BY JAMES L. TRUE
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
LAMAR UNIVERSITY
The author is grateful for research support from 1994 through 1997 from
the Department of Political Science and the College of Liberal Arts of Texas
A&M University and for support from 1997 through 2002 by from the Jack
Brooks Chair in Government and Public Service, the Department of Political
Science at Lamar University, and the Center for American Politics of the
University of Washington.
July 2002
FOREWORD
The purpose of this project was to provide a comprehensive source of actual spending results of the national government organized by the purpose the spending was meant to serve. This project achieved its purpose first by analyzing contemporary national budgets starting with fiscal year (FY) 1948, then by re-casting previous functions and subfunctions (or parts of them) into the modern classification system, and last by assembling reported historical amounts organized by modern function and subfunction for government outlays or expenditures from FY 1947 through 2001. The result is a data set of 55 years of national government outlays using a functional classification that is consistent over the entire period. That data set is available as an Excel spreadsheet entitled, “Natl Govt Outlays 1947-2001”.
This codebook describes the present functional arrangement of the national budget of the United States Government, and it describes the steps taken to convert past budget records into the present arrangement. This research project continues an effort that has been ongoing since 1994. It began as the budget portion of a research project on policy agendas in the U.S. since World War II. It was initially used to produce time series of budget authority for the Baumgartner-Jones Agenda Setting Project (NSF: SBR-9320922) and other analyses. Budget authority (BA) is the congressionally approved amounts that an agency may obligate to achieve its purposes. Outlays are expenditures made from the U.S. Treasury as a consequence of agency obligations. BA is analogous to the amounts placed in your checking account against which you can write checks. Outlays are analogous to the payments your bank makes as a result of the checks you write. A serious effort to investigate your spending will examine both the amounts available for your spending decisions and the payments made to support them. And a serious effort to trace the purposes of national spending will want to examine both BA and outlays. These traces of Treasury payments over time provide a comprehensive look at the spending decisions of the U.S. national government since World War II.
The author is grateful to Bryan Jones and Frank Baumgartner for initiating the original research project and for supporting its continuation. I am also grateful to Doris McGonagel, Mariam Stepanyan, and Catherine Allen for assisting in various stages of this research, to the political science departments of Texas A&M and Lamar University, and to the Center for American Politics of the University of Washington and the Jack Brooks Chair of Government and Public Service of Lamar University for continuing support.
This
codebook is divided into three parts. Part I contains the functional and
subfunctional explanations used in the modern Budget. They constitute an
authoritative classification of spending by the primary national purpose it is
meant to serve. Part I is arranged according to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) functional classification system, and it includes historical
classification details pertinent to the modern functions and subfunctions. Part
II contains information on the data sources used to produce the categorizations
and data used in the project. Part III contains a glossary that lists and
explains budget terminology and provides additional details on the analytical
steps necessary to produce functionally comparable series across such a long time
period. Detailed notes on any changes made to the original classification for
the BA data set are available from the author.
Table of Contents
PART I: EXPLANATIONS OF BUDGET FUNCTIONS AND
SUBFUNCTIONS
BUDGET FUNCTION/SUBFUNCTION
CODE TITLE PAGE
050 National
Defense.........................……………………..
2
051 Department of Defense-Military
053 Atomic Energy Defense Activities
054 Defense-related Activities
150 International
Affairs....................………………………. 4
151 International Development and
Humanitarian
Assistance
152 International Security Assistance
153 Conduct of Foreign Affairs
154 Foreign Information and
Exchange
Activities
155 International Financial Programs
250 General
Science, Space, and Technology...……………... 5
251 General Science and Basic Research
252 Space Flight, Research, and
Supporting
Activities
270 Energy...................................…………………………… 6
271 Energy Supply
272 Energy Conservation
274 Emergency Energy Preparedness
276 Energy Information, Policy, and
Regulation
300 Natural
Resources and Environment........…………….
