Order Code RL33915
The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008
March 12, 2007
Philip D. Winters
Analyst in Government Finance
Government and Finance Division

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The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008
Summary
President Bush presented his fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget to Congress on
February 5, 2007. For FY2008, the budget shows a deficit of $239 billion, which
would become a surplus of $61 billion in FY2012, the last year projected. The
proposals include large defense supplementals for FY2007 and FY2008, extending
the expiring tax cuts, constraining domestic discretionary spending (and, after
FY2008, doing the same to defense spending), slightly slowing the growth of
Medicare and Medicaid, and stopping the expanding coverage of the Alternative
Minimum Tax (AMT) in FY2007 and FY2008 (but not in subsequent years).
Although the budget proposes a positive outlook over the next five years, it also
discusses the long-term fiscal problems facing the nation. According to the longer-
term projections from the Administration, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO),
and the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the soon-to-begin retirement of
the baby boom generation will increase the demand for resources from the federal
programs for the elderly (in particular, Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid).
Under any responsible set of projections, the expanding eligible populations and
continued growth in medical care costs (in particular) will drive the growth in these
programs in the next decades. If overall federal spending is not allowed to grow as
a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the growth in these programs will require
reductions in most other federal activities. The consequences of unchecked growth
in these programs could, at some future date, disrupt the economy’s ability to provide
the resources needed for the programs.
Earlier in the year (January 24, 2007), the CBO released its annual budget report
(The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008-2017). The report’s baseline
estimates and projections attempt to show what happens to the budget with no
changes from current policy. CBO makes certain assumptions (and certain
assumptions have been provided in law in the past) to generate a baseline. CBO’s
report projects a deficit of $98 billion for FY2008, becoming a $170 billion surplus
in FY2012 and a $249 billion surplus in FY2017. The baseline assumes the large tax
cuts enacted in the first half of the decade expire as currently scheduled, discretionary
spending grows more slowly than its historical trend, relief from the Alternative
Minimum Tax (AMT) is not provided, and there is no further funding for the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan. The baseline is designed to be a benchmark against which
policy changes can be measured, rather than a prediction of likely outcomes.
Congress has held hearings (and, more are anticipated) on various components
of the President’s budget proposals. The House and Senate Budget Committees have
begun work to produce their respective budget resolutions for FY2008.
This report will be updated as events warrant.

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Contents
Background and Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Current Situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Budget Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Budget Estimates and Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Uncertainty in Budget Projections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Budget Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Outlays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Receipts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Deficits and Surpluses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Longer Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
For Additional Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CRS Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
List of Figures
Figure 1. Outlays by Type, FY2000-FY2012 (in percentages of GDP) . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 2. Outlays, FY2000-FY2017 (in percentages of GDP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 3. OMB Receipts FY2000-FY2012 (in percentages of GDP) . . . . . . . . . 10
Figure 4. Receipts, FY2000-FY2017 (in percentages of GDP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 5. Surplus/Deficit(-) FY2000-FY2017 (in percentages of GDP) . . . . . . . 13
List of Tables
Table 1. Budget Estimates and Proposals for FY2008 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Table 2. Outlays for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Table 3. Receipts for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 4. Surpluses/Deficits(-) for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

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The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008
Background and Analysis
The law requires that Presidents submit their budget proposals for the upcoming
fiscal year (FY) on or before the first Monday in February. The Bush Administration
released its FY2008 budget (The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2008)
on February 5, 2006. The multiple volumes contain both general and specific
descriptions of the Administration’s policy proposals and expectations for the budget
for FY2007 (still underway) through FY2012. It provides limited information on the
Administration’s proposed revenue and mandatory spending policies after 2012
through FY2017. The documents include discussion of the long-term fiscal issues
facing the nation. The full set of budget documents (Budget, Appendix, Analytical
Perspectives, Historical Tables, as well as several other supplemental budget
documents) contains extensive and detailed budget information, including estimates
of the budget without the proposed policy changes (current service baseline
estimates), historical budget data, detailed budget authority, outlay and receipt data,
selected analysis of specific budget related topics, and the Administration’s economic
forecast.1 In addition to their presentation of the Administration’s proposals, the
budget documents are an annual reference source for federal budget information,
including previously enacted appropriations.
The Administration’s annual budget submission is followed by congressional
action on the budget. This usually includes the annual budget resolution,
appropriations, and, possibly, a reconciliation bill (or bills) as required by the budget
resolution. Over the course of deliberation on the budget, the Administration often
revises its original proposals as it interacts with Congress, and as conditions change
in the economy and the world.
The Current Situation
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its annual budget report, The
Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008-2017 (BEO), on January 24, 2007.
The report included CBO’s baseline estimates (estimates of the budget without
changes from current policy), along with the effects of selected alternative policies,
1 Current services baseline estimates, and baseline estimates in general, are not meant to be
predictions of future budget outcomes, but instead are designed to provide a neutral measure
against which to compare proposed policy changes. In general, they project current policy,
which includes future changes in law, over the next five to 10 years. Their construction
generally follows instructions provided in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit
Control Act of 1985 (DCA) and the Congressional Control and Impoundment Act of 1974.

