Obama's Fiscal 2015 Budget Would Expand Middle-Income Tax Benefits

Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 contains analyses that are designed to highlight specified subject areas or provide other significant presentations of budget data that place the budget in perspective. This volume includes economic and accounting analyses; information on Federal receipts and collections; analyses of Federal spending; information on Federal borrowing and debt; baseline or current services estimates; and other technical presentations.

The Analytical Perspectives volume also has supplemental materials (formerly part of the printed volume) that include tables showing the budget by agency and account and by function, subfunction, and program. These and other tables and additional supplemental materials are available on the internet at www.budget.gov/budget/ Analytical_Perspectives.

Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 provides data on budget receipts, outlays, surpluses or deficits, Federal debt, and Federal employment over an extended time period, generally from 1940 or earlier to 2015 or 2019.

To the extent feasible, the data have been adjusted to provide consistency with the 2015 Budget and to provide comparability over time.

Appendix, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2015 contains detailed information on the various appropriations and funds that constitute the budget and is designed primarily for the use of the Appropriations Committees. The Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts than any of the other budget documents. It includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language; budget schedules for each account; legislative proposals; explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed; and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies. Information is also provided on certain activities whose transactions are not part of the budget totals.

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After 5 years of grit and determined effort, the United States is better positioned for the 21^st Century than any other nation on Earth. We have created more than 8 million new jobs in the last 4 years and now have the lowest unemployment rate in over 5 years. Our housing market is rebounding. Our manufacturing sector is adding jobs for the first time since the 1990s. We now produce more oil at home than we buy from the rest of the world. We have cut our deficits by more than half since I took office. And for the first time in over a decade, business leaders around the world have declared that China is no longer the world's number one place to invest; America is.

We have made great progress, but we must do more to rebuild our economy on a new foundation for growth and prosperity. I believe that what unites the people of this Nation, regardless of race or region or party, young or old, rich or poor, is the simple, profound belief in opportunity for all -- the notion that if you work hard and take responsibility, you can get ahead. That belief has suffered some serious blows. Over more than three decades, even before the Great Recession hit, massive shifts in technology and global competition had eliminated good, middle class jobs and weakened the economic foundations that families depend on.

Today, after 4 years of economic growth, corporate profits and stock prices have rarely been higher, and those at the top have never done better. But average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility remains stalled. Even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by -- let alone get ahead. And too many still are not working at all.

Our job is to reverse these trends. We need to return to an America where our success depends not on accident of birth, but on the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams. That is what drew our forebears here. Opportunity is who we are. And the defining project of our generation is to restore that promise. It will not happen right away. But we must continue to strive toward that goal.

What I offer in this Budget is a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class -- all while continuing to improve the Nation's long-run fiscal position.

Earlier this year, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, the Congress produced an agreement that undid some of last year's severe cuts to priorities like education and research, infrastructure, and national security. Recognizing the importance of that bipartisan compromise, the Budget adheres to the spending levels agreed to by the Congress for fiscal year 2015. But there is clearly much more we can and should do to invest in areas like infrastructure, innovation, and education that will create jobs, economic growth, and opportunity. So I am including in my Budget a fully paid for Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative that provides the Congress a roadmap for how and where additional investments should be made in both domestic priorities and national security this year.

We know where to start: the best measure of opportunity is access to a good job. With the economy picking up speed, companies say they intend to hire more people this year. And over half of big manufacturers say they are thinking of insourcing jobs from abroad.

We need to make that decision easier for more companies. Both Democrats and Republicans have argued that our tax code is riddled with wasteful, complicated loopholes that make it harder to invest here and encourage companies to keep profits abroad. Last summer, I offered a proposal to couple business tax reform with critical investments in infrastructure. This Budget includes that proposal, using the transition revenue that will result from a shift to a simpler, more efficient tax code to create jobs rebuilding our roads and bridges and unclogging our commutes and transporting goods made in America -- because in today's global economy, first-class jobs gravitate to first-class infrastructure. At the same time, this Budget lays out how my Administration will continue to act on our own to cut red tape and streamline the permitting process for key infrastructure projects, so we can get more construction workers on the job as fast as possible.

We also have the chance, right now, to beat other countries in the race for the next wave of high-tech manufacturing jobs. My Administration has already launched four hubs for high-tech manufacturing, where we have connected businesses to research universities that can help America lead the world in advanced technologies. The Budget expands on these efforts by providing funding for five additional institutes, and, through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, supports the goal I announced last summer of creating a national network of 45 of these manufacturing innovation institutes over the next 10 years.

We know that the nation that goes all-in on innovation today will own the global economy tomorrow. This is an edge America cannot surrender. That is why the Budget includes investments in cutting-edge research and development, driving scientific and technological breakthroughs that will create jobs, improve lives, and open new opportunities for the American people. The Budget's Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative will allow us to push our limits even further, supporting additional biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health that will help us fight Alzheimer's, cancer, and other diseases, climate research to develop climate change-resilient infrastructure, and agricultural research that will help increase agricultural productivity and improve health.

We also know that one of the biggest factors in bringing more jobs back is our commitment to American energy. The all-of-the-above energy strategy I announced a few years ago is working, and today, America is closer to energy independence than we have been in decades.

The Budget advances this strategy by ensuring the safe and responsible production of natural gas and cleaner electricity generation from fossil fuels. It creates new incentives to cut the amount of energy we waste in our cars, trucks, homes, and factories. It promotes clean energy with investments in technologies like solar and by expanding and making permanent the tax credit for the production of renewable energy. And it continues to strengthen protection of our air, water, land, and communities, and addresses the threat of climate change. Climate change is a fact, and we have to act with more urgency to address it because a changing climate is already harming western communities struggling with drought and coastal cities dealing with floods. That is why I directed my Administration to work with States, utilities, and others to set new standards on the amount of carbon pollution our power plants are allowed to dump into the air, and why this Budget advances new approaches to address the growing cost and damage from wildfires.

All of these efforts can speed up growth and create more jobs. But in this rapidly changing economy, we have to make sure that every American has the skills to fill those jobs. The Budget therefore invests in new efforts to drive greater performance and innovation in workforce training, including on-the-job training, apprenticeships, and other steps to equip workers with skills that match the needs of employers.

Of course, it is not enough to train today's workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow's workforce by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education. That is why the Budget builds on the progress we have made with new investments and initiatives to improve all levels of education, from early childhood through college.

Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child's life is high-quality early education. This year, we will invest in new partnerships with States and communities across the country to expand access to high-quality early education, and I am again calling on the Congress to make high-quality preschool available to every four-year-old child. The Budget also includes funding to provide access to high-quality infant and toddler care for more than 100,000 children, and supports the extension and expansion of voluntary home visiting programs.

Last year, I called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next 4 years. This year, the FCC is making a down payment on this goal by connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next 2 years, without adding a dime to the deficit. To ensure students receive the full benefit of this connectivity, the Budget invests in training for teachers in hundreds of school districts across the country.

The Budget also supports redesigning our high schools, helping them partner with colleges and employers that offer the college-level coursework and real-world skills to prepare students for college and careers. And it launches a new Race to the Top competition aimed at closing the achievement gap, so that all children get the high-quality education they need to succeed.

And we are shaking up our system of higher education to encourage innovation, give parents more information, and reward colleges for improving quality and reducing costs, so that no middle class student is priced out of a college education. Last summer, I directed the Department of Education to develop and publish a new college rating system that will identify colleges that provide the best value to students and encourage all colleges to improve. The Budget supports the development of that rating system and provides bonuses to reward colleges that improve educational outcomes for Pell Grant recipients. And to help more Americans who feel trapped by student loan debt, the Budget expands income-driven repayment options, allowing millions the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments at 10 percent of their income.

We also must do more to ensure our economy honors the dignity of work, and that hard work pays off for all of our citizens. Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. I have already acted by Executive Order to require Federal contractors to pay their federally funded employees a fair wage of at least $10.10 an hour. The Congress needs to go further and raise the minimum wage for all workers to that same amount. This raise will help families, and it will help the economy by giving businesses customers with more money to spend and by boosting productivity and reducing turnover. The Budget also invests in enforcement efforts to make sure workers receive the wages and overtime they have earned.

There are other steps we can take to help families make ends meet. Few policies are more effective at reducing inequality and helping families pull themselves up through hard work than the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The EITC for families with children lifts millions out of poverty each year and helps about half of all parents at some point in their lives. But as a number of prominent policymakers, both progressive and conservative, have noted, the EITC does not do enough for single workers who do not have kids. The Budget doubles the value of the EITC for workers without children and non-custodial parents, and also makes it available to younger adult workers, so that it can encourage work in the crucial years at the beginning of a young person's career.

We also need to do more to help Americans save for retirement. Today, most workers do not have a pension. A Social Security check often is not enough on its own. And while the stock market has doubled over the last 5 years, that does not improve retirement security for people who do not have retirement savings. That is why the Budget builds on my proposal to create a new way for working Americans to start saving for retirement: the MyRA savings bond. To encourage new savers, MyRA requires a low initial contribution and guarantees a decent return with no risk of losing what you put in. Separately, the Budget also proposes to establish automatic enrollment Individual Retirement Accounts, offering every American access to an automatic savings vehicle on the job.