8
301 Water Resources
302 Conservation and Land Management
303 Recreational Resources
304 Pollution Control and Abatement
306 Other Natural Resources
350 Agriculture..............................………………………… 11
351 Farm Income Stabilization
352 Agricultural Research and Services
370 Commerce
and Housing Credit..............……………… 11
371 Mortgage Credit
372 Postal Service
373 Deposit Insurance
376 Other Advancement of Commerce
400 Transportation...........................………………………. 13
401 Ground Transportation
402 Air Transportation
403 Water Transportation
407 Other Transportation
450 Community
and Regional Development.......………… 14
451 Community Development
452 Area and Regional Development
453 Disaster Relief and Insurance
500 Education,
Training, Employment,
and Social Services ....................………………….. 15
501 Elementary, Secondary, and
Vocational
Education
502 Higher Education
503 Research and General Education Aids
504 Training and Employment
505 Other Labor Services
506 Social Services
550 Health...................................…………………………. 17
551 Health Care Services
552 Health Research and Training
554 Consumer and Occupational Health
and Safety
570 Medicare................................... ……………….……… 18
571 Medicare
600 Income
Security………..........................……………… 19
601 General Retirement and Disability
Insurance
(excluding social security)
602 Federal Employee Retirement and
Disability
603 Unemployment compensation
604 Housing assistance
605 Food and nutrition assistance
609 Other income security
650 Social
Security .........................………………………. 22
651 Social Security
700 Veterans
Benefits and Services...........……………….. 22
701 Income Security for Veterans
702 Veterans Education, Training, and
Rehabilitation
703 Hospital and Medical Care for
Veterans
704 Veterans Housing
705 Other Veterans Benefits and Services
750 Administration
of Justice................…………………… 23
751 Federal Law Enforcement Activities
752 Federal Litigative and
Judicial
Activities
753 Federal Correctional Activities
754 Criminal Justice Assistance
800 General
Government.......................………………….. 25
801 Legislative Functions
802 Executive Direction and Management
803 Central Fiscal Operations
804 General Property and Records
Management
805 Central Personnel Management
806 General Purpose Fiscal Assistance
808 Other General Government
809 Deductions for Offsetting Receipts
900 Net
Interest..............................……………………….. 27
901 Interest on the Public Debt
902 Interest Received by
On-budget Trust
Funds
903 Interest Received by
Off-budget
Trust Funds
908 Other Interest
909 Other Investment Income
920 Allowances…………………………………………… 28
950 Undistributed
Offsetting Receipts........………………. 28
951 Employer Share, Employee Retirement
(On-budget)
952 Employer Share, Employee Retirement
(Off-budget)
953 Rents and Royalties on
the Outer
Continental Shelf
954 Sale of Major Assets
959 Other Undistributed Offsetting Receipts
PART II:
DATA SOURCES USED IN THIS PROJECT 30
PART III: GLOSSRY OF BUDGET TERMINOLOGY
AND DATA COLLECTION USED IN THIS PROJECT 31
General: The following budget functions and subfunctions
were produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and used in the Budget of the United States Government (referred
to herein as the Budget). Three
advantages of using OMB classifications are that all outlays in the Budget are considered, that double
counting is minimized, and that project data are based on published figures
from an authoritative contemporary source---the Budget.
Each of the functions and subfunctions in the Budget is
discussed separately in this section. Over the years, the OMB functional
classifications have undergone a host of changes, and many rearrangements of
contemporary budget categories and parts of categories were necessary to
produce data series that are comparable across the entire time period. Information
on specific adjustments will be found under the function or subfunction that
was affected. Additional information on adjusting functional categories will be
found in Part III under the explanations for functions and adjusted
functional classifications. (Note that words that appear hereafter in
italics are defined in the glossary.)
