

FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO
Availability
Jared C. Nagel
Information Research Specialist
April 17, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R43475
FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
Summary
Every year the President submits a series of volumes to Congress containing the President’s
proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The President’s submission is required on or after the
first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February.
This report provides brief descriptions of the budget volumes and related documents, together
with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices for
obtaining print copies of these publications. It also explains how to find the locations of
government depository libraries, which can provide both printed copies for reference use and
Internet access to the online versions. This report will be updated as events warrant.
Please note that neither the Congressional Research Service (CRS) nor the Library of Congress
(LOC) distributes print copies of the budget documents.
Congressional Research Service
FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
The President’s Budget Documents, Fiscal Year 2015 .................................................................... 1
The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2015 ............................................................ 1
The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2015 (CD-ROM) ......................................... 2
Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 .............. 2
Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 .................................... 2
Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 ........................ 3
Mid-Session Review .................................................................................................................. 3
Economic Report of the President, 2014 ......................................................................................... 3
Agency Budget Justifications .......................................................................................................... 4
Additional Comparative Budget Data by Agency and Account ...................................................... 4
Public Budget Database, Fiscal Year 2015 ................................................................................ 4
Congressional Budget Office ........................................................................................................... 5
Budget and Economic Outlook: FY2014-FY2024 .................................................................... 5
Analysis of the President’s FY2015 Budget .............................................................................. 5
GPO Ordering Information .............................................................................................................. 5
Depository Libraries ........................................................................................................................ 6
Websites on Budget Legislation ....................................................................................................... 6
Congressional Staff .................................................................................................................... 6
Public Use .................................................................................................................................. 6
Contacts
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................. 6
Congressional Research Service
FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
Introduction
The President’s budget for FY2015 consists of a multivolume set of materials issued by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The materials contain information on new budget
proposals, summary tables, detailed financial information on individual programs and accounts,
economic analysis, historical data, explanations of the budget processes, and supporting
documents. Every year the President submits these materials to Congress at the start of the budget
cycle for the next fiscal year. The President’s submission is required on or after the first Monday
in January but no later than the first Monday in February (31 U.S.C. §1105a). The FY2015
Budget materials were submitted in two releases on March 4, 2014, and March 10, 2014.1
Other budget-related documents include the annual Economic Report of the President, issued in
March by the Council of Economic Advisors, and the Budget and Economic Outlook, an annual
publication issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Details on these publications are
included in this report.
The President’s Budget Documents, Fiscal Year 2015
Both OMB and the Government Printing Office (GPO) provide Internet access to the main and
supporting budget documents, spreadsheet files, the public budget database, and budget
amendments and supplementals proposed by the President: see http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
budget and http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGET,
respectively.
Information on purchasing print copies of these documents appears below, along with a brief
description of the contents of each document. OMB provides additional summary table
information on agency budgets and key issues in the form of fact sheets, found at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget_factsheets_key.
The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2015
The annual Budget submission contains information, charts, and graphs pertaining to the
President’s new budget proposals and overviews of government activities by agency and topic
(e.g., “National Intelligence Program” and “Creating a 21st Century Government”). Summary
tables (pp. 161-208) contain projections of budget baselines, receipts, and outlays; deficits; debt;
discretionary spending; and economic projections from FY2013 to FY2024. Federal programs
that have been recommended by the Administration for termination or reduction are detailed in
the document entitled Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings, available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2015/assets/ccs.pdf.
(GPO stock number 041-001-00705-9, 218 pages)
1 For additional information on the timing of the Presidential Budget submission see CRS Report R43163, The
President’s Budget: Overview of Structure and Timing of Submission to Congress, by Michelle D. Christensen.
Transcripts of a White House press conference noting a delay in the FY2015 Budget release are available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/02/04/press-briefing-press-secretary-jay-carney-242014.
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FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2015 (CD-ROM)
The FY2015 Budget CD-ROM contains the full content of the budget documents and most
supporting documents for the budget in PDF files. Some data files are also included in
spreadsheet format. The CD-ROM provides software to search, display, and print.
(GPO stock number 041-001-00703-2, $28)
Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government,
Fiscal Year 2015
This volume includes economic, accounting, and crosscutting analyses of government programs
and activities designed to highlight specific subject areas and places the budget in perspective. It
also includes information on federal receipts and collections, analysis of federal spending,
detailed information on federal borrowing and debt, baseline or current service estimates, and
other technical presentations. Chapter 15, “Aid to State and Local Governments,” contains a
series of tables (pp. 243-290) that provide selected grant and other federal assistance data by
state.