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CRS-2
and the economic forecast. The report included detailed estimates of federal
revenues, spending, and the economic outlook.
The President sent his FY2008 budget to Congress on February 5, 2007.
Various congressional committees held hearings on the budget during that same
week. The congressional budget committees have indicated a desire to produce their
respective budget resolution for FY2008 by mid-March 2007.
Budget Totals
Table 1 contains budget estimates for FY2008 from CBO and the
Administration (the Office of Management and Budget, OMB). Differences in totals
can result from differing underlying economic, technical, and budget-estimating
assumptions and techniques, as well as differences in policy assumptions. Small
differences in underlying assumptions may have small effects early in the projection
period, but can grow over time — sometimes substantially — producing widely
divergent future budget paths. Generally, budget estimates should be expected to
change over time from those originally proposed or estimated by the President, CBO,
or Congress.
Table 1. Budget Estimates and Proposals for FY2008
(in billions of dollars)
Deficit (-)/
Receipts
Outlays
Surplus
CBO, BEO Baseline, 1/07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2,720
2,818
-98
OMB, FY08 Budget Proposals, 2/07 . . . . . . . .
2,662
2,902
-239
OMB, Budget, CSB, 2/07 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2,714
2,752
-38
BEO — The Budget and Economic Outlook, CBO.
CSB — The Administration’s current services baseline.
Budget Estimates and Proposals
CBO’s first budget report for FY2008 contained baseline and economic
estimates and projections for FY2007 through FY2017. The report estimated an
FY2008 baseline deficit of $98 billion (down from the estimated FY2007 baseline
deficit of $172 billion). By FY2012, the CBO baseline shows a surplus of $170
billion, which grows to $249 billion in FY2017.
CBO’s baseline assumes discretionary spending grows at the rate of inflation,
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts fully expire after 2010 (as required under current law),
and the “patch” to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which expired at the end of
calendar year 2006, is not revived. The effects of these assumptions raise receipts
and slow discretionary spending growth. Receipts would grow substantially after
calendar year 2010, when most of the tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 expire, which,
along with sluggish growth in discretionary spending, explains most of the declining
deficit and the emerging surpluses over the 10 years in the CBO baseline. As CBO
warns, the 10-year baseline results understate the longer-term size and persistence of
the deficit.

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CRS-3
CBO’s report includes the estimated budgetary effects on revenues and outlays
of selected policies not included in the baseline estimates. These include policy
choices that may be more or less likely to occur than the policies assumed to produce
the baseline. CBO’s January 2007 report includes estimates of alternative policies
that, among a few others, estimate the budgetary effects of making the 2001 and 2003
tax cuts permanent, indexing the AMT to limit its expanding coverage, increasing
discretionary appropriations at the rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP),
and freezing total discretionary appropriations at the level provided in FY2007.
President Bush’s FY2008 budget calls for extending and making permanent
most of the tax cuts adopted in 2001 and 2003, as well as extending other expiring
tax provisions. The President’s proposals would reduce receipts by almost $600
billion between FY2008 and FY2012, and by an estimated $1.9 trillion between
FY2008 and FY2017 (these estimates do not include the resulting higher debt-service
costs resulting from the change).2
The President also proposes changes to some mandatory programs, in particular
Medicare and Medicaid, to slow their growth. The changes would save, according
to Administration estimates, $59 billion over five years and $359 billion over 10
years. This overall reduction reflects increases such as a new tax credit for health
care, personal accounts for Social Security (beginning in FY2012), and increases in
need-based grants for higher education.
The Administration’s budget provided a limited amount of information for the
years beyond FY2012. The budget does include estimates of the cumulative
proposed revenue changes and proposed mandatory spending changes for the periods
FY2008 through FY2012, and FY2008 through FY2017, but these projections
contained no information for the individual years after FY2012. No estimates are
provided for other components of the budget or for budget totals beyond FY2012.
Although not included in the budget documents (they were made available on
February 12, 2007), the President, as he had last year, proposed the elimination of,
the reduction in, or the reform of approximately 141 programs, both discretionary and
mandatory. Many of the proposals are the same as last year’s. This set of policy
changes will, according to Administration estimates, save an estimated $22 billion
in budget authority (not outlays) in FY2008 compared to FY2007 levels.
Uncertainty in Budget Projections
All budget projections are inherently uncertain (albeit, some more than others).
Their dependence on assumptions that are themselves subject to substantial variation
over short time periods makes budget estimates and projections susceptible to fairly
2 The Administration’s current services baseline estimates incorporate some of the
Administration’s policy proposals, such as the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. The
effect of the Administration’s proposals in this report are taken from OMB tables measuring
the full effect of the policy changes.

