Structure of The Budget
Fundamentally, the budget resolution is structured along 20 budget functions, or categories of spending. Functional categories often cut across agency lines. For example, the National Defense function includes certain Department of Energy programs as well as Department of Defense programs. Functions are further subdivided into "subfunctions." In addition, though these functions and subfunctions are included in a budget resolution, which determines how Congress considers budget related legislation, they have little correspondence to any committee jurisdictions. Functions are, however, useful in understanding the placement of any given account in the federal government: Each account number has a series of numbers, the last three will indicate the function and subfunction; for example an account ending in "051" will indicate function 050 (Defense) and subfunction 051, which indicates a type of spending within the Defense category.
A listing of the budget functions can be found below.
| Function | Title | FY 20051 ($ million) |
|---|---|---|
| 050 | National Defense | 423,098 |
| 150 | International Affairs | 29,569 |
| 250 | General Science, Space and Technology | 24,459 |
| 270 | Energy | 1,883 |
| 300 | Natural Resources and Environment | 30,286 |
| 350 | Agriculture | 22,353 |
| 370 | Commerce and Housing Credit | 8,092 |
| 400 | Transportation | 69,494 |
| 450 | Community and Regional Development | 12,949 |
| 500 | Education, Training, Employment and Social Services | 91,817 |
| 550 | Health | 248,780 |
| 570 | Medicare | 293,574 |
| 600 | Income Security | 342,324 |
| 650 | Social Security | 516,457 |
| 700 | Veterans Benefits and Services | 65,444 |
| 750 | Administration of Justice | 40,781 |
| 800 | General Government | 19,392 |
| 900 | Net Interest | 177,909 |
| 920 | Allowances | (798) |
| 950 | Undistributed Offsetting Receipts | (63,108) |
| Total: | 2,354,755 | |
In addition to these functions, during the 110th Congress, in S. Con. Res. 21 and S. Con. Res 70, an additional function was included: Function 970, indicating spending on the global war on terrorism (Overseas Deployments and Other Activities (970)).
Read more about this topic: Budget Resolution
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