/abstracts/ai97012.htm

See also An Overview of Federal Debt (GAO) http://www.gao.gov/new.items/ai98221t.pdf

CRS Issue Brief 92049, The Federal Debt: Who Bears Its Burdens? Contains a two-page statistical table appendix showing federal debt, interest on the debt, deficits, and outlays and receipts in billions of dollars and as a percentage of GDP from 1980 to 2001 projections.

CRS Report 98-96(pdf), Budget Surpluses: Economic Effects of Debt Repayment, Tax Cuts, or Spending: An Overview (6 p.) and CRS Report 98-346, Budget Surpluses: Economic & Budget Effects of Using Them for Debt Repayment, Tax Cuts, or Spending (full-length version of the Overview, 29 p.)

Deficits/Surpluses: Current, Projections, Historical

The two government agencies that issue federal deficit/surplus projections are the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), an agency of Congress, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an executive branch agency. The latest FY1998 CBO projection, issued July 15, 1998, is a surplus of $63 billion. The latest FY1998 OMB projection, issued May 27, 1998, is a surplus of $39 billion.

Table 3. Deficit/Surplus Projections in Billions of Dollars

For the most recent CBO figures see The Economic and Budget Outlook for Fiscal Years 1999-2008: A Preliminary Update issued July 15, 1998. "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the federal budget for fiscal year 1998 will record a total surplus of $63 billion, or 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). If current policies remain unchanged, the surplus is expected to rise to $80 billion in 1999 and reach $251 billion (nearly 2 percent of GDP) by 2008. Excluding the surplus in Social Security and the net outlays of the Postal Service (both of which are legally classified as off-budget), CBO's new projections show an on-budget deficit of $41 billion in 1998, which gives way to surpluses in 2002 and in 2005 through 2008."
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=663&sequence=0&from=7

Also available in PDF format: http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdoc.cfm?index=663&type=1

OMB's FY1999 Mid-Session Review projects that the surplus for 1998 will be $39 billion, the largest surplus in dollar terms in all of U.S. history and the largest as a percentage of GDP since 1957. Furthermore, the Administration's projections indicate that this budget surplus could grow over the next four years to $148 billion by fiscal year 2000 ..." Via Adobe Acrobat.
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/pdf/msr.pdf

CRS Report 98-96(pdf), Budget Surpluses: Economic Effects of Debt Repayment, Tax Cuts, or Spending: An Overview (6 p.) and CRS Report 98-346, Budget Surpluses: Economic & Budget Effects of Using Them for Debt Repayment, Tax Cuts, or Spending (full-length version of the Overview, 29 p.).

CRS Issue Brief 92049, The Federal Debt: Who Bears Its Burdens? Contains a two-page statistical table appendix showing federal debt, interest on the debt, deficits/surpluses, and outlays and receipts in billions of dollars and as a percentage of GDP from 1980 to 2001 projections.

CRS Issue Brief 98012, The Budget for Fiscal Year 1999.

CBO's Economic and Budget Outlook: Fiscal Years 1999-2008, released January, 1998 contains historical data: http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=319&sequence=0&from=7

OMB's Citizen's Guide to the Budget:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/guide/guide04.html#T41

Deficits/Surpluses: Balanced Budgets -- Historical

The last time there was a balanced budget or budget surplus, where receipts exceeded outlays, was FY1969 with a $3,242,000,000 surplus. President Lyndon Johnson was in office when FY1969 began on July 1, 1968, and President Richard Nixon began his term on January 20, 1969. Prior to fiscal year 1977, federal fiscal years began on July 1 and ended on June 30.

Nixon was the last President to request a balanced budget which was not a revision of the original budget request: FY1971 (January) proposing a $1,300,000,000 surplus. However, the actual outcome of FY1971 was a deficit of $23,033,000,000.

Jimmy Carter was the last President to submit a balanced budget which was a revision of the original budget: FY1981 (March revision) proposed a $16,500,000,000 surplus. The outcome was a deficit for FY1981 of $78,976,000,000.

Line Item Vetoes

The U.S. Supreme Court decision, issued 6/25/98 (Clinton, President of the United States, et al. v. City of New York et al.) struck down the Line Item Veto Act, P.L. 104-130.
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/97-1374.ZS.html

"The profound importance of these cases makes it appropriate to emphasize three points. First, the Court expresses no opinion about the wisdom of the Act's procedures and does not lightly conclude that the actions of the Congress that passed it, and the President who signed it into law, were unconstitutional. The Court has, however, twice had full argument and briefing on the question and has concluded that its duty is clear.

"Second, having concluded that the Act's cancellation provisions violate Article I, §7, the Court finds it unnecessary to consider the District Court's alternative holding that the Act impermissibly disrupts the balance of powers among the three branches of Government.

"Third, this decision rests on the narrow ground that the Act's procedures are not authorized by the Constitution. If this Act were valid, it would authorize the President to create a law whose text was not voted on by either House or presented to the President for signature. That may or may not be desirable, but it is surely not a document that may 'become a law' pursuant to Article I, §7. If there is to be a new procedure in which the President will play a different role, such change must come through the Article V amendment procedures. Pp. 29-31."

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia decision, issued 2/2/98, finding the Line Item Veto Act, P.L. 104-130, unconstitutional:
http://www.ljx.com/LJXfiles/nycveto/vetodecision.html

Full text of every line item veto and affected legislation:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara004.html

See also CRS Issue Brief 89148, Item Veto and Expanded Impoundment Proposals.

See also CRS Report 97-1012, Line Item Vetoes in the 105^th Congress (First Session): A Finding Aid.

The Line Item Veto Act After One Year released on 4/27/98 by CBO.
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=454&sequence=0&from=7#pt1

In addition, the House Rules Committee released The Use and Application of the Line Item on January 2, 1997. http://www.house.gov./rules/lineveto.htm

Pie Charts and Tables:

The Federal Dollar -- Where It Comes From and Where It Goes

Includes charts and tables covering budget, deficit, debt, and economic data.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/pdf/citizen.html
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/guide/guidect.html
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/guide/guide02.html#C23
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/guide/guide02.html#C26

Spreadsheet files:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget99/maindown.html