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CRS-4
rapid and dramatic changes.3 Small changes in economic conditions (from those
assumed in the estimates), particularly the rate of GDP growth, can produce large
changes in the budget estimates. According to CBO estimates, a persistent 0.1%
decrease in the growth rate of real GDP would increase the deficit (including interest
costs) by $61 billion cumulatively over a five-year period and by $273 billion over
10 years. Increases in the rate of GDP growth would decrease the deficit or increase
a surplus by similar amounts over the same time periods. In addition to budget
changes resulting from economic variations, the adoption of policies that differ from
those assumed in the baseline, such as supplemental appropriations for operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan or extending the expiring tax provisions, would also change the
budget outlook.
The President’s (FY2008) budget includes a chapter in the Analytical
Perspectives volume titled “Comparison of Actual to Estimated Totals.” The chapter
examines the causes of the changes from the initial Administration budget estimates
for FY2006 (from February 2005) through the actual results for that year. OMB
extends the analysis to find upper and lower bounds to the deficit or surplus estimates
over a five-year period, based on data going back to FY1982. It finds that the upper
and lower bounds, based on the Administration’s statistical analysis of past
experience, ranges over $1.1 trillion at the end of a five-year period. In other words,
the Administration’s projected surplus for FY2012, $61 billion, could range from a
surplus of approximately $600 billion to a deficit of approximately $500 billion (with
a 90% chance of the budget balance falling between those two numbers). Even the
Administration’s $239 billion FY2008 deficit estimate has a 90% chance of falling
between a $28 billion deficit and a $516 billion deficit.
Budget projections depend on underlying assumptions about the direction of the
economy, expected tax and program changes, and how these interact, along with
other factors (such as changing demographics) that affect the budget. Any deviation
from the assumptions used in the budget estimates — such as faster or slower
economic growth, higher or lower inflation, differences from the expected or
proposed spending and tax policies, or changes in the technical components of the
budget models — will change the budget estimates and projections.
Budget Action
Various congressional committees began hearings on the President’s FY2008
budget shortly after its release. The House and Senate Budget Committees have
begun their hearings on the FY2008 budget in preparation for producing their
respective budget resolutions.
3 Some of the underlying components of budget estimates are known with some certainty.
Demographics are one known component. In the next decade, the expected retirements from
the baby boom generation will rapidly increase the spending for Medicare and Social
Security as well as other federal activities benefitting the elderly. Because virtually all those
who will become eligible for these benefits are alive today, estimating the growth in the
populations eligible for these programs is relatively straightforward.

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CRS-5
Outlays
The Administration’s FY2007 budget proposed $2,902 billion in outlays for
FY2008, rising to $3,246 billion in FY2012, the last year shown in the President’s
budget. The proposals would boost funding for defense and homeland security
spending (in FY2007 and FY2008), keep most other discretionary spending to an
average 1% annual increase, and slightly slow the growth in some mandatory
programs including Medicare and Medicaid. In FY2012, it would raise spending by
tens of billions of dollars to fund private accounts for Social Security. The
Administration’s proposals, which the budget assumes are adopted, would raise
outlays by $118 billion (4.2%) above the Administration’s revised FY2007 outlay
estimate, and would increase total outlays by 16.6% from FY2007 to FY2012.
Table 2. Outlays for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017
(in billions of dollars)
FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2017
CBO Baseline, 1/07 . . . . . . . . . . 2,655 a
2,714
2,818
2,926
3,038
3,179
3,234
4,034
President’s FY06 Budget, 2/07 . . . . . . . . .
2,784
2,902
2,985
3,049
3,157
3,246
—
President’s FY06 CSB, 2/07 . . . . . . . . . . .
2,735
2,752
2,866
2,973
3,116
3,201
—
a. Actual outlays for FY2006
CSB — The Administration’s current services baseline.
Measured against the Administration’s FY2008 current services baseline
($2,752 billion), the proposed level of outlays ($2,902 billion) is $150 billion (5.5%)
higher than the baseline.4 This difference represents the “cost” of the
Administration’s proposed policies. For FY2008, almost all of the increase comes
from the Administration’s proposed additional funding for “security” activities
(which comprise the combined spending for defense, homeland security, and foreign
affairs). Most of the proposed additional security funding is for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The budget also proposes, compared to baseline levels, an increase ($8
billion, 1.8%) for “non-security” discretionary spending and a $10 billion (0.7%)
reduction in mandatory spending. The Administration’s budget shows a net interest
increase of $7 billion (2.8%) from baseline levels in FY2008.
The year-to-year change in outlays (the $118 billion increase in outlays from
FY2007 to FY2008) is composed of all the factors that make outlays change from
one year to the next. These include automatic cost-of-living adjustments in many
federal programs, growth in populations eligible for program benefits, policy changes
4 The current services baseline estimates, like CBO’s baseline estimates, are designed to
provide “a neutral benchmark against which policy proposals can be measured.” For
outlays, the modified baseline used this year by OMB assumes that federal pay adjustment
assumptions reflect the (usual) first full pay period in January start of pay-
compatibility-adjusted raises rather than October 1, that emergency spending is not
extended, and that the debt service (interest payment) changes are included in the baseline.
These modifications reduced the reported current services baseline outlay estimate by
approximately $41 billion in FY2008 and by $84 billion in FY2012.

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CRS-6
from year-to-year, and inflation-driven costs of goods and services bought by the
federal government.
As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), the Administration’s proposals
would reduce outlays from 20.2% of GDP in FY2007 to 20.0% of GDP in FY2008
(it averaged 20.6% of GDP between FY1966 and FY2006). By FY2012, the
Administration’s projections show that outlays will have fallen to 18.3% of GDP
(lower than in any year since FY1960). The Administration shows non-defense
discretionary spending falling by 0.7% of GDP over these five years. Defense
spending falls by 1.1% of GDP over the same period. Mandatory programs increase
their share of GDP by 0.3%, while net interest falls by 0.2% of GDP. Both Medicare
and Medicaid grow slightly as percentages of GDP, despite the Administration
proposals to trim their growth.

