Selected Agency Budget Justifications for
FY2015
Justin Murray
Information Research Specialist
April 18, 2014
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
R43470
Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
Summary
This report provides a convenient listing of online FY2015 agency budget justification
submissions for all 15 executive branch departments and 9 selected independent agencies. In most
cases, budget justifications contain more detailed descriptions of the proposals and programs that
are provided in the President’s budget submissions.
This report will be updated to reflect the current budget justifications submissions for the
forthcoming fiscal year.
Congressional Research Service
Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
Contents
Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Online Access to Budget Justifications ............................................................................................ 1
Executive Departments .............................................................................................................. 2
Selected Independent Agencies ................................................................................................. 3
Contacts
Author Contact Information............................................................................................................. 4
Congressional Research Service
Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
Introduction
Budget justifications are detailed written materials, data, and supporting documents provided by
federal agencies that expand upon and support the President’s yearly budget submission to
Congress.1 In form and content, the justifications may vary by agency. The Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) provides yearly instructions to the agencies for producing materials to be
included in the President’s budget submission and agency budget justifications. Each summer,
OMB issues these instructions as part of a document entitled, Circular No. A-11: Preparation,
Submission, and Execution of the Budget.2
The release of the budget justifications occurs soon after the release of the President’s annual
budget submission and in advance of congressional hearings on agency budget requests.3
Agencies submit budget justifications to the appropriations subcommittees to support the agency
testimony and inform congressional deliberations. Beginning with the FY2008 executive budget
cycle, agencies have also been required to post their congressional budget justification materials
on the Internet within two weeks of transmittal to Congress.4
For more information, see CRS Report RS20268, Agency Justification of the President’s Budget,
by Michelle D. Christensen. Also see CRS Report 98-721, Introduction to the Federal Budget
Process, coordinated by Bill Heniff Jr., which, in addition to providing a broader perspective on
the budget process, includes a discussion of how the President’s budget submission fits into the
subsequent congressional budget process.
Online Access to Budget Justifications
Links to websites with FY2015 budget justification documents for each of the 15 executive
departments and 9 selected independent agencies are provided below.5 Since the organization of
the materials on agency websites can vary, brief guidance for navigating to FY2015-specific
materials is provided below the links as appropriate.
1 Additional details on the proposals and programs may also be available directly from the agencies themselves via
congressional liaison or governmental affairs contacts listed 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.
2 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. Note these requirements pertain to executive branch agencies
but not to legislative and judicial agencies.
3 The OMB released the President’s FY2015 Budget submission in two parts. The first part containing the Budget
volume and Budget Appendix volume was released on March 4, 2014. The second part containing the Analytical
Perspectives and Historical Tables volume were released on March 10, 2014. The President’s FY2015 Budget
submission may be accessed at the OMB Budget website at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget. Additional
information on accessing and contents of the FY2015 Budget submission are available in CRS Report R43475, FY2015
Budget Documents: Internet and GPO Availability, by Jared C. Nagel.
4 See Circular A-11, Section 22.6.
5 These are the nine independent agencies specified under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, P.L. 101-576, 31
U.S.C. §501.
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Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
Executive Departments
Department of Agriculture
http://www.obpa.usda.gov/explan_notes.html
Department of Commerce
http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/FY_2015_CBJ.html
Department of Defense
http://comptroller.defense.gov/budgetmaterials.aspx
Department of Education
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget15/justifications/index.html
Department of Energy
http://energy.gov/cfo/downloads/fy-2015-budget-justification
Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/budget
Click on “Budget Justifications to Congress” or scroll down to find links to justification contents
by departmental division.
Department of Homeland Security
http://www.dhs.gov/dhs-budget
See links for “FY2015 Budget-in-Brief” and “Congressional Budget Justification FY2015.”
Department of Housing and Urban Development
http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/cfo/reports/fy15_CJ
Department of Interior
http://www.doi.gov/budget/index.cfm
See the link for “Fiscal Year 2015 Interior Budget in Brief.” Scroll down for links to individual
departments and bureaus.
Department of Justice
http://www.justice.gov/jmd/2015justification
Department of Labor
http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/
Department of State
http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/ebs/2015/index.htm
Department of Transportation
http://www.dot.gov/mission/budget/fy2015-budget-estimates
Department of Treasury
http://www.treasury.gov/about/budget-performance/Pages/cj-index.aspx
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Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
Department of Veterans Affairs
http://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp
See the links for “Current Fiscal Year (2015) Budget Submission” materials.
Selected Independent Agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
http://www2.epa.gov/planandbudget/fy2015
Click on “FY2015 Justification of Appropriation Estimates for Committee on Appropriations.”
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html
Click on the “FY2015 Budget Estimate.”
Agency for International Development (AID)
http://www.usaid.gov/results-and-data/budget-spending/congressional-budget-justification
Click on the link for the “FY2015 Congressional Budget Justification.”
General Services Administration (GSA)
http://www.gsa.gov/portal/content/102463
Click on the link for the “FY2015 Congressional Justification.”
National Sciences Foundation (NSG)
http://www.nsf.gov/about/budget/
Click on the “Fiscal Year 2015 Request.”
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1100/
Click on Volume 30, “Congressional Budget Justification: Fiscal Year 2015.”
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
http://www.opm.gov/about-us/budget-performance/budgets/#url=Congressional-Budget-
Justification
Click on the “Fiscal Year 2015.”
Small Business Administration (SBA)
http://www.sba.gov/about-sba/sba_performance/performance_budget/
congressional_budget_justification/annual_performance_reports
Click on “FY2015 Congressional Budget Justification.”
Social Security Administration (SSA)
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/budget
Click on the “FY2015” tab.
Policy analysis for each of the 12 regular appropriations bills themselves are available via the
CRS Appropriations Status Table by clicking on the corresponding CRS report for each bill at
http://www.crs.gov/Pages/AppropriationsStatusTable.aspx. This report provides access for the 15
federal executive departments and 9 independent agencies noted above. Additional budget
submissions to Congress for sub-agencies or quasi-government agencies may also be available
online. An extensive and more comprehensive listing of all federal agencies and offices is
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Selected Agency Budget Justifications for FY2015
available in the current U.S. Government Manual at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GOVMAN-
2013-11-06/pdf/GOVMAN-2013-11-06.pdf.
Author Contact Information
Justin Murray
Information Research Specialist
jmurray@crs.loc.gov, 7-4092
Congressional Research Service
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