The FY2015 Analytical Perspectives volume contains supplemental materials including tables
showing the budget by agency and account and by function, sub-function, and program.2 The
supplemental materials also include data on direct and guaranteed loan transactions of the federal
government. The supplemental material is available on a CD-ROM, in the printed document, or
on the GPO website at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=
BUDGET.
(GPO stock number 041-001-00706-7, $55, 430 pages)
Appendix, Budget of the United States Government,
Fiscal Year 2015
Designed primarily for the use of the House and Senate appropriations committees, the FY2015
Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriations
accounts than any of the other budget documents submitted by the President. For each agency it
provides the following:
• Proposed text of the appropriation language;
• Budget schedules for each account;
• New legislative proposals;
• Explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed; and
• Proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or
groups of agencies.
2 The President’s FY2015 budget includes a “Glossary of Budget Terms” within Analytical Perspectives. See pp. 107-
110.
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FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
Typically, these elements are distinguished by varying font, so that proposed appropriations
(italics) and prior year funding (brackets) can be compared at a glance:
For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General in carrying out the provisions of
the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), [$115,437,000] $121,457,000; of which
not to exceed $300,000 may be used for certain confidential operational expenses, including
the payment of informants, to be expended at the direction of the Inspector General.
(Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2014.)3
(GPO stock number 041-001-00707-5, $78, 1,438 pages)
Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government,
Fiscal Year 2015
These detailed tables cover budget deficit/surplus, outlays, receipts, discretionary and mandatory
spending, federal debt, federal employment, payments for individuals, spending by function and
agency, and grants to states and local governments. This volume provides some data from 1940
(or earlier) and estimates through FY2019. Historical data are adjusted by OMB to be consistent
with data in the FY2015 Budget and to provide comparability over time.
(GPO stock number 041-001-00704-1, $50, 372 pages)
Mid-Session Review
OMB issues revised estimates of budget receipts, outlays and budget authority in the Mid-Session
Review. This annual document is typically released in the summer following the President’s
Budget submission. The FY2015 document is not currently available, but should be available in
the summer on the OMB website.
(GPO stock number and ordering information not yet available)
Economic Report of the President, 2014
This year’s annual Economic Report of the President, transmitted to Congress in March 2014,
presents the Administration’s report on its economic policies and contains the annual report of the
Council of Economic Advisors. The report is available from the Council of Economic Advisors
website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/
full_2014_economic_report_of_the_president.pdf. It presents an overview of the nation’s
economic progress using text and extensive data appendices. Appendix B of the Economic Report
includes current and historical statistics on major aspects of economic activity (pp. 359-396).
Statistics include national income and expenditures from 1965 to 2013, government finance,
population, employment, wages, productivity, prices, debt measures, corporate finance, and
international statistics.
3 Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General, from p. 509 of the FY2015 Budget Appendix.
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FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
The report is also available from the GPO website at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/
collection.action?collectionCode=ERP. A searchable database of the Economic Report of the
President for each year from 1995 to the present is also available at this site. Spreadsheet files
from Appendix B of the report can be accessed at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/browse/
collection.action?collectionCode=ERP&browsePath=2014&isCollapsed=false&
leafLevelBrowse=false&isDocumentResults=true&ycord=0.
(GPO stock number 040-000-00791-1, $47, 396 pages)
Agency Budget Justifications
After the President’s budget documents are released in February, Congress begins to hold
hearings on agency budget requests. Agencies must submit their budget justifications to the
appropriations subcommittees holding the hearings. Budget justifications generally contain more
detailed descriptions of an agency’s proposals and programs than are provided in the President’s
budget documents. As mandated by OMB in Section 22.6 of the 2006 edition of Circular A-11
and subsequent editions, beginning with the FY2008 budget cycle, executive agencies are
required to post their congressional budget justification materials on the Internet within two
weeks of transmittal to Congress.4
Typically, administration budget requests appear along with actual numbers for the immediate
previous fiscal year. The content and structure of these submissions may vary and some materials
may not correspond exactly with the data and information provided to Congress in other fiscal
years.5 A short overview on the agency budget justification request can be found within CRS
Report RS20268, Agency Justification of the President’s Budget, by Michelle D. Christensen.
FY2015 Budget justification documents for each executive agency may be accessed through CRS
Report R43470, Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015, by Justin Murray.