Programmatic and Financial Subfunctions: Most project analyses
concentrate on the seventeen functions and 61 subfunctions that are
programmatic or non-financial. The
functions of “Net Interest”, “Allowances”, and “Undistributed Off-setting
Receipts” and the fifteen financial subfunctions listed below consist mainly of
net amounts, rather than complete transactions. Because large amounts of
offsets create an erratic financial record, the appropriateness of these
subfunctions for programmatic budget analysis is questionable. The financial
subfunctions are International Financial Programs (155); Mortgage Credit (371);
Postal Service (372); Deposit Insurance (373); Veterans Housing (704);
Deductions for Off-setting Receipts (809); Interest Received by On-budget Trust
Funds (902); Interest Received by Off-budget Trust Funds (903); Other Interest
(908); Other Investment Income (909); Employer Share, Employee Retirement (on-budget)
(951); Employer Share, Employee Retirement (off-budget) (952); Rents and
Royalties on the Outer Continental Shelf (953); Sale of Major Assets (954); and
Other Undistributed Offsetting Receipts (959).
Details appear in Part III, s.v. programmatic subfunctions, financial
subfunctions, discretionary spending, mandatory spending, and national
security spending.
Background: Historically, the current OMB
functional classification scheme began with a major overall revision of
categories after World War II as is explained in the FY 1948 Budget.
Since that time, functional classifications have undergone various
changes, many of which are explained in budget analysis sections of annual Budgets. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment
Control
Act of 1974 placed new emphasis on functional categorizations by requiring that
the concurrent budget resolution set levels for budget authority and outlays,
both in total and by functional category. The classification scheme used for
this project is the one published in the Fiscal Year 1995 Budgets of the United States Government, their appendices, and
historical tables, with a few later adjustments as is discussed in the
subfunction details that follow.
Explanations: Each of the functions and
subfunctions is described separately below using the following format:
Function Code and Name
Subfunction Codes and Names
Explanation
of Function
Subfunction Names and Explanatory Details
-----------------------------------------------------------------
051 Department of Defense-Military:
Military Personnel (MilPers)
Operation and Maintenance (O&M)
Procurement
Research, Development, Test, and
Evaluation (RDT&E)
Military Construction (MilCon)
Family Housing (MFH)
Other
053 Atomic energy defense activities
054 Defense-related activities
This
function develops, maintains, and equips the military forces of the U.S. under
the Department of Defense (DoD). This
function also includes the financing of defense-related activities of the
Department of Energy. The DoD was
established by the National Security Act of 1947. Budget authority and outlays before that time may be found
separately under the War Department and the Navy Department. The purpose of this function is the common
defense and national security of the United States. It includes funds for raising, equipping, and maintaining the
armed forces; for developing and employing weapons systems; and for operating
related programs such as the Selective Service System and national intelligence
activities. In earlier budgets, Military Assistance appeared as part of this
function. However, the present
arrangement classifies most foreign military assistance as “International
Security Assistance” in subfunction 152 under INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, and
project analyses follow the present functional arrangement. Veterans’ benefits are not part of this
function; they are found under function 700.
Department of Defense-Military: Almost
all funding in the NATIONAL DEFENSE function appears in the military
subfunction (051). The entire DoD is
included in this subfunction. The
Military subfunction is unique in that it is further subdivided into
classifications that parallel appropriations categories (e.g., Military
Personnel, Operations & Maintenance, etc.). Outlay data are available for each subdivision from FY 1954
through FY 2001, using contemporary Budgets from each year since FY 1963
and historical data from the FY 1965 Budget.