The President’s budget showed defense spending increasing by 6.0% from
FY2007 ($569 billion) to FY2008 ($603 billion), including the $140 billion proposed
supplemental for military actions overseas. By FY2012, the Administration’s
projections drop defense spending to $546 billion.
For FY2008, the Administration’s proposed level of non-defense discretionary
outlays is larger than the current services baseline estimates (by $19 billion) in the
Administration’s budget. Over the five years, the current services estimates for non-
defense discretionary outlays grows by an average 0.7% annually, while the
Administration’s proposed levels fall by an average 0.7% annually. The
Administration’s budget shows non-defense discretionary spending falling from $511
billion in FY2007 and FY2008 to $493 billion in FY2012. As shares of GDP, the
fall is more substantial, dropping from 3.7% of GDP in FY2007 to 3.5% of GDP in
FY2008 to 2.8% of GDP in FY2012. If these levels are achieved, non-defense
discretionary spending would be smaller as a percentage of GDP in FY2012 than in
any year since at least FY1962. How the Administration plans to achieve these
reductions, particularly after FY2008, is not illuminated in the budget.
Mandatory spending in the President’s budget grows by 4.2% ($62 billion) from
FY2007 to FY2008. The budget includes proposals to reduce, from baseline levels,
mandatory outlays by $10 billion in FY2008. The reductions would be achieved by
slowing the growth of selected mandatory spending activities such as Medicare and
Medicaid, among others. The effort would reduce total mandatory spending over the
five years by almost $60 billion (out of total mandatory spending over the period of
approximately $1,100 billion). Mandatory spending would remain the largest broad
category of federal spending, growing from $1,465 billion in FY2007 to $1,527
billion in FY2008 and to $1,923 billion in FY2012. The budget showed it growing
from 10.5% of GDP in FY2008 to 10.8% of GDP in FY2012.
The President’s FY2008 budget shows net interest outlays rising by $22.1
billion from FY2007 to FY2008. The growth in federal debt in the recent past, and
its continued growth under the Administration’s proposals (at least in the very short
term), leads to the higher net interest outlays. The proposed net interest outlays in
FY2008 are $7.8 billion larger than the Administration’s current services baseline
estimate for FY2008. The Administration’s policy proposals would raise FY2012
net interest outlays almost $30 billion above its current services net interest outlay

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CRS-7
estimate. The Administration’s estimates show net interest changing very little as a
percentage of GDP throughout the five years (ranging between 1.6% of GDP to 1.8%
of GDP).
CBO’s January 2007 baseline estimates show outlays falling over its projection
period (FY2007-FY2017), from 19.9% of GDP in FY2007 to 19.7% of GDP in
FY2008 to 18.8% of GDP in FY2012 and remaining near that level through FY2017
(18.9% of GDP). Under a selection of CBO provided alternative policies that would
increase outlays above baseline levels, with outlays rising over the 10-year period
from 20.2% of GDP in FY2008 to 21.2% of GDP in FY2017. One of the alternative
policies that CBO estimates, freezing total discretionary appropriations at the level
provided for FY2007, would reduce outlays as a percentage of GDP faster than what
CBO shows occurring under the baseline.
The CBO baseline estimates for defense spending (which excluded any new
supplemental funding) increases outlays by $7 billion (from $490 billion to $497
billion) between FY2007 and FY2008. CBO’s baseline assumptions, which increase
total discretionary spending by the rate of inflation, show defense spending rising to
$575 billion in FY2012 (and to $652 billion in FY2017). As percentages of GDP,
defense spending falls slowly throughout the 10-year projection. CBO estimates that
it will be 3.9% of GDP in FY2007 and 3.8% of GDP in FY2008. It would then fall
to 3.3% of GDP in FY2012 and to 3.1% of GDP in FY2017 in CBO’s projections.
CBO’s non-defense discretionary spending rises from an estimated $490 billion in
FY2007 to $497 billion in FY2008, to a projected $525 billion in FY20012, and to
$586 billion in FY2017. Under the CBO baseline projections, non-defense
discretionary spending falls as a percentage of GDP, from 3.6% of GDP in FY2007
to 3.5% of GDP in FY2008, to 3.1% of GDP in FY2012, and to 2.8% of GDP in
FY2017. These latter numbers, like the ones from the Administration, are very low
by historical standards.
The mandatory spending baseline estimates from CBO rises from $1,455 billion
in FY2007 to $1,533 billion in FY2008, a 5.4% increase. By FY2012, CBO’s
projections increases mandatory spending to $1,866 billion and to $2,568 billion by
FY2017. As shares of GDP, CBO’s projections raise mandatory spending slowly
early in the period and faster later in the period from 10.7% in both FY2007 and
FY2008 to 10.8% in FY2012 and to 12.1% of GDP in FY2017.
CBO’s baseline estimates show net interest growing by $15 billion from
FY2007 to FY2008 (from $235 billion to $250 billion). The smaller deficits in
subsequent years in the CBO baseline projections reduce the growth in the debt,
slowing the rise and then reversing the rise, in net interest payments. They peak at
approximately $270 billion in FY2011 and FY2012 before sliding to $228 billion in
FY2017. As shares of GDP, the CBO January 2007 projections show net interest
holding fairly steady or falling throughout the ten-year period (from approximately
1.7% of GDP in FY2007 and FY2008 to 1.1% of GDP in FY2017.