For decades, few things exposed hard-working families to economic hardship more than a broken health care system. With the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, we are in the process of fixing that. Already, because of the health reform law, more than 3 million Americans under the age of 26 have gained coverage under their parents' plans. More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage. Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma, back pain, or cancer. No woman can ever be charged more just because she is a woman. And we did all this while adding years to Medicare's finances, keeping Medicare premiums flat, and lowering prescription costs for millions of seniors. To continue this progress, the Budget fully funds the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

We must always remember that economic growth and opportunity can only be achieved if America is safe and secure. At home, the Budget supports efforts to make our communities safer by reducing gun violence and reforming our criminal justice system.

Looking beyond our borders, the Budget responsibly transitions from the completion of our military mission in Afghanistan in 2014 to political and security support for a unified Afghan government as it takes full responsibility for its own future. When I took office, nearly 180,000 Americans were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, all our troops are out of Iraq and more than 60,000 of our troops have already come home from Afghanistan. With Afghan forces now in the lead for their own security, our troops have moved to a support role. Together with our allies, we will complete our mission there by the end of this year, and America's longest war will finally be over.

In addition to responsibly winding down our operations in Afghanistan, the Budget ensures we maintain ready, modern, and capable defense forces to address any threats we might face, including threats from terrorism and cyber attacks. It funds humanitarian and diplomatic efforts in Syria, supports transition and reform throughout the Middle East and North Africa, and advances our strategic rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific region. It enhances stability and creates new markets for U.S. businesses with investments in Power Africa and promotes peace and security by supporting global health care and addressing climate change. And it strengthens oversight of intelligence activities and enhances the protection of U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel overseas.

The Budget also ensures that we continue to meet our obligations to our troops and veterans who have given so much to our country. To deliver on this commitment, it provides significant resources to support veterans' medical care, help military families, assist soldiers transitioning to civilian life, reduce veterans' homelessness, and reduce the disability claims backlog so our veterans receive the benefits they have earned. It also introduces necessary reforms to our military compensation system, which our uniform military leadership called for, to ensure servicemembers and their families receive the benefits that they have earned while making sure that our military can invest in the training, equipment, and support that it needs.

In addition to making these critical investments, the Budget outlines the steps my Administration is taking to create a 21^st Century Government that is more efficient, effective, and supportive of economic growth. Our citizens and businesses expect their Government to provide the same level of service experienced in the private sector and we intend to deliver. The Budget includes initiatives that will lead to better, faster, and smarter services, both online and in-person. It calls on Federal agencies to share services and leverage the buying power of the Government to bring greater value and efficiency for taxpayer dollars. It continues to open Government data and research for public and private sector use to spur innovation and job creation. And it invests in the Government's most important resource, its workers, ensuring that we can attract and retain the best talent in the Federal workforce and foster a culture of excellence.

The Budget does all of these things while further strengthening the Nation's long-term fiscal outlook. Over the last 5 years, we have cut the deficit in half as a share of the economy, experiencing the fastest period of deficit reduction since the demobilization following World War II. The Budget continues this progress, bringing deficits down as a share of the economy to below 2 percent by 2023 and putting debt as a share of the economy on a declining path.

Although we have seen a notable and significant decline in health care spending growth over the last few years, in part due to the Affordable Care Act, we know that over the long run, the growth of health care costs continues to be our Nation's most pressing fiscal challenge. That is why the Budget builds on the savings and reforms in the health reform law with additional measures to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid and encourage high-quality and efficient health care.

We also know that revenue has to be part of the solution to our Nation's long-term fiscal challenges. Given the aging of our population and the declining ratio of workers to retirees, we will need additional revenue to maintain our commitments to seniors while also making the investments that are needed to grow our economy and expand opportunity. The Budget secures that revenue through tax reform that reduces inefficient and unfair tax breaks and ensures that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street, is paying their fair share.

Finally, if we are serious about long-term, sustainable economic growth and deficit reduction, it is also time to heed the calls of business leaders, labor leaders, faith leaders, and law enforcement -- and fix our broken immigration system. Independent economists say immigration reform will grow our economy and shrink our deficits by almost $1 trillion in the next two decades. And for good reason: when people come here to fulfill their dreams -- to study, invent, and contribute to our culture -- they make our country a more attractive place for businesses to locate and help create jobs for everyone. The Senate has acted to pass a bipartisan immigration reform bill that is worthy of support. It is time for the House of Representatives to finish the job.

We have made progress over the last 5 years. But our work is not done. This Budget provides a roadmap to ensuring middle class families and those working to be a part of the middle class can feel secure in their jobs, homes, and budgets. To build real, lasting economic security, we also need to expand opportunity for all so every American can get ahead and have a shot at creating a better life for their kids.

None of it is easy. America has never come easy. But if we work together, if we summon what is best in us, I know it is within our reach.

Our economy is moving forward and businesses are creating jobs, but our top priority must be accelerating that growth while expanding opportunity for all Americans. For the last several years, manufactured crises in Washington have hindered, rather than helped, economic growth and opportunity. But earlier this year, Democrats and Republicans came together to produce a 2014 budget that invests in key areas of innovation, education, and infrastructure -- investments that will help grow our economy, create jobs, and strengthen the middle class.

The President's 2015 Budget shows how we can build on that progress. By rewarding hard work with fair wages, equipping all children with a high-quality education to prepare them for a good job in the future, making sure a secure retirement is within reach, and ensuring health care is affordable and reliable, we can expand opportunity for all Americans. By fixing our broken immigration system, investing in our infrastructure, simplifying the tax code for businesses, and reforming our skills and job training programs, we can create jobs and achieve stronger and more inclusive economic growth. By cutting wasteful tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and making common sense reforms to Government programs, we can manage our Government more efficiently and effectively, and continue to cut the deficit in a balanced way.

There are encouraging signs emerging across industries. Domestic oil production is exceeding imports for the first time since 1995 and is at its highest level since 1989. Increases in domestic oil and petroleum production have helped to cut U.S. net imports of crude oil and petroleum products in half relative to the 2005 peak, reduce trade imbalances, and boost manufacturing. Manufacturing production has grown since the end of the recession at its fastest pace in over a decade, adding 622,000 jobs over the past 47 months. Since Chrysler and General Motors emerged from bankruptcy in mid-2009, the auto industry has added 423,900 jobs, the industry's strongest growth since the 1990s. The housing sector is coming back, with housing prices, new home sales, and building permits up in 2013.

 

Seasonally-Adjusted Private Sector

 

Monthly Job Gain/Loss

 

 

 

The policies in the Budget will strengthen the recovery by making investments for the long term, while continuing to bring our deficits down and putting debt on a declining path as a share of the economy. Under the Budget, deficits will continue to fall, declining to below two percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2023, with the debt stabilized by 2015 and declining after that.

 

Annual Deficits as a Percent of GDP

 

 

 

While some portion of the slowdown is attributable to the business cycle, evidence suggests that a substantial fraction is probably structural, meaning that it reflects factors more likely to persist once the economy fully recovers.¹ One notable structural factor contributing to the slowdown is the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is lowering costs and improving quality by reducing excessive Medicare payments to private insurers and providers, deploying new payment models that encourage more efficient, higher-quality care, and creating strong incentives for hospitals to reduce readmission rates.

This slowdown is already yielding substantial fiscal dividends. Compared with the 2011 Mid-Session Review, aggregate projected Federal health care spending between 2014 and 2020 has decreased by more than $1 trillion based on current budget estimates. If sustained, the slow-down in health care costs will also help boost employment and bolster wage growth as the job market strengthens, and will translate into higher wages and living standards over the long run. If even one-third of the recent slowdown continues, health care spending a decade from now will be about $1,200 per person lower than if the growth returned to its 2000-2007 trend -- gains that workers will see in the form of higher wages and Federal and State governments will see in the form of lower costs.

 

Growth in Real Per Capita National Health

 

Expenditures, 1960-2013

 

 

 

Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Health Expenditure Accounts; Bureau of Economic Analysis, National Income and Product Accounts; and CEA calculations.

The ACA will have a growing impact on reducing health care costs and improving quality in future years. The Budget builds on the savings and reforms in ACA with additional measures that will help ensure health care cost growth remains low and improve the quality of care.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 2013 sequestration reduced real GDP growth by about 0.6 percentage points in calendar year 2013 and cost 750,000 jobs. Private sector economists have estimated that the Government shutdown reduced the annualized growth rate of GDP in the fourth quarter of 2013 by 0.2 to 0.6 percentage points, and, during the shutdown, the Gallup Daily Economic Confidence Index fell to its lowest level since December 2011. A report by the Office of Management and Budget also high-lighted other costs of the Government shutdown, including billions of dollars in lost productivity, reduced revenue for the Federal Government, and major disruption to Government services that the American people and the private sector economy rely on.²

While neither side got everything they wanted, the BBA took an important first step toward replacing the damaging sequestration cuts with sensible long-term reforms, including a number of reforms proposed in the President's 2014 Budget. The CAA built on the BBA to provide funding for investments in key areas of innovation, education, and infrastructure -- investments that will help grow our economy, create jobs, and strengthen the middle class. It also supported our national security by providing the Department of Defense (DOD) with needed relief from the untenable sequestration cuts that were undermining military readiness. This bipartisan legislation provided appropriations for every agency in the Federal Government, enabling them to more efficiently and effectively serve the American people and bringing greater certainty to businesses and communities across the Nation.