A
special comment is needed on funding provided to the Department of Defense from
the Persian Gulf Defense Fund from FY 1990 through FY 1992. Those funds came
from other nations (principally Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Japan). They appear
as credits or negative expenditures in DoD budget details for subfunction
051-Other. Analysts who desire to portray military spending that includes these
outside sources as programmatic spending can calculate approximate total
defense spending by removing the negative budget authority and outlays reported
in DoD-Other for those years. That
removal adds the following current year amounts to subfunction 051 and function
050 budget authority: FY 1990 ($393M); FY 1991 ($41,656M); and FY 1992
($1,378M), and it adds the following current year amounts to 051 and 050
outlays: FY 1990 ($218M); FY 1991 ($46,229M); and FY 1992 ($3,318M)
Changes
in military retirement funding have been complicated, and they have had varying
impacts on the budget authority totals for military personnel and on other
related subfunctions. Before the FY 1985 Budget, subfunction 051
included direct compensation and benefits paid to active DoD military and
civilian personnel as well as payments to retired military personnel. Beginning
with the FY 1985 Budget, DoD
financing of military retirements changed from financing payments for past
retirees to financing the future retirement benefits of the current active
forces through accrual charges, which are paid into the military retirement
trust fund. (A much smaller accrual
charge for military personnel retirement is also charged to subfunction 301,
“Water Resources”, for military personnel assigned to the Army Corps of
Engineers.) The military retirement
trust fund receives these accruals for future retirees and makes payments to present
retirees under subfunction 602, "Federal Employees Retirement and
Disability" as it does for DoD civilian retirements. Since these payments will appear in budget
records both as a charge to the agency and a charge to the retirement trust
funds, they are also offset against total government outlays as a negative
amount in subfunction 951, “Employer Share, Employee Retirement.”
The
DoD shift from directly financing the retirement payments for former military
members to financing an accrual for the future retirement of present members
had only a minor immediate impact on DoD outlays for military and retired
personnel. The difference between the
accrual system and the former direct payments for FY 1983 was $583 million out
of total military and retired personnel costs of $61,468 million. On the other
hand, the creation of the military retirement trust fund also made relatively
large changes in the reported figures for subfunction 602 and subfunction
951. The government has used the
present accrual system since the FY 1985 Budget;
however, project data series are based on the accrual system from FY 1982
onward. Because of a lack of necessary details in the FY 1984 and FY 1985 Budgets, project data for FY 1982 and FY
1983 are based on the historical tables of the FY 1986 Budget. In sum, project
figures report outlays for military personnel based on cash payments to
retirees from FY 1947 through FY 1981. From FY 1982 onward, those outlays
reflect the present accrual system. The shift from old to new systems for
retirement payments did not have a marked impact on outlays in the subfunction
for DoD-Military although it had relatively larger impacts on subfunctions 602
and 951.
Atomic energy defense activities:
Subfunction 053 contains Department of Energy nuclear military
activities (e.g., nuclear materials support, Naval ship reactors, nuclear
weapons, remedial action for formerly utilized sites, and treaty verification
and control technology) as well as the Defense Nuclear Energy Safety Board. Beginning with the FY 1976 Budget (and budget data for FY 1974), nuclear physical research and
life sciences research were transferred out of national defense and into
general science, and civilian nuclear energy development and production
activities were transferred out of defense and into energy. Before the FY 1976 Budget, this
subfunction was called “Atomic Energy” or “Development and control of atomic
energy” and contained both civilian and military nuclear energy
activities. Before the FY 1954 Budget, “Development and control of
atomic energy” was part of the NATURAL RESOURCES function. Actual project budget data from FY 1947
through FY 1973 have both civilian and defense nuclear activities under this
subfunction. Project data for FY 1974
and thereafter have the military part of nuclear energy programs in this
subfunction, the civilian parts in either subfunction 271, “Energy Supply”, or
subfunction 251, “General Science and Basic Research”, as appropriate.
Defense-related activities:
Subfunction 054 contains the funding for the Selective Service System,
some stockpiles of defense materials, and various national intelligence
activities. Funding for the Central Intelligence Agency is not explicitly
delineated in the Budget of the United
States Government. But reported intelligence programs in this subfunction
include the Central Intelligence Agency Retirement and Disability Fund and the
Community Management Account (previously called the Community Management Staff
and the Intelligence Community Staff), which funds the intelligence community
management efforts of the Director of Central Intelligence. Defense stockpiles outside of the Department
of Defense (051) or Department of Energy (053) are classified under subfunction
054. For example, the General Services
Administration's purchase, sale, and maintenance of strategic and critical
materials to be used in the event of war are financed through this
subfunction. Contemporary budget
authority and outlays records for this subfunction have contained net credit entries
that require some explanation. From FY
1974 through FY 1977, offsetting collections in this subfunction exceeded new
authority and outlays because of GSA sale of stockpiled materials. Consequently, negative budget authority and
outlays (credit) are recorded for those years. Sales to foreign militaries are
not part of this subfunction; the net results of the foreign military sales
trust fund are classified in subfunction 155, “International Financial
Programs”.
