A people's guide to the federal budget

Federal Spending Categories

Why Should You Care About the Federal Budget?

The Big Picture. Speak the budget language ; Discretionary and mandatory spending ; Budget authority, obligations, and outlays ; Projected and actual ; Requested and appropriated ; Gross Domestic Product ; A guide to the numbers ; Inflation ; Per capita: scaling by population ; Fiscal and calendar years ; Now you speak the language.

A Brief History of the Federal Budget. The creation of the Treasury Department ; The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 ; FDR and WWII ; Johnson and the Great Society ; Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974.

Who Decides the Federal Budget? An evolving process ; Before the budget ; How does the Federal Government create a budget? Step 1: The President submits a budget request ; Step 2: The House and Senate pass budget resolutions ; Step 3: House and Senate subcommittees "markup" appropriation bills ; Step 4: The House and Senate vote on appropriations bills and reconcile differences ; Step 5: The President signs each appropriations bill and the budget becomes law ; It's even messier than it sounds ; Political ideology and budget priorities ; Economic theory and Federal budget priorities ; Campaign money ; Lobbying ; All politics is local.

Where Does the Money Come From? Income taxes ; Corporate taxes ; History of Federal Fund revenues ; Payroll taxes ; Borrowing.

Where Does the Money Go? Mandatory and discretionary spending ; Tracking your income tax dollar ; Are Federal funds the same as discretionary spending?

History of Federal spending.

The Federal Debt. Why do we borrow?

How does the Federal Government borrow? ; History of Federal deficits ; History of the Federal debt ; Who lends money to the Federal Government? ; Debt held by the public ; Debt held by Federal accounts ; The debt ceiling ; Limiting or eliminating Federal deficits.

The President's 2013 Budget Request. A couple bumpy years for the Federal budget ; What is the President's budget request? ; The new budget ; Discretionary spending declines, mandatory grows as shares of the budget ; Where the money comes from in 2013 ; It's the economy ; The deficit ; Health care spending continues to grow ; Military spending in 2013 and beyond ; Funding education.

Take Action. Know who represents you ; Register to vote ; Stay informed ; Contact your representatives ; Phone calls ; Writing a letter or e-mail ; Social media ; Meeting with your representative

Other important ways to stay politically active

For Educators. A letter to educators ; Two sample activators for high school learners ; Two sample chapter activities.

Federal Spending in the States. Children's Health Insurance Program ; Community Development Block Grant ; Head Start ; Low Income Energy Assistance Program ; Medicaid ; National School Lunch Program ; Section 8 ; Temporary assistance for needy families ; WIC.

Dashboard for the Proposed 2013 Budget.