Recognizing the importance of this bipartisan compromise, the President's Budget adheres to the spending levels agreed to in the BBA in 2015, and proposes difficult but necessary cuts and reforms to make room for investments in priority areas such as research, clean energy, early learning, and ending homelessness. But even with those tough cuts and reforms, the discretionary levels set by the BBA simply are not sufficient to ensure that the Nation is achieving its full potential in creating jobs, growing the economy, and promoting opportunity for all.

For that reason, the Budget also includes a separate, fully paid for $56 billion Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative. The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, which is split evenly between defense and non-defense funding, shows how additional discretionary investments can spur economic progress and strengthen our national security. It will help restore our global edge in basic research, provide funding to support preschool across the United States, and train teachers to take advantage of broadband technology in the classroom. It will invest in our communities through emergency response activities, juvenile justice programs, and expansion of Promise Zones, and will fund a national network of manufacturing institutes that will spur economic development. It will put people back to work, restoring our national parks, renovating veterans' hospitals, and building resilient infrastructure that will help our communities prepare for the effects of climate change. It will support partnerships between community colleges and employers to train workers for jobs that are in demand, including a bold new expansion of apprenticeship programs. It will also help us put a stop to short-sighted cuts to Government operations that compromise efficiency and effectiveness and cost money over the long run, such as growing deferred maintenance backlogs, sharp cuts to Federal employee training, and erosions in customer service at agencies like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

• The Budget's fully paid for Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative provides a roadmap for additional investments that will help secure our Nation's future.

  NON-DEFENSE

  The non-defense portion of the Initiative makes investments in six key areas. Below are examples of specific investments in each of these categories.

  Education

• Enhancing Early Childhood Education -- providing additional Preschool Development Grants to reach two-thirds of all States by 2015, laying a stronger foundation for Preschool for All; providing access to high-quality early learning opportunities to a total of more than 100,000 children through Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships; and supporting Head Start grantees in expanding their programs and investing in teacher quality, without reducing the number of children served.

• Accelerating Improvements to K-12 Education -- providing 100,000 teachers in 500 districts with access to professional development to take greater advantage of the universal broadband provided through the ConnectED initiative; increasing investment in high school redesign to create additional innovative, career-focused high schools; and providing additional incentives, through Race to the Top, for States to bring the most successful K-12 reforms to the most disadvantaged schools to help close the achievement gap.

• Making Other Invesments -- to ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education, from preschool to college.

• Research and Innovation

• Reestablishing Global Leadership in Basic Research -- providing 650 additional new National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants; increasing funding for an NIH Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)-like initiative that will invest in breakthrough medical research; and increasing NIH's contribution to the multiagency BRAIN Initiative (Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) that is helping to revolutionize our understanding of the human brain; developing and scaling new manufacturing technologies; investing in a thousand additional National Science Foundation grants to expand knowledge across disciplines and accelerate innovation across industries; and building a new biosafety research laboratory.

• Advancing Clean Energy Research and Development (R&D) -- investing in applied research at the Department of Energy to accelerate the development and deployment of new energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies -- such as higher-performing electric drive motors, batteries, and ultra-light materials and composites to enable electric vehicles to be as affordable and convenient as the gasoline powered vehicles we drive today; and technological advances to make renewable electricity as inexpensive and accessible as fossil-fuel based electricity.

• Launching a Race to the Top for Energy Efficiency and Grid Modernization -- incentivizing States to make progress toward the goal of doubling American energy productivity in 20 years and toward modernizing their electricity grids, resulting in more cost-effective demand response, distributed generation, and improved grid reliability and resilience.

• Making Other Investments -- to maintain U.S. global leadership in basic research and help transition our economy to a clean energy future.

• Infrastructure and Jobs

• Expanding Advanced Manufacturing and Investing in Regional Economic Growth -- investing in a national competition to establish 45 manufacturing institutes, positioning the United States as a global leader in advanced manufacturing technology; launching a new public-private "Scale-Up" fund to help firms with innovative advanced manufacturing technologies take them to scale; and investing in regional economic growth and competitiveness through grants to communities.

• Developing Climate Resilience -- investing in research and unlocking data and information to better understand the projected impacts of climate change and how to better prepare our communities and infrastructure; helping communities plan and prepare for the impacts of climate change and encouraging local measures to reduce future risk; and funding breakthrough technologies and resilient infrastructure that will make us more resilient in the face of a changing climate.

• Launching the National Parks Centennial Initiative -- helping launch a Works Progress Administration (WPA)-like effort to put thousands of veterans, youth, and others to work upgrading the National Park System for its 100^th anniversary in 2016, along with similar improvements to national forests, refuges, and other public lands.

• Modernizing the National Airspace System -- supporting the Federal Aviation Administration's NextGen initiative, a multi-year effort to improve the efficiency, safety, capacity, and environmental performance of the aviation system.

• Supporting High Priority Medical Construction and Renovation Projects -- investing in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) construction and capital projects to improve veterans' services and meet increased demand at VA, as well as new Indian Health Service health care facilities to improve the health of American Indians and Alaskan Natives.

• Promoting Financial Stability and Protection -- protecting investors, consumers, and taxpayers by providing additional funding for investigating and prosecuting the full spectrum of financial fraud and for implementing financial reform.

• Making Other Investments -- to help rebuild our Nation's infrastructure, support small businesses in creating jobs, and spur economic development in communities around the United States.

• Opportunity and Mobility

• Expanding Opportunity in Distressed Neighborhoods -- through a combination of base and Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative funding, supporting 40 additional Promise Neighborhoods and 10-14 Choice Neighborhoods to improve educational outcomes and revitalize distressed neighborhoods.

• Supporting Apprenticeships and Job-Driven Training at Community Colleges -- awarding grants to partnerships of community colleges, employers, and others to launch training for in-demand jobs, and doubling the number of apprenticeships in America over the next five years.

• Improving Training and Employment Services -- increasing State and local capacity, including through greater innovation and performance incentives; targeting additional resources to populations that face significant barriers to employment; and reaching a total of 50,000 households in public housing with Jobs-Plus job training and financial incentives, an 1-based approach that has been shown to boost annual incomes by $1,300 on average. In addition, the defense portion of the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, discussed below, would provide funding for additional teens to participate in National Guard Youth ChalleNGe, an evidence-based residential training and mentoring program that has been shown to increase employment, education, and earnings for at-risk youth.

• Encouraging States to Offer Paid Leave -- providing additional funding to help more States launch paid leave programs like those in California, New Jersey, and Rhode Island that have helped more than a million workers care for a new child or cope with a family member's illness.

• Making Other Investments -- to increase economic opportunity and assist vulnerable populations, including incentivizing schools funded through the Bureau of Indian Education to introduce reforms that improve student outcomes; and additional funding for the Legal Services Corporation, which assists millions of low-income Americans each year with essential civil legal services in areas such as housing and consumer protection.

• Public Health, Safety, and Security

• Supporting Homeland Security and Law Enforcement -- investing in a reformed, risk-based approach to increase preparedness, mitigation, and emergency response to disasters and other threats in communities across America.

• Making Targeted Investments in State and Local Justice Assistance Grants and Strengthening Public Safety -- funding a new youth investment initiative that will incentivize State efforts to increase the availability of alternatives to incarceration, reenroll youth back into school after confinement, and reduce ethnic and racial disparities in the juvenile justice system; and providing resources for bringing newly completed or acquired Federal prisons on-line.

• Providing for the Public Health -- accelerating development of a universal flu vaccine.

• Investing in Global Security -- funding foreign assistance programs that have a proven track record of fostering economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving health.

• Leveraging Funds for Global Health -- making additional matching funding available for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria to encourage other donors to increase their pledges.

• Making Other Investments -- in programs that are important to maintaining public health and safety at the local, State, Federal, and global levels.

• More Efficient and Effective Government

• Advancing Cross-Government Customer Service Initiatives -- combined with base discretionary funding, supporting IRS customer service improvements that will increase toll-free telephone service response rates from about 60 percent to about 80 percent; and funding SSA improvements to reduce wait times and enhance services for the public.

• Helping Businesses Cut Through Red Tape -- supporting the National Inventory of Historic Properties to help expedite Federal permitting and get infrastructure projects off the ground; and making improvements to Business.gov and Exports.gov.

• Investing in Federal Employee Training -- restoring cuts to Federal employee training to help train, retain, and recruit a skilled and effective Federal workforce, targeting investments in employee training to common, but high-impact areas such as customer service or information technology.

• Making Other Investments -- to ensure that the Federal Government can meet its core responsibilities to the American public, now and in the future.

• DEFENSE

  The defense portion of the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative makes investments in four key areas.

