Congress of the United StatesCongressional Budget Office,
Copyright Date:
2013
Description:
viii, 305 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm
Notes:
Cover title. "November 2013"--Cover. "Pub. No. 4664"--Page 2 of cover. Format not distributed to depository libraries. Includes bibliographical references.
Contents:
Introduction. The current context for decisions about the budget choices for the future ; Caveats about this report -- Mandatory spending options. Trends in mandatory spending ; Methodology underlying mandatory spending estimates ; Options in this chapter -- Discretionary spending options. Trends in discretionary spending ; Methodology underlying discretionary spending estimates ; Options in this chapter -- Revenue options. Trends in revenues ; Box: Types of and limits on the cost of tax expenditures ; Trends in tax expenditures ; Methodology underlying the revenue estimates ; Options in this chapter -- Options related to health. Trends in spending and revenues related to health ; Methodology underlying estimates related to health ; Options in this chapter -- The budgetary implications of eliminating a cabinet department. An overview of the budgets of the cabinet departments ; Commerce, education, and energy : departmental budgets by program ; Policy and implementation issues -- A: Some options for deficit reduction not included in this report -- B: Spending options by budget function -- C: Options by major program or category.
Summary:
From the Introduction: This volume presents 103 options that would decrease federal spending of increase federal revenues over the next decade. Those options cover many areas-ranging from defense to energy, Social Security, and provisions of the tax code. The budgetary effects identified for most of the options span the 10 years from 2014 to 2023 (the period covered by CBO's May 2013 baseline budget projections), although many of the options would have longer-term effects as well. Chapters 2 through 5 present options in the following categories: Chapter 2: Mandatory spending other than that for health-related programs; Chapter 3: Discretionary spending other than that for health-related programs, Chapter 4: revenues other than those related to health; Chapter 5: Health-related programs and revenue provisions. In addition to 11 options that are similar in scope to others in this volume, Chapter 5 includes 5 broad approaches for reducing spending on health care programs or revenues forgone because of tax provisions related to health care. Each would offer lawmakers a variety of possibilities for making changes in current laws. Chapter 6 differs from the rest of the volume; it discusses the challenges and the potential budgetary effects of eliminating a cabinet department.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.