The Defense Budget and the Budget Control Act: Frequently Asked Questions
Abstract
National defense is one of 20 major functions used by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to organize budget data--and the largest in terms of discretionary spending. The national defense budget function (identified by the numerical notation 050) comprises three subfunctions: Department of Defense (DOD)-Military (051); atomic energy defense activities primarily of the Department of Energy (DOE) (053); and other defense-related activities (054) such as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) counterintelligence activities. Discretionary spending is, for the most part, provided by annual appropriations bills and the focus of Congress's efforts to fund the federal government. By contrast, mandatory (or direct) spending, which includes entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, is generally governed by existing statutory criteria. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, outlays--money spent by a federal agency from funds provided by Congress--for defense discretionary programs in nominal dollars (not adjusted for inflation) have more than doubled from $306 billion in FY2001 to $623 billion in FY2018. Defense discretionary outlays are projected to reach $721 billion in FY2021. Yet as a percentage of total federal outlays, defense discretionary outlays declined over this period from 16.4 percent in FY2001 to 15.2 percent in FY2018. They are projected to further decrease to 14.9 percent in FY2021, as mandatory programs and net interest consume a larger share of the total. Between FY2009 and FY2012, annual federal budget deficits topped $1 trillion. In FY2009, the deficit reached 9.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest level since World War II. The deficits were attributable in part to reduced tax revenues from the 2007-2009 recession and increased spending from the economic stimulus package known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-5).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1170109
Entities
People
- Brendan W. Mcgarry