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CRS-8
Figure 1 shows spending by
Figure 1. Outlays by Type,
category as percentages of GDP from
FY2000-FY2012
the Administration’s February 2007
(in percentages of GDP)
budget. The data show actual outlays
12%
for defense, non-defense, mandatory,
and net interest spending for the fiscal
years 2000 through 2006 and the
10%
estimates and projections for the fiscal
years 2007 though 2012. The slide in
defense and non-defense discretionary
8%
M andatory
spending as shares of GDP after
National Defense
FY2007 and FY2008 depend on the
Nondefense
Administration’s assumptions that non-
6%
Net Interest
defense discretionary spending falls
annually (FY2008 through FY2012)
4%
and that there is limited additional
funding for the war on terror after
FY2008 (the Administration includes a
2%
$50 billion “placeholder’ in its FY2009
estimates for additional war funding).
The President proposes some reduction
2/2007
0%
in mandatory spending from current
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
service levels, but they do little to keep
mandatory spending from rising
slightly later in the decade, as a share of
GDP. By FY2012, the President’s proposed private accounts for Social Security help
raise mandatory spending as a percentage of GDP above the current services level.
Figure 2. Outlays, FY2000-FY2017
Figure 2 shows three possible
(in percentages of GDP)
paths for outlays (as percentages of
25%
GDP) through FY2017: the CBO
Average, FY1966-FY2006
January 2007 baseline; the President’s
24%
Actuals, FY2000-FY2005
proposal in his FY2008 budget
CBO Baseline
(February 2007); and an alternative
23%
OMB Feb. 2007
estimate derived from CBO data.
Alt ernative Est imate
CBO’s baseline outlays fall as a share
22%
of GDP through FY2012 and then
21%
remain relatively stable through
FY2017.
20%
The President’s proposed outlays
19%
fall sharply after FY2007, a result of the
18%
Administration’s proposals to reduce
discretionary spending, both defense
17%
and non-defense, and moderate the rate
of growth in some mandatory programs.
16%
By FY2012, spending would be just
2/2007
below its percentage of GDP in
15%
FY2000.
2000
2005
2010
2015

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CRS-9
The alternative estimate is based on selected policy alternatives from CBO that
are not included in its baseline. The alternative estimate incorporates two of several
available assumptions directly affecting outlays. The first has discretionary
appropriations growing at the rate of nominal GDP growth (rather than at the rate of
inflation). The second reduces the number of troops deployed in Iraq and
Afghanistan as well as other anti-terror activities to 75,000 by FY2013. Both of
these assumptions increase outlays above the baseline projections, increasing the
deficit (or reducing a surplus), increasing federal debt and subsequent net interest
payments. These higher net interest payments are included in the alternative
estimate. In addition, the alternative estimate for outlays includes the outlay effects
of the changes to the deficit and debt that occur in the alternative estimate for receipts
(see the next section). The outlay effects are mostly higher net interest. The
alternative estimate grows over the 10 years as a percentage of GDP, rising to 21.1%
in FY2017.
Receipts
Receipts rise by 4.8% ($122 billion) from FY2007 to FY2008 under the
Administration’s FY2008 budget proposal. Over the five years forecast, receipts rise
by $767 billion, over 30%. The proposal would extend and make permanent most of
the tax cuts scheduled to expire between now and FY2012.
Table 3. Receipts for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017
(in billions of dollars)
FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2017
CBO Baseline, 1/07 . . . . . . . . . .
2,407a
2,542
2,720
2,809
2,901
3,167
3,404
4,284
President’s FY06 Budget, 2/07 . . . . . . . . . .
2,540
2,662
2,798
2,955
3,104
3,307
—
President’s FY06 CSB 2/07 . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2,550
2,714
2,831
3,008
3,151
3,348
—
a. Actual receipts for FY2006.
CSB — The Administration’s current services baseline.
The Administration estimates that making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent
will reduce cumulative receipts by $374 billion between FY2008 and FY2012 and
by $1,617 billion between FY2008 and FY2017. The effect of these and the other
Administration proposals for receipts would reduce receipts, from baseline levels, by
an estimated $599 billion in the first five years and by $1,854 billion over 10 years
(as can be seen in Table 3, the proposed reductions do not reduce receipts in dollars
over time).
CBO’s January 2007 budget report estimates that extending the expiring
provisions of the major tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003 would reduce revenues by
an estimated $418 billion over the first five years and by $1,937 billion over 10 years.
Extending all the tax cuts that expire over the 10-year period would reduce revenues