  Key Weapons Systems Modernization

  Consistent with the reductions in discretionary spending required by the BCA and the BBA, DOD has reduced or slowed down planned purchases of a variety of weapons systems and equipment over the last three years. The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative would allow DOD to accelerate the schedules for developing and buying new or upgraded systems in order to ensure that the United States maintains technological superiority over potential adversaries. For example, the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative provides enhanced resources for procurement of manned and unmanned aircraft, helicopters, ground vehicles, and communication systems. It also expands the R&D efforts that underpin all defense modernization programs.

  Readiness Restoration

  In 2013, significant reductions in funding degraded readiness throughout the Joint Force by requiring sharp cuts to training, maintenance, and support. For example, the Air Force had to ground 33 squadrons and reduce an additional seven squadrons to basic "takeoff and land" training for several months. Although the base budget provides the resources needed to continue gradually restoring readiness and balance, the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative provides the resources to expedite progress by supporting increased activity at depot maintenance facilities around the Nation, greater training support, and increases in funding for fuel, spare parts, and transportation costs.

  Nuclear R&D and Infrastructure

  The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative provides additional funding to support the infrastructure and human capital that underpin long-term, effective sustainment of the nuclear weapons stockpile and supporting enterprise. For example, the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative allows the National Nuclear Security Administration to begin important facilities construction and deferred maintenance projects and to undertake several R&D projects to keep nuclear weapons safe, reliable, and effective.

  DOD Facilities Improvement

  Sequestration required significant funding cuts for DOD facilities, forcing the Department to defer some sustainment, restoration, and modernization (SRM) costs, as well as some military construction projects. The base budget provides the funds necessary to keep DOD bases, housing, and other facilities safe, secure, and operational, but not enough to avoid long-term deterioration. The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative provides additional resources for SRM and construction at hundreds of DOD installations that will generate jobs and reduce future costs to replace buildings, roads, runways, and other facilities.

• $28 billion in savings from common-sense spending reforms, including:

• • Reforming Federal crop insurance by reducing subsidies for overly generous coverage ($14 billion). While the newly enactedFarm Bill made progress on curbing direct subsidy payments, it failed to adopt bipartisan reforms to the increasingly expensive Federal crop insurance program. The Budget proposes to reduce Federal subsidies for disproportionately subsidized plans that benefit wealthy corporate farmers and to reduce overpayments to private crop insurance companies.

  • Reallocating spectrum to promote economic growth ($5 billion). The Budget proposes to introduce new mechanisms to promote more efficient allocation of spectrum to high priority uses.

  • Reforming the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) passenger fees to reflect the cost of aviation security ($5 billion). While the Congress took steps toward better matching TSA fees with costs in the BBA, the Budget proposes to further reform these user fees to more closely reflect the costs of passenger screening and other aviation security services.

  • Preventing Unemployment Insurance and Disability Insurance overlap ($3 billion).The Budget proposes to prevent individuals from collecting Unemployment and Disability Insurance benefits for the same period of time.

  • $28 billion in savings from reducing taxbenefits for multi-million dollar retirement accounts. Tax-preferred savings accounts were intended to help middle class families save for retirement. However, under current rules, some wealthy individuals are able to accumulate millions of dollars in these accounts, substantially more than is needed to ensure a secure retirement. The Congress could pay for the remaining half of the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative by enacting the President's proposal to prevent additional tax-preferred saving by individuals who have already accumulated tax-preferred retirement savings sufficient to finance an annual income of over $200,000 per year in retirement -- more than $3 million per person.

Making America a Magnet for Jobs. The President is committed to making America a magnet for jobs and manufacturing so that we can create new opportunities for American workers.

Continuing our commitment to world-class science and research, the Budget provides $135 billion for R&D overall, while targeting resources to those areas most likely to directly contribute to the creation of transformational technologies that can create the businesses and jobs of the future. The base Budget increases R&D relative to the 2014 enacted levels, with over $5 billion in additional funding in the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative to drive progress in key R&D priorities.

In order to secure America's energy future and cut carbon pollution, the Budget invests in clean energy, improving energy security, and enhancing preparedness and resilience to climate change. These investments are critical components of the President's Climate Action Plan, bringing about a clean energy economy with new businesses, jobs, and opportunities for American workers.

Eliminating Loopholes in Our Business Tax Code and Rebuilding Our Infrastructure. Last summer, in an effort to spur congressional action that would help our economy, the President offered a proposal to pay for investments in infrastructure by closing loop-holes and reforming our business tax code. The Budget includes this proposal, which would use one-time transition revenue resulting from business tax reform to fill the Highway Trust Fund funding shortfall and make critical new infrastructure investments as part of a four-year transportation reauthorization proposal. Meanwhile, reforming the tax code for businesses will also promote long-run growth, job creation, and competitiveness by cutting tax rates, simplifying the tax code, and eliminating inefficient provisions that distort companies' investment decisions.

Launching National Parks Centennial Initiative. To mark the 100^th year anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service in 2016, the Budget will fund a targeted effort to put youth, returning veterans, and other Americans to work restoring some of our greatest historical, cultural, and natural treasures. The Centennial Initiative, building on the President's America's Great Outdoors Initiative, would be one of the largest parks improvement efforts in the history of the National Parks System, helping to upgrade roadways, water mains, bridges, paths, and visitor services across the entire system, including some of the Nation's most famous sites, from Yosemite National Park to the Blue Ridge Parkway to Katmai National Park.

Conserving Lands for Current and Future Generations. The Budget builds on receipts collected under the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) Act by proposing $900 million annually to invest in conserving lands for future generations, supporting livable communities and creating jobs through a growing outdoor recreation industry. Since the passage of the LWCF Act almost 50 years ago, the need for this funding has increased due to population growth and land lost to agricultural, commercial, industrial, and residential development.

Making Permanent the Enhanced Tax Deduction for Conservation Easements. Combined with targeted reforms, making permanent the enhanced tax deductions for conservation easements will create certainty for America's landowners who willingly seek to ensure land and water conservation gains for future generations. It will also help stimulate the economy by ensuring working lands stay working, and guarantee recreational as well as hunting and fishing opportunities. The enhanced deduction will also help achieve a key goal of the President's Climate Action Plan by locking in a strong tool to help conserve land and water resources.

Enhancing Access to High-Quality Early Childhood Education. The Budget includes the Preschool for All initiative proposed by the President last year. This proposal calls for partnering with States to provide every low- and moderate-income four-year-old child access to high-quality preschool, while incentivizing States to expand those programs to reach additional children from middle class families and establish full-day kindergarten policies. These investments are fully financed by raising Federal tobacco taxes, which will also help to discourage youth smoking and save lives. In addition, building on funding provided in the CAA, the Budget invests discretionary funding in Preschool Development Grants, which, together with additional resources in the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, would reach two-thirds of States by 2015, laying a stronger foundation for Preschool for All. Additional funding in the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative would also provide early learning opportunities to a total of more than 100,000 children through Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships and support Head Start grantees in expanding program duration and investing in teacher quality. In addition, the Budget invests $15 billion in mandatory funds over the next 10 years to extend and expand evidence-based, voluntary home visiting programs, which enable nurses, social workers, and other professionals to connect families to services and educational supports that improve a child's health, development, and ability to learn.

Redesigning High Schools. The President has called for a comprehensive effort to rethink the high school experience, challenging schools to scale up innovative models that personalize teaching and learning for students, so that they receive the rigorous and relevant education needed to graduate and transition into postsecondary learning and adulthood. The Budget provides $150 million for a new program to redesign high schools to focus on providing students challenging, relevant learning experiences, and rewarding high schools that develop new partnerships with colleges and employers to help develop the skills students need for jobs now and in the future. This will build on $100 million provided through the Youth Career Connect grant competition at the Department of Labor (DOL) to expand these models.

Connecting Schools and Training Teachers for the Digital Age. The President has called on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take steps to connect 99 percent of American students to the digital age through next-generation broadband and wireless in their schools and libraries. The FCC is making a major down-payment on this goal -- connecting more than 20 million students in 15,000 schools over the next two years -- without adding a dime to the deficit. The Budget proposes $200 million for the ConnectEDucators program to ensure that students receive the full benefit of this connectivity by providing professional development and high-quality digital instructional resources to teachers to help them make effective use of these new resources. The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative would add an additional $300 million to this initiative to provide a total of 100,000 teachers in 500 school districts across the Nation access to professional development.

Preparing Students for STEM Careers. Our Nation's competitiveness depends on our ability to improve and expand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning in the United States. The Budget proposes a fresh Government-wide reorganization of STEM education programs designed to enable more strategic investment in STEM education and more critical evaluation of outcomes, leveraging Government resources more effectively to meet national goals. This proposal reduces fragmentation of STEM education programs across Government, and focuses efforts around the five key areas identified by the Federal STEM Education 5-Year Strategic Plan: P-12 instruction; undergraduate education; graduate education; broadening participation in STEM to women and minorities traditionally underrepresented in these fields; and education activities that typically take place outside of the classroom.

