#Budget

80 entries

Branches (8)

An invitation-only bloc of conservative House Republicans that votes together to pressure party leadership

The independent commission that advises Congress on how much Medicare should pay doctors, hospitals, and other providers

The Appropriations Committees

The House and Senate committees that write the spending bills funding every federal agency each year

The Congressional Budget Office

Congress's nonpartisan scorekeeper: the official estimates of what bills cost and where the budget is headed

The Executive Office of the President

The White House staff, OMB, the NSC, and the councils that let one person run the executive branch

The Government Accountability Office

Congress's auditor and investigator, often called the watchdog of the federal purse

The Office of Management and Budget

The largest office in the White House orbit: it builds the President's budget, controls spending, and reviews every major regulation

U.S. Court of Federal Claims

The court where people and companies sue the federal government for money, from contract disputes to takings and vaccine injuries

Departments (15)

Administration for Children and Families Reorganizing

The HHS division that runs TANF, Head Start, child care, child support, foster care, and refugee resettlement programs

Bureau of the Fiscal Service

The Treasury bureau that pays the government's bills, borrows its money, and keeps its books

Defense Logistics Agency

The Pentagon's supply chain manager, buying the fuel, food, spare parts, and medical supplies the military runs on

Farm Service Agency

The USDA agency that runs farm commodity payments, farm loans, disaster aid, and the Conservation Reserve Program through county offices

Federal Student Aid Reorganizing

The office behind the FAFSA, Pell Grants, and a 1.6 trillion dollar portfolio of student loans held by 42 million borrowers

Foreign Assistance After USAID Reorganizing

How U.S. foreign aid is organized after the 2025 dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development

Health Resources and Services Administration Reorganizing

The HHS agency that funds community health centers, the Ryan White HIV program, and health care for underserved areas

Office of Community Planning and Development

The HUD office that runs Community Development Block Grants, HOME, disaster recovery grants, and homelessness programs

Office of Environmental Management

The Energy Department office cleaning up radioactive and hazardous waste left by decades of nuclear weapons production

Office of Public and Indian Housing

The HUD office that funds public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, and tribal housing

Risk Management Agency

The USDA agency that runs federal crop insurance through the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and private insurers

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

The agency that pays for health care for 160 million Americans and spends more than any other part of the government

The Department of Health and Human Services Reorganizing

The biggest budget in government: Medicare, Medicaid, the FDA, the CDC, the NIH, and the social services agencies

The Food and Nutrition Service

The USDA agency behind SNAP, school meals, and WIC, which together feed more than one in eight Americans

Veterans Benefits Administration

The VA administration that pays disability compensation and pensions and runs the GI Bill, VA home loans, and other benefits

Agencies (12)

Bureau of the Budget Merged

The agency created in 1921 to prepare a single annual budget for the President, which moved into the White House in 1939 and was reorganized into the Office of Management and Budget in 1970

Commodity Credit Corporation

The government corporation within the Agriculture Department that finances farm price supports, conservation payments, and emergency aid to farmers

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Reorganizing

The private nonprofit corporation created by Congress to fund public radio and television, which began winding down after Congress rescinded its funding in 2025

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Reorganizing

The 2025 White House initiative to cut federal spending, staff, and contracts and modernize government technology

Fannie Mae Reorganizing

The Federal National Mortgage Association, a government-sponsored enterprise that buys home mortgages from lenders and has been in federal conservatorship since 2008

Freddie Mac Reorganizing

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, a government-sponsored enterprise created in 1970 to buy home mortgages, in federal conservatorship since 2008

Government-Sponsored Enterprises

Privately owned, federally chartered financial companies created by Congress to steer credit to housing, agriculture, and education

Legal Services Corporation

The congressionally created nonprofit that funds civil legal aid for low-income Americans through local legal aid organizations

National Endowment for the Arts

The independent agency that funds arts organizations, state arts agencies, and arts education across the country

The General Services Administration Reorganizing

The government's landlord and purchasing agent: federal buildings, office leases, vehicles, supply contracts, and shared technology

The Social Security Administration

The agency that pays retirement, survivor, and disability benefits to about 70 million Americans every month

Works Progress Administration Dissolved

The largest New Deal jobs program, which employed millions of Americans to build roads, schools, and parks and fund art and writing from 1935 to 1943

Offices & Roles (4)

Comptroller General of the United States

The head of the Government Accountability Office, appointed to a single 15-year term and removable only by Congress, who audits federal spending for the legislative branch

Director of the Office of Management and Budget

The Senate-confirmed official who prepares the President's budget, controls how agencies spend appropriated funds, and oversees federal regulations

General Schedule Pay System

The 15-grade, 10-step pay scale that sets salaries for most white-collar federal employees, adjusted each year and by locality

The House and Senate Parliamentarians

The nonpartisan experts who advise the presiding officers of the House and Senate on rules and precedents, and whose rulings can decide what may pass by simple majority

Processes (25)

Amendments and Riders

How members change bills on the floor and in committee, the rules on which amendments are allowed, and riders, the provisions attached to must-pass bills

Appropriations

The laws that actually let the government spend money, and the constitutional rule that nothing can be spent without one

Authorization vs. Appropriation

The two-step process in which Congress first authorizes a program and sets its rules, then separately appropriates the money to pay for it

Budget Reconciliation

The fast-track procedure that lets tax and spending bills pass the Senate by simple majority, immune from filibuster

Budget Resolutions

The concurrent resolution in which Congress sets overall spending and revenue targets for the year and can unlock the fast-track reconciliation process