Additional Comparative Budget Data by Agency
and Account
Public Budget Database, Fiscal Year 2015
OMB maintains a publicly accessible database in Excel and comma delimited format called the
Public Budget Database. This resource provides account level detail data on budget authority for
4 Each summer, OMB issues instructions to all federal executive departments and agencies on submitting budget data
and materials for inclusion in the President’s budget documents. These instructions are in a document entitled Circular
No. A-11: Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget. Circular A-11 is available on the White House
website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_a11_current_year_a11_toc. See Section 22.6.
5 Additional data may also be available directly from the agencies themselves via listed congressional liaison or
governmental affairs contacts in CRS Report 98-446, Congressional Liaison Offices of Selected Federal Agencies, by
Audrey Celeste Crane-Hirsch. A listing of agencies included within each of the 12 regular appropriations bills is
available in CRS Report R40858, Locate an Agency or Program Within Appropriations Bills, by Justin Murray.
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FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
the years FY1976 to FY2019,6 and budget outlays and budget receipts for FY1962 to FY2019.
This resource is available on the GPO FY2015 Budget website at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/
browse/collectionGPO.action?collectionCode=BUDGET. A user’s guide in PDF format is also
available on this site by clicking on the expandable tab for the document.
Congressional Budget Office
Budget and Economic Outlook: FY2014-FY2024
CBO’s baseline budget projections span 11 fiscal years in its reports. The Budget and Economic
Outlook includes separate chapters on the economic outlook, outlays, and receipts. The data and
projections cover FY2014 through FY2024. This document, released in February 2014, also
includes discussions on current economic conditions. The report is available on the CBO website
at http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45010. The website also includes underlying data,
supplemental material, and baseline projections. CBO issues an annual summer update of the
Budget and Economic Outlook with adjusted projections. This document and other budget and
economic information, including CBO’s monthly budget review are available at
http://www.cbo.gov/topics/budget.
(GPO stock number 052-070-07671-2, $32, 175 pages)
Analysis of the President’s FY2015 Budget
This report provides an analysis of the President’s budgetary proposals and CBO’s updated
baseline budget projections. The FY2015 report is available at
http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45230.
(GPO ordering information is currently not available.)
GPO Ordering Information
Printed copies of budget documents are available for purchase from GPO by the following
methods.
• Online at the GPO website, at http://bookstore.gpo.gov/catalog/budget-
economy/federal-budgets-year
• By telephone, (866) 512-1800 or (202) 512-0132
• By fax, (202) 512-2104
• By mail (check or money order), addressed to U.S. Government Printing
Office, P.O. Box 979050, St. Louis, MO 63197-9000
6 Budget authority data includes actual budget authority through FY2013 and estimates for FY2014 through FY2019.
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FY2015 Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability
Depository Libraries
Budget documents are often available for reference use at large public or university libraries, or
any library participating in the Federal Library Depository Program. Addresses of the depository
libraries can be obtained through a local library; from GPO’s Customer Services department,
(866) 512-1800 or (202) 512-1800; or online from the GPO website at http://catalog.gpo.gov/
fdlpdir/FDLPdir.jsp.
Websites on Budget Legislation
Congressional Staff
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has developed (for Members of Congress and their
staffs) two web pages covering the budget and appropriations process.
• Appropriations and Budget Analysis. For CRS products on appropriations
status, jurisdictions, processes, current appropriations bills, and other budget-
related resources, Members and congressional staff can access the CRS website
at http://www.crs.gov/Pages/clis.aspx?cliid=73. The CRS Appropriations Status
Table, a table which tracks the progress of major actions related to appropriations
bills, is available at http://www.crs.gov/Pages/AppropriationsStatusTable.aspx.
• CRS Products on the Federal Budget Process. Explanations of budget
concepts, terminology, congressional and executive budget process,
congressional budget timetable, budget resolutions and reconciliation, the
authorization and appropriations process, entitlements and discretionary
spending, the Budget Enforcement Act, sequestration, and surpluses/deficits are
available from the CRS website at http://www.crs.gov/Analysis/CongOps.aspx.
Public Use
The public may access THOMAS, the legislative website produced by the Library of Congress at
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.php. The site includes a Status of Appropriations Legislation
for FY2014 with links to bills, committee and conference reports, and votes for the 12 regular,
and any supplemental, appropriations bills. The THOMAS Status Table of Appropriations is
available at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/approp/app14.html.
Author Contact Information
Jared C. Nagel
Information Research Specialist
jnagel@crs.loc.gov, 7-2468
Congressional Research Service
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