Making College More Affordable. The President has placed a high priority on making college affordable and helping Americans obtain a meaningful college degree. Beginning in 2009, the Administration has increased the maximum Pell Grant for working and middle class families by $1,000, to $5,730 in school year 2014-15, and created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which helps more than 10 million students and families each year pay for college. Last summer, the President directed the Department of Education to develop and publish a new college ratings system that will identify colleges that provide the best value to students and encourage all colleges to improve. The Budget supports the development and refinement of the ratings system by investing in data initiatives or other necessary projects. The Budget also provides new College Opportunity and Graduation Bonuses to reward colleges for improving educational out-comes for low- and moderate-income students. The Budget includes an expansion of "Pay As You Earn" (PAYE) repayment options to all student borrowers, and reforms the PAYE terms to ensure that the program is well-targeted and provides a safeguard against raising tuition at high-cost institutions.

Improving Training and Employment Services. Helping workers acquire the skills they need to pursue in-demand jobs and careers is critical to growing our economy, ensuring that everyone who works hard is rewarded, and building a stronger middle class. The Budget's approach to skills and training is guided by the principle that all Federal investments should be designed to equip the Nation's workers and job seekers with skills matching the needs of employers looking to hire them into good jobs. The Budget proposes significant new investments at DOL to drive greater performance and innovation, through the Workforce Innovation Fund and Incentive Grants that reward States that succeed in serving workers with the greatest barriers to employment. Additional resources to support this effort, as well as to increase State and local capacity and provide targeted assistance to high-need populations, are made available through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative.

Investing in Job-Driven Training at Community Colleges and Apprenticeships. Through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, the Budget invests in a Community College Job-Driven Training Fund at DOL. This Fund will offer competitive grants to partnerships of community colleges, employers, and others to launch new training programs that will prepare Americans for in-demand jobs and careers. The Fund will also support expanding apprenticeship opportunities. On-the-job apprenticeship training programs provide a robust path to middle-income jobs in many countries. The funds provided through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative will support doubling the number of apprenticeships in America over the next five years.

Helping Build the Skills of the Long-Term Unemployed. Although the unemployment rate has come down from its peak during the Great Recession, too many of our unemployed have been without a job for an extended period of time, which can lead to a deterioration in skills and strain families and communities. Finding jobs for the long-term unemployed is an important national priority, because we are stronger when America fields a full team. The Budget provides resources for new public-private partnerships to help the long-term unemployed transition back into good jobs that can support their families. To help more recently displaced workers, the Budget proposes a New Career Pathways program that will reach as many as one million workers a year with a set of core services, combining the best elements of two existing programs -- Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers and Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Workers.

Investing in Health Professions Education to Improve Access to Health Care Providers and Services. The Budget invests in the healthcare workforce to improve access to health care services, including support for 15,000 providers in the National Health Service Corps that will serve areas across the United States experiencing a shortage of medical providers. In addition, the Budget creates new graduate medical education residency slots in primary care and other high-need specialties. Most of these new residents will be trained in community based settings, including rural and underserved areas.

Raising the Minimum Wage to $10.10. Over the past 30 years, modest minimum wage increases have not kept pace with the higher costs of basic necessities for working families. No one who works full time should have to raise his or her family in poverty. The Administration supports raising the minimum wage so that hard-working Americans can earn wages that allow them to support their families and make ends meet. The President knows this is important for workers, and good for the economy. That is why the President is calling on the Congress to raise the Federal minimum wage in stages to $10.10 per hour and index it to inflation thereafter, while also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers for the first time in over 20 years. The President is leading by example by signing an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for individuals working under new and replacement Federal service, construction, and concession contracts.

Extending Unemployment Insurance for 1.7 Million Americans Looking for Work. As a starting point in achieving economic opportunity and mobility, the Congress should act to extend unemployment insurance for the 1.7 million Americans who have lost this vital economic lifeline. At more than 35 percent, the percentage of unemployed workers who are long-term unemployed is much higher than the last time emergency unemployment benefits expired. Economists have estimated that extending unemployment insurance would provide significant returns, leading to 240,000 more jobs.

Partnering with Communities to Expand Opportunity. The Budget supports the Administration's Promise Zone initiative, which supports partnerships between the Federal Government, local communities, and businesses to create jobs, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing, and improve public safety. Communities are chosen through a competitive process and put forward a plan on how they will partner with local business and community leaders to make investments that reward hard work and expand opportunity. In exchange, the Federal Government partners with these communities to help them secure the resources and flexibility they need to achieve their goals.

The President announced the first five Promise Zone communities earlier this year and will create an additional 15 Promise Zones in the year ahead. The Budget includes Promise Zone tax incentives to stimulate growth and investments in targeted communities, such as tax credits for hiring workers and incentives for capital investment within the Zone. Through a combination of the base budget and the additional resources provided in the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, the Budget will support the President's vision for Promise Zones by funding 40 new Promise Neighborhoods and 10-14 new Choice Neighborhoods.

Ensuring Workers Receive the Pay and Overtime They Earned. The Budget increases support for DOL's Wage and Hour Division to increase enforcement of the laws that ensure workers receive appropriate wages and overtime pay, as well as the right to take job-protected leave for family and medical purposes. The Wage and Hour Division will be able to hire 300 new investigators across the United States to help in this effort, and will use risk-based approaches to target the industries and employers most likely to break the law.

Ending Homelessness. The President has set ambitious goals to end homelessness across the Nation, and we have made significant progress, including reducing the total number of homeless veterans by almost 18,000 since 2009. By investing in homeless assistance and supportive services programs at both the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and VA, the Budget keeps us on a path to end veterans' homelessness in 2015 and end chronic homelessness in 2016. In addition, the Budget makes investments in rental assistance, which plays an important role in helping extremely low-income families avoid homelessness by providing stable and affordable housing. The Budget funds renewed assistance for 4.5 million low-income families through HUD's core rental assistance program, including providing 40,000 new housing vouchers for low-income families, including 10,000 for homeless veterans.

Expanding the EITC for Childless Workers. Few things help families with children pull themselves up through hard work like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). However, the maximum EITC available to childless workers (including non-custodial parents) is only $500, and the credit is unavailable to workers under age 25, which means that it cannot shape work decisions during the crucial years at the beginning of a young person's career. The Budget will double the maximum credit (to $1,000), make the credit available to workers at slightly higher income levels (e.g., a full-time minimum wage worker at the current minimum wage), and lower the age limit from 25 to 21, as a way to support and reward work. The proposal will also update the childless worker EITC upper age limit for increases in the Social Security Normal Retirement Age (raising it from 64 to 66). These changes will be paid for by closing tax loopholes that let some high-income professionals avoid income and payroll taxes.

Helping Workers with Disabilities Remain in the Workforce. In addition to the Administration's continued commitment to Vocational Rehabilitation programs, the Budget provides new authority and $400 million in new resources for the Social Security Administration (SSA), in partnership with other Federal agencies, to test innovative strategies to help people with disabilities remain in the workforce. Early-intervention measures, such as supportive employment services for individuals with mental impairments, targeted incentives for employers to help workers with disabilities remain on the job, and incentives and opportunities for States to better coordinate services, have the potential to achieve long-term gains in the employment and the quality of life of people with disabilities, and the proposed demonstration authority will help build the evidence base for future program improvements. The cost of the demonstrations could be offset by a proposal to automate coordination of disability benefit payments between the Office of Personnel Management and SSA, reducing overpayments, and other program integrity measures. The proposed childless worker EITC expansion will also benefit over one million workers with disabilities, encouraging and supporting them in maintaining employment.

Improving Retirement Security. Workers must have a place to invest their hard-earned savings that provides an appropriate balance of risk and return, and many private sector providers do not offer retirement savings options tailored to smaller balance savers. The retirement system should help these potential savers and encourage them to begin building their retirement security. The Budget builds on the President's announcement in the State of the Union to create a new simple, safe, and affordable "starter" retirement savings account -- the MyRA -- that will be available through employers and help millions of Americans save for retirement. The Budget also continues to propose automatic enrollment in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) -- or "auto-IRAs" -- for employees without access to a workplace savings plan.

Making Communities Safer by Reducing Gun Violence. The Budget supports the President's "Now is the Time" initiative, a set of concrete policies to help reduce gun violence in our schools and communities in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. The Budget supports additional background checks, continued focus on inspections of federally-licensed firearms dealers, improved tracing and ballistics analysis, and efforts to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals and other prohibited persons. To support those on the frontlines across the United States, the Budget provides training for State and local law enforcement to prevent and respond to active shooters and prevent mass casualties. The Budget also enhances our ability to identify mental health issues early and ensures individuals get referred to treatment before dangerous situations develop. To increase the safety of schools nationwide, the Budget will continue support for the Comprehensive School Safety Program, and other initiatives to enhance our schools' physical security and create safer and more nurturing school climates that help prevent violence.

Reforming the Criminal Justice System with the "Smart on Crime" Initiative. Last summer, the Attorney General introduced the Smart on Crime initiative, which is designed to promote fundamental reforms to the criminal justice system that will improve public safety, save money, and ensure the fair enforcement of Federal laws. The Budget supports the initiative's strategy of containing incarceration costs over the long-term by reducing recidivism rates and encouraging Federal prosecutors to seek sentences in certain low-level drug cases that maintain the highest degree of public safety and consider the long-term incarceration costs to the taxpayer.