151 International development and
humanitarian assistance
152 International security assistance
153 Conduct of foreign affairs
154 Foreign information and exchange
activities
155 International financial programs
This
function represents the U.S. foreign affairs establishment, including embassies
and other diplomatic missions abroad, loans and technical assistance to other
countries, security assistance to other governments, the net result of foreign
military sales made through the trust fund, and U.S. contributions to
international financial institutions and international organizations. Its purposes are to maintain peaceful
relations and commerce between the U.S. and the rest of the world and to
promote international security and economic development abroad. General programs include foreign affairs,
foreign aid, Food for Peace, and export promotion. However, the function of
export promotion also appears in other functional areas as discussed below. Foreign aid per se consists of subfunction 151 and subfunction 152.
International development and humanitarian
assistance: Subfunction 151 includes the Agency for
International Development (AID), multilateral development banks, food aid,
refugee programs, and the Peace Corps.
Post-Cold-War assistance to Central and Eastern European nations and the
independent states of the former Soviet Union will be found under this
subfunction. From FY 1963 through FY 1973, this function included the Food for
Peace (also called Food for Freedom) program.
This subfunction has also been called “Foreign Economic and Financial
Assistance” and “Foreign Economic Development.” This subfunction includes voluntary contributions to
international organizations. See subfunction 153 for assessed contributions to
international organizations and subfunction 155 for support of the
Export-Import Bank.
The
separation between development assistance and security assistance has not
always been clearly made in contemporary budgets. Funds for the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) are
reflected under subfunction 152 in project data series. Funds for “Philippine
war damage and rehabilitation” are reflected under this subfunction.
International security assistance:
Subfunction 152 presently includes non-proliferation and disarmament, foreign
military financing grants and loans (often largely to Israel and Egypt), some
peacekeeping operations, anti-terrorism and de-mining programs, and the
economic support fund. The foreign
military sales trust fund is not included in subfunction 151 and instead
appears under International Financial Programs (155).
The
military and economic assistance components of this subfunction have not always
been treated consistently over the years, appearing separately and together
under both the DEFENSE and INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS functions. The subfunction was defined as International
Security Assistance with the FY 1983 Budget. From the FY 1979 through the FY 1982
Budgets, economic security assistance was treated separately from military
security assistance. Economic security
assistance was classified as a subfunction called, “Foreign Economic and
Financial Assistance”; military security assistance was classified as a
subfunction called, “Military assistance.”
From FY 1955 through FY 1978, military security assistance (including
the transfer of defense articles and services) appeared under NATIONAL DEFENSE
as the Military Assistance subfunction or the Mutual Military program. Before the FY 1955 Budget, military security assistance and defense aid were included
in the “Military and economic assistance” subfunction under the function
INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND FOREIGN RELATIONS.
Before the FY 1951 Budget,
this aid appeared in subfunctions of “International reconstruction,
development, and monetary stabilization” and “Foreign relief” (for post-World
War II Department of the Army civil functions) under the INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
AND FINANCE function. Project data
series for the entire period reflect all such historical budget activities for
security assistance under this present subfunction including the economic and
military assistance programs of the European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan).
Conduct of foreign affairs: Subfunction 153 includes State Department
operations as well as organizational and security contributions to the United
Nations and funding for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
(ACDA). As discussed in other
subfunction explanations under INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, various components of
other current subfunctions have appeared as part of this subfunction at one
time or another. Before the FY 1951 Budget, funding in this subfunction was
separated into two subfunctions, which were called “Foreign Relations” and
“Membership in Various International Organizations.” This subfunction includes the diplomatic and consular operations
of the Department of State as well as funding for assessed contributions to
international organizations and assessed contributions to international
peacekeeping.
