[Analytical Perspectives]
[Dimensions of the Budget]
[21. Outlays to the Public, Gross and Net]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]
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21. OUTLAYS TO THE PUBLIC, GROSS AND NET
Outlays are the measure of Government spending. The Government records
outlays when payments are made for such things as Federal employee
salaries, purchases of supplies and equipment, grants to State and local
governments, and benefits to individuals. The Government's gross outlays
are the sum of all these payments. Net outlays equal gross outlays minus
certain kinds of receipts or collections (discussed below) that are
reported as negative amounts on the outlay side of the budget. The
outlay totals in the budget, whether for the Government as a whole or
for agencies, programs, and functions (such as national defense), are
net outlays, unless otherwise specified.
Two categories of receipts are reported in the budget as offsets
(reductions) to outlays, instead of being shown on the receipts side of
the ledger:
Income the Government receives from business-like
transactions or market-oriented activities with the public,
such as fees charged for admittance to recreational areas,
proceeds from sales of electricity by the Power Marketing
Administrations, and proceeds from selling land or natural
resources. These collections are offset against the payments
made by the Government to provide those goods and services, so
that the budget totals for receipts and outlays represent
governmental rather than market activity.
Collections for goods and services provided by one Federal
Government account to another. The amounts are deducted to
avoid double counting outlays--once as outlays of the
purchasing agency and again as outlays of the agency providing
the goods or services.
As shown at the bottom of Table 21-1, total gross outlays to the
public (i.e.; gross outlays adjusted to avoid double-counting of
collections from one Federal account to another) were $3,051 billion in
2007, and total net outlays were $2,730 billion. The difference--$321
billion--represents business-like collections from the public, which is
deducted from gross outlays. Fees collected by the Postal Service and
premiums paid by Medicare recipients are the largest of these
collections.
Table 21-1 also shows outlays by major agency, gross and net of
business-like collections from the public. These are rough
approximations of each agency's transactions with the public. They are
not exact because they include payments by each agency to other
agencies, net of collections of payments received from other agencies.
These payments and collections between agencies net to zero at the total
Government level, but not at the individual agency level. Indeed, for
2007 the table shows $260 billion of ``undistributed offsetting
receipts'' in the net outlays column, of which $240 billion are
collections of payments between agencies. Thus, the amounts shown for
each agency as gross outlays to the public are overstated by $240
billion in total. This has the largest impact on the Department of the
Treasury, which shows gross outlays of $507 billion, of which $178
billion is interest outlays to various trust funds that is not
distributed by agency in this table.
See the section on ``outlays'' in Chapter 26, ``The Budget System and
Concepts,'' for a more detailed discussion of the outlay totals in the
budget. Offsetting collections and offsetting receipts are discussed in
more detail in Chapter 18 of this volume, ``User Charges and Other
Collections.'' An illustration of the difference between gross receipts
and net governmental receipts is shown in Chapter 22 of this volume,
``Trust Funds and Federal Funds,'' Table 22-3.
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Table 21-1. TOTAL OUTLAYS, GROSS AND NET OF OFFSETTING COLLECTIONS AND RECEIPTS
FROM THE PUBLIC, BY AGENCY, 2007-2009
(In millions of dollars)
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2007 2008 2009
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Outlays Outlays Outlays
Gross of Offsetting Gross of Offsetting Gross of Offsetting
Department or Other Unit Collections Collections Collections Collections Collections Collections
and and Net and and Net and and Net
Receipts Receipts Outlays Receipts Receipts Outlays Receipts Receipts Outlays
from the from the from the from the from the from the
Public Public Public Public Public Public
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Legislative Branch.................... 4,374 -66 4,308 4,655 -69 4,586 5,023 -61 4,962
Judicial Branch....................... 6,104 -98 6,006 6,235 -74 6,161 7,060 -79 6,981
Executive Branch
Department of Agriculture........... 103,739 -19,302 84,437 113,894 -19,130 94,764 112,213 -17,460 94,753
Department of Commerce.............. 9,130 -2,654 6,476 10,241 -2,090 8,151 11,470 -2,224 9,246
Department of Defense--Military..... 542,965 -13,090 529,875 595,566 -12,509 583,057 663,603 -12,441 651,162
Department of Education............. 72,988 -6,616 66,372 75,301 -7,255 68,046 68,116 -4,616 63,500
Department of Energy................ 26,115 -5,999 20,116 29,947 -6,738 23,209 30,153 -6,828 23,325
Department of Health and Human 740,226 -68,191 672,035 782,062 -72,681 709,381 814,399 -75,766 738,633
Services...........................