Maintaining High Safety Standards in the Transportation Sector. As energy production in the United States continues to rapidly increase, the Budget seeks to maintain high safety standards. The Budget addresses risks through new investments in data-driven safety interventions, research and testing, additional safety personnel, emergency response training, community outreach, and other strategies. In addition, the Budget proposes a Pipeline Safety Reform initiative to both enhance and reform the Federal standards that help protect the Nation's safety.

Advancing National Security Priorities. The Budget advances the Administration's national security objectives and provides the resources and capabilities to protect our security and interests around the world. The Budget reflects a focused effort to address our highest defense priorities -- bringing the war in Afghanistan to a responsible end, working to disrupt and disable terrorist networks, combatting new threats like cyber attacks, and being ready to respond to provocations whenever and wherever necessary -- within a constrained fiscal environment. Moreover, it addresses critical national security requirements, while protecting privacy and civil liberties and providing responsible management of taxpayer resources.

The compromise embedded in last year's Budget -- which included policies like changing the measure of inflation used by the Federal Government to the chained Consumer Price Index ("Chained-CPI") that Republicans had asked for in previous fiscal negotiations -- remains on the table. However, in light of congressional Republicans' unwillingness to negotiate on fundamental issues and agree to a balanced plan to deal with our long-term fiscal challenges, this year the Administration is returning to a more traditional Budget presentation that lays out the President's vision. This includes the proposals discussed above to invest in growth and opportunity and pay for those investments by reforming spending programs and closing tax loopholes.

With respect to the Nation's long-term fiscal challenges, this year's Budget focuses squarely on the primary drivers of long-term deficits and proposes further health and tax reforms to control the rate of health care cost growth and generate the revenue required to meet our obligations and make needed investments as our society ages. The President's plan includes specific reforms to Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal health programs that would reduce deficits by $402 billion over the next 10 years while helping keep health care cost growth low and encouraging greater efficiencies and quality of care. The President's plan also includes tax reform measures that would make the tax code more efficient and fair, and would reduce the deficit by about $650 billion over the next decade. In addition, the President is also committed to bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform. The Congressional Budget Office has found that immigration reform along the lines the President has proposed would increase growth while reducing the deficit by about $160 billion in the next decade, and by almost $1 trillion over the next 20 years.

Building on the progress already made, the Budget's deficit reduction measures are more than enough to achieve the key fiscal goal of stabilizing the debt as a share of GDP. If the Budget's proposed policies are implemented, deficits will stabilize at less than 2 percent of GDP, and the Budget will be in primary surplus starting in 2018, meaning that revenues are covering programmatic costs. Meanwhile, debt would peak at 74.6 percent of GDP in 2015 and then decline each year after that, falling to 69.0 percent of GDP in 2024.

 

Projected Debt Held by the Public as

 

Percent of GDP

 

 

 

 

IMPLEMENTING ACA AND MAKING ADDITIONAL HEALTH REFORMS

 

With the full implementation of ACA beginning this year, millions of people have enrolled in either private insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace or for coverage through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In addition, more than three million young adults already have gained coverage under the health care law by staying on their parents' plans until their 26^th birthday.

While there is much more work to be done, we now live in an era where no family will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition like high blood pressure or asthma. No American will have to worry that losing a job means you cannot get health coverage. Small businesses may be able to get financial help to pay for new affordable coverage options for their employees.

The challenges in our health care system were decades in the making and will not be solved overnight, but every day more Americans are signing up for insurance and getting the peace of mind of knowing that they can get the care they need without losing everything they have worked and saved for. Americans across the Nation started this year with new health plans that give them the security of knowing that if they want to change jobs or start their own business, they will have access to affordable health insurance for their family.

Supporting Implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Efficiently and effectively implementing ACA is one of the Administration's highest priorities. The Budget fully funds the on-going implementation of ACA, which is already providing coverage for millions of Americans that previously did not have access to affordable health care. The Budget continues to support implementation of ACA's health insurance coverage improvements through the operation of Health Insurance Marketplaces and the delivery of premium tax credits and cost sharing assistance to help make coverage affordable, drive down long-term health care costs, and improve care for millions of citizens.

Implementing Additional Health Care Reforms. In addition, the Budget strengthens Medicare, Medicaid, and other Federal health programs through payment innovations and other reforms that encourage high-quality and efficient care and continue the progress of reducing cost growth. In total, these reforms would reduce deficits by $402 billion in the next decade, and about $1 trillion over the following decade.

The President believes that we can obtain that needed revenue by doing what leaders of both parties have called for -- reforming our tax code to reduce inefficient, unfair tax breaks. Tax reform holds the potential to improve economic growth by reducing complexity for individuals and small businesses, curbing inefficient tax subsidies that distort individual and business decision-making, and reducing the deficit. As a first step toward balanced deficit reduction and tax reform, the President proposes that the Congress immediately enact two measures that would raise $650 billion in revenue by broadening the tax base and reducing tax benefits for those who need them the least -- without increasing marginal tax rates.

Reducing the Value of Itemized Deductions and Other Tax Preferences to 28 Percent for the Wealthiest Americans. Currently, a millionaire who contributes to charity or deducts a dollar of mortgage interest enjoys a deduction that is more than twice as generous as that for a middle class family. The Budget would limit the tax rate at which high income taxpayers can reduce their tax liability to a maximum of 28 percent, a limitation that would affect only the top three percent of families in 2014. This limit would apply to all itemized deductions, as well as other tax benefits such as tax-exempt interest and tax exclusions for retirement contributions and employer sponsored health insurance. The proposed limitation would restore the deduction rate to the level it was at the end of the Reagan Administration.

Observing the Buffett Rule. The Budget also puts forward a specific proposal to comply with the Buffett Rule, requiring that wealthy millionaires pay no less than 30 percent of income -- after charitable contributions -- in taxes. This proposal will prevent high-income households from using tax preferences, including low tax rates on capital gains and dividends, to reduce their total tax bills to less than what many middle class families pay.

Beyond these measures, the President is committed to working with the Congress to further reform the tax code to make it fairer, promote economic growth and job creation, and improve competitiveness.

In addition to contributing to a safer and more just society, common sense immigration reform will also boost economic growth, reduce deficits, and strengthen Social Security. Common sense immigration reform will contribute to growth by strengthening the workforce by attracting and retaining the best and brightest students who we train at U.S. universities, increasing capital investment and overall productivity, and increasing the number of entrepreneurs starting companies in the United States. Moreover, by adding younger workers to the labor force, reforming our broken legal immigration system will help balance an aging population and improve the economic and budget outlook as the baby boom generation retires.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the immigration bill that passed with bipartisan support in the Senate last year would reduce the deficit by about $160 billion in the first decade and by about $850 billion over 20 years. Meanwhile, the Social Security Actuaries have found that the Senate bill would reduce the Social Security shortfall by $300 billion over the first 10 years and would close eight percent of the 75-year Social Security shortfall.

The Administration supports the bipartisan Senate approach, and calls on the House of Representatives to act on comprehensive immigration reform this year.

The Budget provides a roadmap for creating jobs, growing the economy, and expanding opportunity for all Americans.

The Budget invests in manufacturing, research, clean energy, infrastructure, education, and security, building a foundation for long-term economic growth. The Budget promotes economic opportunity and mobility by rewarding hard work with fair wages, putting a secure retirement within reach, and ensuring health care is affordable and reliable. The Budget includes enhanced efforts to deliver a 21^st Century Government that is more effective, efficient, and supportive of economic growth. The Budget responsibly pays for new investments, reduces the deficit as a share of the economy to below two percent by 2023, and puts debt as a share of the economy on a downward path after 2015. The Budget also addresses the Nation's long-term fiscal challenges by building on the savings and reforms in the Affordable Care Act, reforming other mandatory programs, and ending wasteful tax breaks that benefit the wealthiest.

It is a Budget that shows how we can build on the progress that has been made over the last five years and ensure that our Nation remains strong and prosperous, both now and in the future.

The Budget supports the President's Management Agenda, a comprehensive and forward-looking plan to deliver better, faster, and smarter services to citizens and businesses; increase quality and value in the Government's core administrative functions and continue efforts to enhance productivity and achieve cost savings across the Government; open Government-funded data and research to the public to spur innovation and economic growth; and unlock the full potential of today's Federal workforce and build the workforce we need for tomorrow. The Agenda reflects the Administration's commitment to building a Government that focuses on results and draws on evidence-based practices to ensure that every taxpayer dollar is used wisely and to the maximum effect.

