User:HistoricMN44/budgetsandbox

This edit is to move this back to the top of my contributions list.

Definitions
The fiscal year is the accounting period of the federal government, which runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. It is abbreviated “FY” followed by the year number of the ending year.

A budget authority is permission that allows federal agencies to incur obligations, such as entering into contracts, employing personnel, and submitting purchase orders. In other words, it’s the authority to make deals, employ people, and buy stuff.

An outlay is the actual payment of one of the obligations the agency has, such as sending their employees their paychecks.

Revenues, which is sometimes known as receipts, is the money collected by the government to fund itself. This money comes from individual income taxes, payroll taxes, and corporate income taxes. It also comes from excise taxes, duties, and gifts.

A Budget deficit or a budget surplus is determined by comparing the planned outlays for a year versus the planned revenues for the same year. If the outlays are larger, then there is a budget deficit (too little money to pay for everything). If the revenues are larger, than there is a budget surplus (money leftover).

Jim's Comments on Terms
The words “appropriation” and “appropriations” are sometimes used as nouns and sometimes as adjectives, much like the word “spending.” They are roughly synonymous with the word “spending,” though there are differences.

As an adjective: “The appropriations bills is moving quickly.” (“The spending bill is moving quickly.”)

As a noun: “There is a large appropriation in the bill.” (“There is a large spending item in the bill.”)

Then there is the verb “to appropriate”: “The bill appropriates $4,000,000,000.” (“The bill spends $4,000,000,000.”)

Not a big deal, but I recall seeing stilted language in earlier articles, suggesting your discomfort with the terminology. The CR article said, “The bill amends the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 to extend the appropriations funding provided by that continuing resolution…” That’s like saying, “The bill amends the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 to extend the spending funding provided by that continuing resolution…”

A short CR like the current one does just change a date in prior law, so it’s hard to describe accurately. Don’t sweat it, but feel free to check with me if you’re having a hard time figuring out how to phrase things.