EPIC EXPLAINER: Key Sources of Budget Data

Understanding where and how the government spends money is necessary for a functioning democracy, both for policymakers and the general public. There are several key sources of budget data available from official government sources that help provide an understanding of the fiscal state of the nation. Data covering historical, ongoing, and future fiscal operations is available from both Executive and Legislative Branch sources.

Historical Budget Data

• The Office of Budget and Management’s (OMB) Historical Tables include summary totals, as well as more detailed data on various budget categories, payments to individuals, and grants to state and local governments. Historical, account-level budget data is available in OMB’s Public Budget Database, covering outlays, receipts, and budget authority. The most recent version was released in March 2024.
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes downloadable tables of historical budget and economic data, presented in summary totals and in major budget categories.

Current Budget Data

• The Treasury Department’s Financial Report of the United States Government provides a long-term picture of the federal government’s liabilities and assets, as well as the present value of unfunded obligations of entitlement programs.
• The Treasury Department’s Daily and Monthly Statements are useful for tracking the budgetary situation throughout the fiscal year.
  • The Monthly Treasury Statement provides a summary of the budgetary picture through the most recent month, showing revenues and outlays basis for major budget accounts, agencies, and aggregate totals.
  • The Daily Treasury Statement provides a snapshot of fiscal activity from the previous day, i.e., the government’s cash on hand, deposits and withdrawals.

The status of budgetary resources in appropriations accounts is published by OMB provided in the Standard Form (SF) 133 Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources, based on data submitted by individual agencies.

• Data for apportionment, where the OMB regulates the funding provided to agencies in appropriations, can be found here.
  • This data is also republished in a more user-friendly format by a non-governmental organization.
• The Treasury Department’s USAspending has data down to the individual award, grant, and contract level, and aggregate up to the budget account and agency level. They also track showing awards by state, county, or Congressional district.
• OMB’s Federal Program Inventory includes more than 2,600 federal programs and tax expenditures in the federal budget, but doesn’t include all of them despite being required to by law, and has methodological errors.
• PaymentAccuracy.gov reports on improper payments made by certain programs.

Future Budget Projections

• The CBO baseline is the most widely recognized source for budget and economic projections as part of the CBO’s Budget and Economic Report.
• The OMB also publishes a “current services” baseline, which follows similar rules to the CBO’s baseline, but based on the economic assumptions that form the President’s budget request.
• The CBO produces cost estimates that scores legislative proposals.
  • The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) is the official scorekeeper for tax proposals.

Policymakers should use these sources of data on the federal budget to make more informed fiscal policy decisions. They should also prioritize reforms that increase transparency and timeliness of budgetary data.