Foreign information and exchange activities: The
U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and the Board for International Broadcasting
appear in subfunction 154. Before the
FY 1955 Budget, the Foreign-
information-and-exchange-activities subfunction did not exist. Its funding was included as part of the
subfunction, “Conduct of Foreign Affairs”.
This subfunction includes educational and cultural exchange programs.
International financial programs:
Subfunction 155 includes the Export-Import Bank, International Monetary
Fund (IMF), and the costs of international commodity agreements as well as
support for foreign military sales.
This subfunction was created with the FY 1977 Budget to show the Export-Import Bank separately from subfunction
151, which was then called “Foreign Economic and Financial Assistance” or
earlier called “Economic and technical development” under the INTERNATIONAL
AFFAIRS AND FINANCE function. Project data before FY 1975 consist largely of
net outlays for the Export-Import Bank.
Subfunction
155 also includes the net outlays of the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Trust
Fund. The purpose of the FMS trust fund
is to facilitate government-to-government sales of defense articles and
services. It was designed to be
self-supporting by charging foreign governments for the articles and services
that are provided. Consequently, it can
be anticipated to have zero requirement for national subsidies and zero net
financial impact on the Budget. However, there are often small net
differences that are reported. For
example, in FY 1993 the FMS trust fund reported new orders for sales of $33.2
billion, actual income from sales of $13.2 billion, and actual outgo from the
fund of $13.2 billion. All that is
captured in the subfunctional budget total for FMS in FY 1993 is $87 million. For further information on general trust
fund activities, see the terminology section at the end of this paper.
In
addition to the export promotion efforts related to the Export-Import Bank and
the IMF in this subfunction, export promotion is a government task, which
appears in other OMB subfunctions. The
Trade Development Program of Commerce’s International Trade Administration
appears under subfunction 376, “Other Advancement of Commerce”; the
International (Foreign) Agricultural Aid Service appears under subfunction 352,
“Agricultural Research and Services”; and funding for the U.S. Trade
Representative appears under subfunction 802, “Executive Direction and
Management,” along with other Presidential assistants.
251 General science and basic research
252 Space flight, research, and supporting
activities
This
function includes space research and technology, general science, and basic
research not covered specifically by other functions such as health, national
defense, or energy. Two specific
examples of basic research conducted under other functions would be weather
research and forecasting conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Agency (NOAA), which may be found in subfunction 306, "Other Natural
Resources," and military advanced technology research conducted by DoD and
found in subfunction 051, DoD-Military.
The GENERAL SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY function was established with
the FY 1976 Budget. Before that, SPACE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY
was a separate function, and some general science funding appeared in
contemporary sub-function “General Science” or in contemporary subfunction “Science Education and Basic Research.”
General science and basic research:
Programs in the 251 subfunction included the National Science Foundation,
the high energy and nuclear physics research programs of the Energy Department,
and the Superconducting Super Collider.
Before the FY 1976 Budget (budget data for FY 1974), nuclear
physical and life sciences research were categorized as part of national
defense atomic energy activities, but thereafter civilian nuclear research was
categorized in this subfunction. Project data for FY 1952 through FY 1956
consist solely of outlays for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Data for
this subfunction for FY 1957-1960 consist of the NSF part of the contemporary
promotion of education subfunction and all of the contemporary subfunction for
general-purpose research, libraries, and museums. For FY 1961 onward, it
consists of its own contemporary subfunction variously called “Science
education and basic research” or “General science and basic research”.
Space flight, research, and supporting activities: Space
programs and aeronautical programs of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) appear in subfunction 252. Space programs include human space flight, mission support,
flight control, facility construction, and research and development programs.
From FY 1976 through FY 1991, this present subfunction was composed of three
separate subfunctions, one each for space flight; space science, applications,
and technology; and supporting space activities. In earlier budgets, the funding in this subfunction consisted of
national government support for the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics
(NACA).