AP gov vocab congress part 2

budget

A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures).

Expenditures

Government spending. Major areas of federal spending are social services and national defense.

Revenue

The financial resources of the government. The Individual income tax and Social Security tax are two major sources of the federal government's revenue.

Income tax

Shares of individual wages and corporate revenues collected by the government. The Sixteenth Amendment explicitly authorized Congress to levy a tax on income.

16th Amendment

The constitutional amendment adopted in 1913 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax.

Social Insurance taxes

Taxes collected from employees and employers to pay for major social programs; also known as payroll taxes and social insurance taxes

Tax Expenditures

Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions on federal tax law.

Social Security Act

A 1935 law intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty.

Medicare

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides heath insurance for the elderly, covering hospitalization, doctor fees, and other health expenses

Uncontrollable expenditures

Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control.

Entitlements

Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Social Security benefits are an example.

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

An office that prepares the president's budget and also advises presidents on proposals from departments and agencies and helps review their proposed regulations.

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president's OMB.

General Accounting Office (GAO)

reviews spending activities of federal agencies, studies programs, and recommends ways to spend taxpayers' dollars wisely

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

estructured the federal budget process, creating the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It established procedures to limit presidential impoundment of funds, requiring congressional approval for rescissions, and created a new budget timetable, including the reconciliation process.

Budget Resolution

A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs.

Reconciliation

A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings. It usually also includes tax or other revenue adjustments.

Authorization Bill

An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs.

Appropriations Bill

An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. Appropriations usually cover one year.

Continuing Resolutions

When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year.