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CRS-10
(from CBO baseline levels) by $870 billion in the first five years and by $3,178
billion over the full 10 years of the forecast.5
Figure 3 shows the President’s January receipt estimates by type for the fiscal
years 2000 through 2012. Actual receipts are shown for FY2000 through FY2006.
All are shown as percentages of GDP. Excise and other receipts each remain at or
below 1% of GDP for the period shown. Corporate income taxes, after rising
through FY2006, decline slowly and stabilize near 2% of GDP under the
Administration’s projection. Social Insurance receipts remain fairly steady from
FY2006 through FY2012. Individual income taxes, having fallen from over 10% of
GDP in FY2000 to 7% of GDP in FY2004, regain some of their lost share under the
Administration’s proposals, but remain 1% of GDP below their FY2000 level.
Figure 3. OMB Receipts
The Administration’s proposals
FY2000-FY2012
includes extending the current relief
(in percentages of GDP)
from the alternative minimum tax
(AMT) for fiscal years 2007 and
12%
Individual
2008. Without further extensions of
Social Insurance
Corporate
or a permanent fix to the AMT, a
10%
Other
growing number of middle-class
Excise
taxpayers will be subject to it.6 The
FY2008 budget estimates that
8%
“fixing” the AMT for the two years
will cost $9.1 billion in FY2007 and
$47.9 billion in FY2008. CBO
6%
estimates that it would cost on
average about $55 billion a year over
the next 10 years to index the AMT
4%
2007
for inflation. Although the
2/
President’s budget calls for fixing
the AMT expansion, it does not
2%
include the five-year cost of doing
so. This, in effect, increases the
Administration’s receipt estimates by
0%
$50 to $60 billion a year (after
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012
FY2008) above what they would be
if they included an AMT fix.7
5 CBO lists almost 100 expiring provisions between FY2007 and FY2017. Almost all of
them would reduce revenues. See table 4-10 in CBO’s report, The Budget and Economic
Outlook: Fiscal Years 2008-2017, January 2007, [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=
7731&sequence=0].
6 For discussions of the AMT issue, see CRS Report RL30149, The Alternative Minimum
Tax for Individuals; and CRS Report RS22100, The Alternative Minimum Tax for
Individuals: Legislative Initiatives and Their Revenue Effects, both by Gregg A. Esenwein.
7 See CRS Report RS21817, The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): Income Entry Points and
“Take Back” Effects, by Gregg A. Esenwein, for more information on the interaction of the
AMT and the tax cuts.

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CRS-11
As shares of GDP, total receipts in the President’s budget are expected to remain
near their average (between FY1966 and FY2006) of 18.3% throughout the five
years. CBO’s baseline estimates (January 2007), which exclude the extension of the
2001 and 2003 tax cuts, are larger, rising to over 20% of GDP by FY2017.
The last two years (FY2006, FY2007) saw unexpectedly rapid growth in
receipts. Neither OMB nor CBO expects the rapid growth to continue. Receipts rose
from 16.3% of GDP in FY2004 to 18.4% of GDP in FY2006. OMB shows very little
change in receipts as a share of GDP over the budget’s five years, rising to 18.6% in
FY2012. CBO’s baseline shows receipts jumping to 19.8% of GDP in FY2012 once
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts expire, but not because of continued revenue growth
under current tax law.
Modifying CBO’s baseline revenue estimates and projections by using its
alternative policy estimates produces slower growth in receipts, both in dollars and
as shares of GDP, than in CBO’s baseline. The alternative estimate assumes the
extensions of all expiring tax cuts, an annual adjustment to the AMT to halt its
expanding coverage, and the interaction effect of the extensions and the AMT.8 The
alternative estimate for receipts shows them falling as a percentage of GDP to
approximately 17.5% by FY2012, where they remain through FY2017. In FY2008,
CBO estimates that the alternative revenue assumptions would produce $70 billion
less revenue than the baseline. By FY2012, the alternative revenue estimate is $389
billion smaller than baseline revenues and in FY2017, the alternative has fallen $560
billion below the baseline
Figure 4. Receipts, FY2000-FY2017
projection.
(in percentages of GDP)
25%
Figure 4 uses data from the
Average, FY1966-FY2006
January 2007 CBO budget report
24%
Actuals, FY2000-FY2005
and from the President’s FY2008
CBO Baseline
23%
OMB Feb. 2007
budget. The 40-year average of
Alternative Est imate
receipts as a percentage of GDP
22%
(18.3%) is also shown. The figure
shows receipts as percentages of
21%
GDP for fiscal years 2000 through
2017 (projected). Actual receipts
20%
are shown for fiscal years 2000
19%
through 2006. The three estimates
shown remain fairly close through
18%
FY2009 or FY2010, and then
separate by fairly large amounts. In
17%
CBO’s baseline, receipt estimates
are larger as shares of GDP than
16%
those of the Administration’s
2/2007
15%
proposals or the alternative
2000
2005
2010
2015
estimate. The CBO baseline does
8 The interactions of AMT reform and the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts produces
greater revenue losses than the two changes separately. CBO includes in its alternative
policies an estimate of this effect.

