What is the President’s budget?


federal-budgetWhy does the President submit a budget to Congress?



President Obama turned in his budget late—again. This will be Obama’s fourth late budget submission in five years, making him the first President to present three consecutive late budgets. According to the House Budget Committee, “All presidents from Harding to Reagan’s first term met the statutory budget submission deadline in every year.” Reagan and Clinton both missed their deadlines once in eight years.

What is the function of the President’s budget request?

The President’s annual budget request serves three functions:




What spending does the President have to request in his budget?


What’s not included in the budget?


What happens when Congress receives the President’s budget request?



Did the President offer a “balanced budget?”

Under the President’s latest budget request, the Federal government will achieve a balanced budget (where expenditures equal revenues) in 2055. But as Ed Morrissey notes, “That assumes, of course, that whatever savings Obama claims to make in this budget will last 41 years longer than the sequester savings did.”

How much does the President propose to spend?

Obama proposes to spend $3.78 trillion dollars in FY 2014, the highest level of spending ever. It’s an increase of 27 percent over the last budget not signed by Obama (i.e., the budget signed by George W. Bush in FY 2008).


Revenues: Over a 10-year period it would raise taxes by $1.1 trillion (on top of $1 trillion in taxes from Obamacare).

Expenditures: $3.78 trillion dollars (an increase of $964 billion over the previous fiscal year).

Deficit: Adds $8.2 trillion to the national debt.

Will Congress pass the President’s budget request in its current form?

Definitely not. In fact, the last time Congress passed a budget was four years ago—in April 2009. In the absence of a budget deal Congress and the President must enact a number of “stop gap” measures (supplemental appropriations bills or emergency supplemental appropriations bills).