Improving Key Citizen- and Business-Facing Transactions. By making it faster and easier for individuals and businesses to complete transactions with the Government, online or off-line, the Government can deliver the world-class service that citizens expect. The Budget builds on work already underway to improve key transactions that are large in scale, meaningful, and have the potential to significantly reduce the cost per transaction. The Budget includes initiatives designed to create user-friendly experiences for common services in areas such as veterans' pension and disability applications, Social Security, and taxpayer assistance. For example, the Budget provides $100 million for the Social Security Administration (SSA) for a new customer service modernization initiative to significantly improve internet and in-person services at SSA. The Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative includes $150 million in additional funding to further reduce wait times and enhance services at SSA. The Administration will also invest in building an eBenefits web portal at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will allow veterans to manage their own benefits, while providing faster, more accurate benefits claim processing. For businesses, the Budget proposes funds for the Small Business Administration's (SBA) SBA ONE, a single application for SBA loans that reduces time and cost for lenders to process loans, as well as for SelectUSA, which offers a single point of Federal contact for foreign companies that want to do business with and invest in the United States.

Delivering Smarter Information Technology (IT). During the first term, the Administration made progress improving the delivery of IT. By establishing new mechanisms such as PortfolioStat, a data-driven review of agency IT portfolios that has resulted in nearly $1.6 billion in savings since March 2012, and promoting new technologies such as cloud computing that give agencies the ability to purchase IT services in a utility-based model where they pay only for the services they consume, the Administration stopped the out of control Federal IT spending, which had been growing at seven percent per year the decade before the President took office.

However, as it became clear from the problems surrounding the initial rollout of HealthCare.gov in 2013, there is still much more to do. The Administration is committed to delivering smarter IT services, shifting the focus of Government IT projects from compliance to delivering on intended impact and meeting user needs. The Administration will begin implementing these efforts this year, and push further in 2015. To do this, we need the best talent working inside Government, the best companies working with Government, and the best processes in place to ensure accountability for delivering results for the American people. For example, the Budget funds technology-enabled solutions to create more visibility into contracting opportunities for small, innovative companies. The Budget also funds BusinessUSA, a centralized, one-stop on-line platform to make it easier for businesses to access services such as loan programs and training to help them grow and hire.

Increasing Quality and Value in Core Operations. The Budget will maximize the value of every taxpayer dollar while increasing productivity and the quality of services through:

Examples of continuing efforts to enhance productivity include:

 

PortfolioStat-Related Savings, 2013-2015

 

 

 

Accelerating and Institutionalizing Lab-to-Market Practices. The Federal Government's investment in R&D yields extraordinary long-term economic impact through the creation of new knowledge, new jobs, and ultimately new industries. The Federal R&D enterprise must continue to support fundamental research that is motivated primarily by an interest in expanding the frontiers of human knowledge and diffusing this knowledge through open data and publications. At the same time, economic growth can be accelerated through more effective transition of R&D results from the laboratory to the market-place, based on close collaboration with industry.

The Budget reflects the Administration's commitment to accelerating the transfer of the results of federally funded research to the commercial marketplace by proposing increased funding for technology transfer from Federal labs in the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and for the National Science Foundation's public-private Innovation Corps program to bring discoveries ripe for innovation out of the university lab.

Creating a Culture of Excellence and Engagement to Enable Higher Performance. Data-driven approaches to enhancing management, performance, and innovation across the Federal workforce are critical to fostering a culture of excellence. In 2015, the Administration will support the development of Government-wide enterprise training and resource exchanges across agencies to share best practices and increase leadership development opportunities within Government.

Building a World-Class Federal Management Team Starting with the Senior Executive Service (SES). To ensure the Government sustains a first-class Federal workforce, the Administration will continue to invest in civil service leadership. The Administration will take administrative actions to produce a Federal executive corps with a broader, stronger experience base. For example, the Budget includes funding for the Office of Personnel Management to build a stronger onboarding program for new SES, and leadership and engagement training opportunities for current SES that emphasize diversity and the changing needs of a 21^st Century workforce.

Enabling Agencies to Hire the Best Talent from All Segments of Society. The Administration is committed to working with labor groups to improve hiring outcomes by exploring flexible approaches to recruit and retain individuals with high-demand talents and skills. Beginning in 2015, the Administration will launch demonstration projects to identify promising practices in recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and deploying talent across agencies. The goal of these projects is to increase diversity, reduce skills gaps, and improve organizational outcomes.

These goals and strategic plans reflect key Administration priorities and were chosen by agencies to achieve maximum impact. Each publicly identified goal will have Goal Leaders, an action plan, and performance indicators. OMB and Goal Leaders will regularly review progress and take corrective action as needed to keep implementation on track. Agencies will provide regular updates on their progress through Performance.gov.

• Funding Highlights:

• Provides $13.8 billion for the Department of the Treasury to maintain a strong economy by promoting the conditions that enable economic growth and job creation. This includes:

• • Continuing to implement the Affordable Care Act to provide quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans who would otherwise be uninsured, including through the delivery of tax credits and cost sharing assistance to make coverage affordable while reducing health care costs and the deficit;

  • Continuing to implement the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to create a more stable and responsible financial system;

  • Investing $12.5 billion, including a program integrity initiative, in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to improve service to taxpayers and reduce the deficit through more effective enforcement of tax laws;

  • Investing $1.5 billion for a new round of the successful State Small Business Credit Initiative, enabling States to support innovative partnerships of their design that increase small business lending and investment; and

  • Investing $225 million in the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund to spur jobs and healthier communities in underserved areas.

   

  Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative:

• Through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative, supports:

• • Additional IRS customer service improvements, including increasing toll-free telephone level of service from about 60 percent to 80 percent when combined with base funding, driving responsiveness to taxpayers through correspondence inventory reduction, and bolstering resources to help tackle more resource-intensive identity theft and refund fraud cases; and

  • An expansion of the level of detail and capabilities of sorting Federal spending data to enable more effective Federal and non-Federal use of this data.

   

  Reforms:

• Provides for a comprehensive review of U.S. currency production and use, including developing alternative options for the penny and the nickel.

• Proposes a multi-year program integrity cap adjustment for the IRS, including $480 million in 2015, to deliver additional resources to critical tax enforcement and compliance functions that reduce the deficit and narrow the tax gap by nearly $6 for every $1 spent once fully implemented, with total savings of $35 billion over the next 10 years.

The Budget enhances the Department's leadership role in ensuring the safety and soundness of the U.S. economy and the global financial system through key investments in Treasury's essential functions: domestic finance and economic policy; international economics; tax policy and administration; financial management; and currency production. The Budget also recognizes the indispensable role that Treasury plays in implementing essential reforms that have been enacted over the past four years to the Nation's healthcare and financial systems. The Budget also invests in upgrading technologies to enable the Department to secure efficiencies and realize savings for taxpayers.

Supports Individuals, Businesses, and Communities, and Strengthens the U.S. Financial System

Continues Successful Implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The Budget provides the resources necessary to carry out key tax-related provisions of the Affordable Care Act. The tax filing season in 2015 is a critical period for ensuring the delivery of healthcare to millions of Americans in a timely and accurate fashion. The Budget makes the investments necessary for the IRS to better respond to taxpayer inquiries, as well as to verify income, provide benefit calculations, and reconcile tax accounts in support of greater access to healthcare for all Americans.

Protects Consumers and Supports Continued Implementation of Wall Street Reform. The Budget continues responsible implementation of the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to ensure a stronger and fairer financial system for investors and consumers. The Budget fully supports the efforts of the Financial Stability Oversight Council and Treasury's Office of Financial Research to identify, monitor, and respond to emerging threats to U.S. financial stability. The Budget also provides critical funding increases for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose funding in the Budget increases 30 percent and 26 percent, respectively, over their 2014 enacted levels. These independent financial regulators have already taken decisive action to rein in excessive risk-taking and market manipulation, and the Budget will allow them to fully execute their responsibilities for financial oversight under the Wall Street Reform Act.

Provides Significant New Support for Small Business Lending and Investment. The Budget provides $1.5 billion for a second round of Treasury's successful State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) in order to support State-sponsored public-private partnerships to increase lending, investment, and technical assistance to small businesses and manufacturers. SSBCI is already achieving results: the first $271 million in program expenditures supported lending and investments of $1.9 billion to more than 4,600 small businesses across the United States -- creating or saving more than 53,000 American jobs. The Budget proposes to improve the targeting of SSBCI funding so that the funds are put to even more effective use. Of the $1.5 billion provided, $1 billion will be competitively awarded to States best able to target underserved groups, leverage Federal funding, and evaluate results. An additional $500 million will be allocated to States according to a need-based formula.

Responsibly Winds Down the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The Budget supports the effective, transparent, and accountable winding down of TARP programs, as well as Treasury's continuing efforts to help prevent avoidable home foreclosures. Of the $412 billion in support that TARP provided to the financial and automotive sectors, only $12.4 billion remains outstanding. Taxpayer proceeds from repayments, redemptions, and sales of TARP investments continue to exceed expectations. TARP's banking programs have already generated a positive return, with more than $273 billion recovered for taxpayers as of December 31, 2013, compared to the $245 billion originally invested, and in 2013, with the auto industry back on its feet, Treasury sold TARP's remaining shares in General Motors. The Budget estimates that excluding assistance to distressed homeowners, taxpayers will realize a positive net return of $16 billion from TARP investments and additional Treasury AIG (American International Group) support.