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CRS-12
not include the FY2007 and FY2008 AMT relief that is included in the
Administration estimate and the alternative estimate. The separation in the estimates
accelerates in FY2011, when the Administration proposal and the alternative estimate
assume the permanency of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts and CBO’s baseline does not.
CBO’s baseline shows a large jump in receipts in FY2011, as the 2001 and 2003 tax
cuts expire (as required by current law). It then climbs slowly to just above 20% of
GDP in FY2017. The Administration’s revenue estimates show little variation over
the five-years in the FY2008 budget, with only a slight rise in the last year. The
alternative estimate shows receipts rising slightly (as shares of GDP) in FY2007
before falling through FY2012, and remaining relatively constant after that.
Deficits and Surpluses
Deficits and surpluses are the residuals left after Congress and the President set
policies for spending and receipts. Surpluses, in which receipts are greater than
outlays, reduce federal debt held by the public, which can lead to lower net interest
payments (among other effects). Deficits, in which outlays exceed receipts, increase
government debt held by the public, generally increasing net interest payments. The
government had its last surplus in FY2001 ($128 billion or 1.3% of GDP).
The President’s FY2008 budget has a deficit of $239 billion for FY2008, and
a small surplus ($61 billion) in FY2012. The Administration’s current service
baseline estimates show the budget reaching a surplus in FY2010, two years prior to
the budget reaching a surplus. This implies that if the Administration’s proposals
were not implemented, a surplus would arrive sooner.
Table 4. Surpluses/Deficits(-) for FY2006-FY2012 and FY2017
(in billions of dollars)
FY2006 FY2007 FY2008 FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2017
CBO Baseline, 1/07 . . . . . . . . .
-248 a
-172
-98
-116
-137
-12
170
249
President’s FY06 Budget, 2/07 . . . . . . . .
-244
-239
-187
-94
-54
61
—
President’s FY06 CSB 2/07 . . . . . . . . . . .
-185
-38
-35
34
35
147
—
a. Actual deficit for FY2006.
CSB — The Administration’s current services baseline.
Achieving the Administration’s deficit reduction goals during the next five years
would require strict limits on the growth in total discretionary spending (both defense
and domestic), a slowing in the growth rate of some entitlements, and allowing AMT
relief to lapse after 2008. Some of the President’s proposals would increase spending
or reduce receipts, requiring larger spending reductions in other areas of the budget,
since the Administration has steadfastly opposed any tax increases to reduce the
deficit.9
9 The Administration’s current services baseline estimate, which assumes current policy, has
smaller deficits and a quicker move to surplus than the deficits and surplus in the President’s
proposed budget. The cumulative five-year deficit would be smaller without the President’s
(continued...)

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CRS-13
CBO’s January 2007 baseline estimates and projections show the deficit falling
in dollars and as a percentage of GDP through FY2011, after which surpluses appear
through the end of the projections in FY2017. The assumptions that CBO follows
to produce the baseline generated the deficit reduction and surpluses. On the revenue
side, the baseline assumes the lack of a fix to the expanding coverage of the AMT
and the expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts at the end of calendar year 2010 (as
required by current law). Both boost revenues considerably compared to including
an AMT fix and extending the tax cuts. On the spending side, discretionary spending
is assumed to grow at the rate of inflation, which is a slower rate than it has grown
recently.
The result of substituting a selection of the CBO alternative policies not
included in its baseline for the policy assumptions used in the baseline, produced a
growing deficit from FY2007 through FY2017. The alternative estimate, as
discussed in the previous sections, limits the growing coverage of the AMT, extends
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and increases discretionary spending at the rate of GDP
growth (see the CBO-based alternative estimate in Figure 5). Under these alternative
policies, the deficit would grow from an estimated 1.5% of GDP in FY2007 to 3.6%
of GDP in FY2017.
Figure 5 shows deficit estimates as shares of GDP for FY2000 through
FY2017. The actual shares of GDP for the surpluses and deficits are shown for
FY2000 through FY2006. For the
Figure 5. Surplus/Deficit(-)
years through FY2017, the data are
FY2000-FY2017
taken from the estimates and
(in percentages of GDP)
projections by CBO and OMB in
5%
their first budget reports for FY2008,
Average, FY1966-FY2006
early in 2007. The average deficit
4%
Actuals, FY2000-FY2005
(2.3% of GDP) for FY1966 through
CBO Baseline
FY2006 is also shown. The 40-year
3%
OMB Feb. 2007
average is shown for comparison.
Alt ernative Estimate
2%
The CBO baseline deficit
1%
estimate assumes the expiration of
the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts in 2010,
0%
no future adjustments to lessen the
expanding coverage of the AMT, and
-1%
the adjustment of discretionary
-2%
spending for inflation. The result of
these baseline assumptions, as
-3%
percentages of GDP, is growing
receipts, falling outlays, and a rapid
-4%
fall in the deficit as a share of GDP
2/2007
-5%
and the emergence of surpluses after
FY2011 (the line moves upward in
2000
2005
2010
2015
the figure). The President’s policy
9 (...continued)
proposed policy changes than with them.