Department of Homeland Security..... 49,932 -10,760 39,172 53,580 -11,240 42,340 56,282 -11,985 44,297
Department of Housing and Urban 50,341 -4,780 45,561 55,803 -3,534 52,269 47,254 -1,624 45,630
Development........................
Department of the Interior.......... 16,630 -6,140 10,490 18,077 -6,996 11,081 18,177 -7,938 10,239
Department of Justice............... 24,264 -915 23,349 26,022 -996 25,026 27,481 -961 26,520
Department of Labor................. 51,231 -3,687 47,544 53,522 -3,870 49,652 59,534 -5,342 54,192
Department of State................. 14,969 -1,222 13,747 21,036 -2,144 18,892 24,325 -2,222 22,103
Department of Transportation........ 62,128 -431 61,697 69,163 -501 68,662 71,437 -333 71,104
Department of the Treasury.......... 506,521 -15,916 490,605 538,698 -18,535 520,163 567,044 -19,243 547,801
Department of Veterans Affairs...... 78,983 -6,163 72,820 93,049 -6,406 86,643 97,115 -5,300 91,815
Corps of Engineers-Civil Works...... 4,476 -558 3,918 8,254 -1,043 7,211 9,776 -1,004 8,772
Other Defense Civil Programs........ 47,129 -16 47,113 49,082 -15 49,067 51,234 -14 51,220
Environmental Protection Agency..... 8,732 -473 8,259 7,927 -386 7,541 8,433 -434 7,999
Executive Office of the President... 2,960 -4 2,956 2,081 -2 2,079 530 -2 528
General Services Administration..... 901 -870 31 491 -134 357 816 -94 722
International Assistance Programs... 30,250 -17,480 12,770 32,251 -17,027 15,224 32,205 -15,754 16,451
National Aeronautics and Space 16,564 -703 15,861 17,556 -238 17,318 18,300 -163 18,137
Administration.....................
National Science Foundation......... 5,532 -3 5,529 6,258 -2 6,256 6,416 -2 6,414
Office of Personnel Management...... 70,113 -11,663 58,450 76,484 -12,311 64,173 80,238 -13,025 67,213
Small Business Administration....... 1,994 -819 1,175 1,318 -788 530 865 -40 825
Social Security Administration...... 629,133 -7,370 621,763 664,332 -7,769 656,563 700,720 -7,937 692,783
Export-Import Bank of the United 464 -1,829 -1,365 716 -1,200 -484 225 -249 -24
States.............................
Federal Deposit Insurance -406 -592 -998 3,962 -5,546 -1,584 6,898 -9,947 -3,049
Corporation........................
Postal Service...................... 79,088 -73,891 5,197 78,005 -76,961 1,044 79,482 -78,322 1,160
Railroad Retirement Board........... 6,217 -4,734 1,483 6,571 -3,313 3,258 6,876 -1,624 5,252
Other Independent Agencies.......... 26,870 -13,175 13,695 29,729 -13,562 16,167 31,084 -14,535 16,549
Allowances............................ ........... ........... .......... ........... ........... .......... -495 ........... -495
Undistributed Offsetting Receipts..... -239,742 -20,464 -260,206 -262,281 -23,300 -285,581 -276,738 -12,627 -289,365
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Totals................................ 3,050,915 -320,674 2,730,241 3,269,587 -338,365 2,931,222 3,437,551 -330,196 3,107,355
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