Continuing Resolutions

The stopgap spending laws that keep the government open when the regular appropriations bills are late, which is nearly every year

Earmarks

Provisions in spending bills that direct money to specific projects requested by individual members of Congress, banned in 2011 and restored with new rules in 2021

Entitlement Programs

Federal programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid that pay benefits automatically to everyone who qualifies, making up the bulk of mandatory spending

Federal Grants to States

The more than $1 trillion a year that the federal government sends to state and local governments for health care, transportation, education, and other programs, and the conditions attached

Federal Taxation

How the federal government raises revenue, from individual income and payroll taxes to corporate taxes, excise taxes, and tariffs, and how tax law is written

Government Contracting and Procurement

How the federal government buys more than $700 billion a year in goods and services from private companies, under rules meant to ensure competition and fair dealing

Government Shutdowns

What happens when appropriations lapse: furloughs, closed parks, and essential work done without pay

Impoundment and Rescissions

The President's refusal to spend money Congress has appropriated, and the 1974 law that requires Congress to approve any permanent cancellation of funds

Mandatory vs. Discretionary Spending

Why most federal spending is never voted on in the annual budget, and what the yearly fight is actually about

Omnibus Bills

Large bills that package many separate measures, often several or all of the annual spending bills, into a single vote, along with smaller minibus packages

Sequestration

Automatic, across-the-board spending cuts triggered when Congress exceeds budget limits, used as an enforcement mechanism since 1985

Supplemental Appropriations

Additional spending bills passed during the fiscal year for needs not covered by regular appropriations, such as disasters, wars, and economic emergencies

The Byrd Rule

The Senate rule that bars extraneous provisions from budget reconciliation bills, limiting what a majority can pass without facing a filibuster

The Debt Ceiling

The statutory limit on how much the Treasury may borrow to pay bills Congress has already approved

The Federal Budget Process

How a roughly seven trillion dollar budget is proposed, debated, and enacted each year, at least on paper

The Federal Deficit and Debt

The yearly gap between spending and revenue, the accumulated debt it creates, and why both are growing

The Federal Fiscal Year

The federal government's budget year, which runs from October 1 to September 30 and sets the deadline for passing annual appropriations

The President's Budget

The annual spending and revenue proposal the President sends to Congress, prepared by the Office of Management and Budget, which opens each year's budget process

The Social Security Trust Funds

The two Treasury accounts that hold Social Security's payroll tax surpluses in special government bonds, and the projections of when their reserves will run out

The Twelve Appropriations Bills

The annual spending bills, one for each Appropriations subcommittee, that fund the discretionary operations of every federal agency

Principles (6)

Dual vs. Cooperative Federalism

Two models of how national and state governments share power: separate spheres, like a layer cake, or intertwined programs, like a marble cake

Gridlock

The inability of Congress and the President to act on major national issues, its causes in polarization and institutional rules, and the debate over whether it is a flaw or a feature

Pork-Barrel Spending

Federal spending on local projects that benefits a lawmaker's home district, and the vote-trading and distributive politics that surround it

Sunset Provisions

Clauses that make a law, program, or agency expire on a set date unless lawmakers act to renew it

The Taxing and Spending Power

Congress's power under Article I to lay taxes and spend for the common defense and general welfare, including the authority to attach conditions to federal funds

Unfunded Mandates

Federal requirements that state and local governments must carry out without federal money to pay for them, and the 1995 law meant to limit them

Documents & Cases (7)

Antideficiency Act

The law barring federal officials from spending or obligating money beyond what Congress has appropriated, the legal reason government shuts down when funding lapses

Article VI: Supremacy, Oaths, and Debts

The article that honors the nation's prior debts, makes federal law supreme, binds officials by oath to the Constitution, and forbids religious tests for office

Budget and Accounting Act of 1921

The law that created the modern federal budget, requiring an annual presidential budget and establishing the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office

Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990

The law that created chief financial officers in major federal agencies and required audited financial statements, the basis of modern federal financial management

Clinton v. City of New York (1998)

The case that struck down the Line Item Veto Act, holding that the President cannot cancel parts of a law after signing it

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

The law that gave Congress its own budget process and limited a President's power to refuse to spend appropriated money

The Sixteenth Amendment

The 1913 amendment allowing Congress to tax incomes without apportioning the tax among the states by population

States & Local (3)

Federal-State Relations

How the national, state, and local governments work together and clash in practice, through grants, mandates, preemption, joint programs, and lawsuits

Property Taxes and Local Finance

How counties, cities, school districts, and special districts pay for services, through property taxes, fees, state aid, and municipal bonds

State Budgets and Taxes

How states raise and spend money, from balanced budget rules and sales and income taxes to Medicaid and schools, the largest items in state spending

All Tags

Executive Branch 148 Legislative Branch 110 Separation of Powers 110 Economy 108 Cabinet Department 105 Constitution 94 Budget 80 Supreme Court 77 Elections 76 Federalism 75 States 70 Judicial Branch 65 National Security 62 Law Enforcement 59 Administrative State 58 Oversight 49 Military 45 Foreign Policy 40 Health 39 Environment 36 Independent Agency 35 Statute 31 Civil Service 30 Data & Statistics 29 Regulatory Commission 28 Former Agency 24 Emergency Management 24 Transportation 24 Intelligence 22 Education 22 Immigration 22 Taxation 21 Government Corporation 15 Territories 12 Veterans 9 Tribal 8