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CRS-14
proposals assume additional spending for defense in FY2007 and FY2008 (and a
minimal “placeholder” in FY2009, with no assumptions about additional defense
funding in subsequent years), tight controls on domestic discretionary spending, a
slight slowing in the growth of Medicare and Medicaid, no additional AMT relief
after FY2008, and the creation of personal accounts for Social Security in FY2012.
The estimates show a rapid decline in the deficit as a percentage of GDP, with a
slight surplus appearing in FY2012.
The alternative estimate in Figure 5 uses selected estimates of alternative
policies estimated by CBO. Under these assumptions, the deficit estimates, after a
reduction in FY2007, grows almost steadily through FY2017, when the deficit
reaches 3.6% of GDP, the same level reached in FY2004 (this line moves downward
in Figure 5).
The Longer Run
OMB, CBO, and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agree that over
a longer time period, one beginning in this decade and lasting far into the century, the
current mix of federal fiscal policies is unsustainable. The nation’s aging population
combined with health care costs that seem likely to continue rising faster than per
capita GDP raise spending in federal programs for the elderly to such an extent that
the government faces constantly rising deficits and, “a federal debt burden that
ultimately spirals out of control.... Although the timing of deficits and resulting debt
build up varies depending on the assumptions used, ... we are on an unsustainable
fiscal path.”10 According to CBO projections, keeping future outlays at current levels
of GDP (approximately 20%) and fiscal policies unchanged could easily lead to
drastic reductions in all spending other than those for Medicare, Social Security, and
Medicare. The Acting Director of CBO stated that, “By 2030 ... spending for those
programs [Medicare, Social Security, and Medicare] is projected to reach roughly 15
percent of GDP .... If that increase happened ..., the rest of the budget would have
to be cut by more than half.”11 to keep overall spending close to 20% of GDP
In addition, a CBO report on The Long-Term Budget Outlook (December 2005)
stated
Over the next half-century, the United States will confront the challenge of
conducting its fiscal policy in the face of the retirement of the baby-boom
generation.... Under current policies, the aging of the population is likely to
combine with rapidly rising health care costs to create an ever-growing demand
for resources to finance federal spending for mandatory programs, such as
Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.... [A]ttaining fiscal stability in the
coming decades will probably require substantial reductions in the projected
10 GAO. The Nation’s Long-Term Fiscal Outlook: January 2007 Update. GAO-07-510R.
p.1.
11 CBO. The ABCs of Long-Term budget Challenges, Director’s Conference on Budget and
Accounting for Long-Term Obligations, Opening Remarks by Donald B. Marron, Acting
Director, December 8, 2006. p.2.

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CRS-15
growth of spending and perhaps also a sizable increase in taxes as a share of the
economy.12
The Administration indicated similar concerns about the outlook for the budget
over the long term in the President’s FY2008 budget (February 2007).
...the current structure of the Federal Government’s major entitlement programs
will place a growing and unsustainable burden on the budget in the long-
term....By 2050, spending on these three entitlement programs [Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid] is projected to be more than 15 percent of GDP, or
more than twice as large as spending on all other programs combined, excluding
interest on the public debt.13
The short-term budget outlook can change when it is buffeted by all types of
unexpected events, such as the hurricanes in 2005 or deteriorating economic
conditions. The long-term budget outlook, although susceptible to these types of
events, will largely be determined by the interplay of policy and demographics. The
retirement of the baby boom generation and a rapidly expanding population eligible
for federal programs serving the elderly will put enormous pressure on the federal
budget. Without policy changes, these programs could overwhelm the rest of the
budget. Not only will the programs themselves be stressed, but their growth could
easily limit the government’s flexibility in meeting its obligations or new needs as
well as overwhelm the economy’s ability to provide the resources needed for the
expanded programs.
12 CBO, The Long-Term Budget Outlook, Dec., 2005, p.1.
13 OMB, Budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2008, Feb. 2007, p.16.

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CRS-16
For Additional Reading
U.S. Congressional Budget Office. The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years
2008-2017. Washington, January 24, 2007.
U.S. Council of Economic Advisors. The Economic Report of the President.
Washington, GPO, February 2007.
U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The Budget of the United States
Government for Fiscal Year 2008. Washington, GPO, February 5, 2007.
CRS Products
CRS Report RS21992, Extending the 2001, 2003, and 2004 Tax Cuts, by Gregg
Esenwein.
CRS Report RL31775, Do Budget Deficits Push Up Interest Rates and Is This the
Relevant Question? by Marc Labonte.
CRS Report RL21939, The Magnitude of Changes That Would be Required to
Balance the FY2008 Budget, by Marc Labonte.
CRS Report RL31414, Baseline Budget Projections, a Discussion of the Issues, by
Marc Labonte.
CRS Report RL30149, The Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals, by Gregg
Esenwein.
CRS Report RL30239, Economic Forecasts and the Budget, by Brian W. Cashell.
CRS Report RL31235, The Economics of the Federal Budget Deficit, by Brian W.
Cashell.
CRS Report 98-560, Baselines and Scorekeeping in the Federal Budget Process, by
Bill Heniff, Jr.
CRS Report RS20095, The Congressional Budget Process: A Brief Overview, by
James V. Saturno.
CRS Report RS22605, FY2008 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO
Availability, by Jennifer Teefy.
CRS Report RL30297, Congressional Budget Resolutions: Selected Statistics and
Information Guide, by Bill Heniff Jr.
CRS Report 98-720, Manual on the Federal Budget Process, by Robert Keith and
Allen Schick.

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CRS-17
CRS Report RL30708, Social Security, Saving, and the Economy, by Brian W.
Cashell.
CRS Report RL333868, Medicare: FY2008 Budget Issues, by Hinda Chaikind,
Gretchen A. Jacobsen, et al.

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