Federal Spending by Agency and Budget Function, FY2001-FY2006

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.

The four agencies with the

Figure 1. Selected Agency Outlays as

Percent of Total Outlays, FY2001-FY2006 largest outlays in 2006 were also

the four largest in 2001, although

As Percent of Total

their order changed with HHS

24.8% 24.3%

25%

and SSA swapping rank, as did

23.5% 23.7% 23.5%

23.1%

DOD and Treasury. Health care

23.4% 23.1%

22.9% 23.2%

costs grew faster than Social

22.7%

22.1%

20.8%

Security, moving HHS to the top,

20%

19.1%

18.8% while slower federal debt growth

18.0%

and lower interest rates early in

19.2%

18.4%

the period and higher defense

16.4%

17.5%

spending raised DOD (military)

16.6%

16.5% 17.0%

above Treasury.

15% 15.6%

12.4%

The combined share for the

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

total spending, due to the fall in

8.5%

7.1%

net interest outlays, explains

7.4%

7.0%

almost all of the decline for these

5%

four agencies. A reduction in the

SSA’s share contributed to the

HHS

SSA

fall, while growth in the DOD’s

Defense-Military

Treasury

(Medicare)

(Net Interest)

share more than covered the SSA

reduction. The reversal (in 2005)

0%

of the four-year fall in net interest

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

(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.

11.7%

11.5%

11.7%

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 twothirds 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

As Percent of Total

(negative outlays) in 2001 to

25%

positive outlays in 2002 through

23.2%

2006, moving it to 30th place (out

21.6%

of 45 departments or agencies

22.7%

21.2%

20.7%

22.0%

with positive outlays in 2006).

20%

20.4%

The Postal Service went the

19.9%

18.7%

19.9%

other way, dropping in the

17.3%

rankings from 28th to 49th and

16.4%

from having positive outlays in

15.5% 15.5%

2001 to having offsetting outlays

14.5%

15%

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%

The six largest budget

functions,

Social Security,

10.1%

defense, income security, net

9.2%

8.5%

7.1% 7.0%

8.5%

interest, Medicare, and health,

7.4%

contain almost as much federal

spending and most of the same

5%

Social Security

activities as the top four

National Defense

Incom e Security

agencies. The combined share

Medicare

for these six budget functions

Health

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.

10% 11.1%

8

9.8%

10.2% 10.5%

9.5%

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

relation to GDP was smaller than

Percent of GDP, FY2001-FY2006

most of the other years in the

As Percent of GDP

4.5%

period. Of the overall increase,

4.26%

4.19% national defense increased its

4.39% 4.39%

4.30%

4.29%

share by 1.0% of GDP. Increases

4.0%

4.09% 4.03%

3.75%

in the shares of three other

3.95%

functions (Medicare; health; and

3.5%

3.36%

education, training, employment,

and social services) produced

3.10%

3.03%

much of the remaining increase in

3.0%

2.82%

3.01%

2.70% total outlays as a percentage of

2.88%

GDP. Net interest lost 0.3% of its

2.68%

2.43%

2.5%

2.33%

2.31%

2.52% share of GDP over the period.

2.22%

2.16%

Figure 3 shows the six largest

2.04%

budget functions as percentages of

1.93%

1.89%

2.0%

2.03% 2.08%

2.05%

GDP for the years 2001 through

1.65%

1.73% 2006 (their cumulative share of

1.71%

1.39%

1.5%

GDP was 15.9% in 2001 and

1.50%

1.42%

17.1% in 2006). The changes, for

the most part, occurred over a

1.0%

Social Security

limited range.

None of the

National Defense

functions changed its share of

Incom e Security

0.5%

Medicare

GDP by more than 1% (the

Health

National defense function

Net Interest

increased its share by exactly 1%).

0.0%

Most of the functions had changes

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

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

the economic sluggishness in the

20%

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

rates in the early 2000s reduced

Social Security

the share of GDP used for net

National Defense

10%

Incom e Security

interest. Medicare continued its

Medicare

fairly steady increase as a share

Health

of GDP.

Although Social

Net Interest

Security fell slightly as a share of

GDP over these years, this trend

is unlikely to continue for long.

5%

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 intragovernmental 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.