Supports Struggling Homeowners. With the housing sector still healing, the Budget continues to support key programs to assist homeowners. Since April 2009, TARP's Home Affordable Modification Program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Federal Housing Administration, and the private sector HOPE Now alliance have initiated more than 7.4 million foreclosure prevention actions for distressed homeowners, which is nearly double the number of foreclosures completed in the same period. In addition, as of December 31, 2013, more than three million borrowers have lowered their monthly payments by refinancing mortgages through the Home Affordable Refinancing Program.

Spurs Jobs, Healthier Communities, and Delivers Healthy Foods to Underserved Communities. The Budget provides a total of $225 million for Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), which plays a key role in providing financial and technical assistance to advance community development in impoverished or underserved areas. By facilitating capital, credit, and financial services to low-income communities, this unique program helps spur job creation and investments that improve communities and opportunities for their residents. Within CDFI, $35 million is provided to support Treasury's lead role in an interagency effort to reduce "food deserts" that lack nutritious foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, by supporting businesses that will provide them, and the supply chain to deliver them, to these areas. The Budget also extends by one year the CDFI Bond Guarantee program to provide a source of long-term capital to CDFIs that support lending in underserved communities.

Manages the Federal Government's Finances Effectively and Efficiently

Invests in the IRS to Boost Customer Service and Improve Compliance with Current Laws. The IRS is responsible for securing over 90 percent of the revenue that funds the Federal Government and ensuring the integrity of U.S. tax laws. The Budget provides $12 billion in base funding for the IRS, an increase of 6.3 percent over the 2014 enacted level. The Budget also proposes a $480 million program integrity cap adjustment to support efforts aimed at improving enforcement of current tax laws and reducing the tax gap, currently estimated at $450 billion in gross revenues annually. Research shows that every additional dollar invested in IRS tax enforcement activities returns six times its value in increased revenue, and this enforcement initiative is estimated to yield a net deficit reduction of $35 billion over the next 10 years. The lack of sufficient IRS funding in recent years has caused a deterioration in the service to taxpayers that the IRS can provide, reflected in longer wait times on the phone when taxpayers call in with questions, and in the time it takes to respond to taxpayer correspondence. The Budget begins to reverse this trend through a more than $100 million increase to improve customer service, which will secure rapid and noticeable improvements in taxpayer interactions with the IRS.

The Budget also includes an Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative to generate added value for taxpayers and the economy, and one of its areas of particular focus is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Government programs. For the IRS, an additional $165 million is proposed through the Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative to further enhance the agency's customer service performance across its service offerings, including an increase to the toll-free level of service from an estimated 60 percent to 80 percent when combined with the base discretionary funding request.

Improves Government Operations and Promotes Efficiencies. The Budget proposes a number of initiatives to make Government work more effectively. For example, Treasury will take action to help improve the Government's ability to collect delinquent debt across all agencies, enhance program integrity, and return greater resources to taxpayers. Treasury, given its financial management expertise and leadership, will also work with other agencies to improve USAspending.gov, the Government's website designed to track and share data on how Federal funds are spent and promote spending transparency. In addition, the Budget will create a new $300 million Pay for Success Incentive Fund that will encourage State and local governments to support evidence-based programs that will yield Federal savings through improved outcomes in areas such as juvenile justice, workforce development, and homelessness.

Assesses the Future of Currency, Including the Penny. The production and circulation of currency in the United States have been largely unchanged for decades, despite the growth in electronic financial transactions. Treasury is undertaking a comprehensive review of U.S. currency, including a review of both the production and use of coins, in order to efficiently promote commerce in the 21^st Century. These studies will analyze alternative metals, the United States Mint facilities, and consumer behavior and preferences, and will result in the development of alternative options for the penny and the nickel.

The Budget continues efforts from the President's first-term Campaign to Cut Waste, such as reducing administrative overhead, cutting improper payments, saving on real estate costs, reforming military acquisition, and consolidating data centers Further detail on these initiatives is provided in the Creating a 21^st Century Government chapter.

The Budget also continues efforts to reorganize and consolidate Federal programs to reduce duplication and improve efficiency. The President is again asking the Congress to revive an authority that Presidents had for almost the entire period from 1932 through 1984 -- the ability to submit proposals to reorganize the Executive Branch via a fast-track procedure. In effect, the President is asking to have the same authority that any business owner has to reorganize or streamline operations to meet changing circumstances and customer demand.

The Budget specifically proposes a fresh Government-wide reorganization of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education programs designed to enable more strategic investment in STEM education and more critical evaluation of outcomes. In 2012, there were more than 200 STEM education programs across Government. Already, a substantial number of program consolidations and eliminations have been implemented or will be completed in 2014, through actions by the Congress or internal consolidations or eliminations undertaken by the Administration. The Budget continues to reduce STEM fragmentation by proposing 31 additional program consolidations or eliminations, and focuses ongoing efforts around the five key areas identified by the Federal STEM Education 5-Year Strategic Plan.

The Budget also continues to target unnecessary or lower priority programs for reduction or elimination. For example, at the Department of Defense, based on recommendations from uniformed military leadership, the Budget would cancel the Ground Combat Vehicle Program, which is no longer needed under the current defense strategy, saving $51 million in 2015. The Budget would also close or consolidate 250 offices at the Department of Agriculture as part of streamlining Farm Service Agency operations that would save a total of $39 million in 2015.

In each of the President's first three Budgets, the Administration identified, on average, more than 150 terminations, reductions, and savings proposals, totaling nearly $25 billion each year. In the 2013 and 2014 Budgets, the Administration detailed more than 200 cuts, consolidations, and savings proposals, again totaling roughly $25 billion each year This year's Budget shows the tradeoffs and choices the Administration is making to adhere to the funding levels established in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. It includes 136 cuts, consolidations, and savings proposals, which are projected to save nearly $17 billion in 2015. The cuts, consolidation, and savings proposals this year reflect the deep spending reductions that occurred in 2013, some of which have continued in 2014, and the fact mat many of the Administration's previous cuts, consolidations, and savings proposals have now been implemented. Discretionary and mandatory cuts, consolidations, and savings proposals in this year's Budget are detailed on the following tables, as well as internal efficiencies agencies are undertaking that require no further action by the Congress, many of which were suggested through the President's SAVE Award program.

Savings from the Administration's program integrity proposals, totaling $99 billion through 2024, are detailed in the Budget Process chapter of the Analytical Perspectives volume. As these tables show, the Budget includes a robust package of proposals that modify Medicare provider payments totaling about $354 billion over the next 10 years. These include a number of measures detailed in Table S-9 (see Summary Tables section of this volume), including a proposal to align Medicare drug payment policies the Medicaid rebate policies for low-income beneficiaries, reducing the net cost of this valuable benefit. This change alone will save about $117 billion over the next 10 years. The Budget takes other critical steps to save money, such as preventing individuals from collecting disability and unemployment benefits for the same period of time. This reform will save $3.2 billion over 10 years.

 

DISCRETIONARY CUTS, CONSOLIDATIONS, AND SAVINGS

 

(Budget authority in millions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 52-54.]

 

 

MANDATORY CUTS AND SAVINGS

 

(Outlays and receipts in millions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 55.]

 

 

ADMINISTRATIVELY IMPLEMENTED SAVINGS

 

(In millions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 56.]

 

 

SUMMARY TABLES

 

 

Table S-1. Budget Totals

 

(In billions of dollars and as a percent of GDP)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 58.]

 

 

Table S-2. Effect of Budget Proposals on Projected Deficits

 

(Deficit increases (+) or decreases (-) in billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 59-60.]

 

 

Table S-3. Cumulative Deficit Reduction

 

(Deficit reduction (-) or increase (+) in billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 61-62.]

 

 

Table S-4. Adjusted Baseline by Category (1)

 

(In billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 63-64.]

 

 

Table S-5. Proposed Budget by Category

 

(In billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 65-66.]

 

 

Table S-6. Proposed Budget by Category as a Percent of GDP

 

(As a percent of GDP)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 67-68.]

 

 

Table S-7. Proposed Budget in Population- and

 

Inflation-Adjusted Dollars

 

(In billions of constant dollars, adjusted for population growth)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 69-70.]

 

 

Table S-8. Bridge From Balanced Budget and Emergency Control Act

 

(BBEDCA) Baseline to Adjusted Baseline

 

(Deficit increases (+) or decreases (-) in billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 71.]

 

 

Table S-9. Mandatory and Receipt Proposals

 

(Deficit increases (+) or decreases (-) in millions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , pages 72-95.]

 

 

Table S-10. Funding Levels for Appropriated ("Discretionary")

 

Programs by Category

 

(Budget authority in billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 96-97.]

 

 

Table S-11. Funding Levels for Appropriated ("Discretionary")

 

Programs by Agency

 

(Budget authority in billions of dollars)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 98-100.]

 

 

Table S-12. Economic Assumptions¹

 

(Calendar years)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 101.]

 

 

Table S-13. Federal Government Financing and Debt

 

(Dollar amounts in billions)

 

 

[ Editor's Note: To view the table,

 

see Doc 2014-4953 , page 102-103.]

 

 

* * *

 

 

FOOTNOTES

 

² See: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/reports/impacts-and-costs-of-october-2013-federal-government-shutdown-report.pdf.