FY 2010 U.S. federal budget

Background
Funding for the government is provided by Congress under Article I, Section 9, Clause 7 of the Constitution. This is the "purse strings power" and there are no exceptions to it. Absent appropriations made by law, no operations by the government may take place: government employees may not work without pay and those who would contract with the government may not "volunteer" their goods or services.

Funding for government employees salaries and wages(including the President) is provided in "one year" funds which expire at the end of a fiscal year. While Congress may pass "continuing resolutions" providing some interim funding where appropriations are not timely enacted, in the absence of such continuing resolutions no government employee may work.

Budget details
In all, the $3.5 trillion budget contains a number of spending increases on domestic programs, resulting in a corresponding increase in the federal deficit. The federal deficit is forecast to be $1.75 trillion in 2009, declining to $1.17 trillion in 2010 (the first year of the plan) and $533 billion by 2013.

The annual increase in federal debt due to these deficits will total $2.56 trillion in 2009, declining to $1.14 trillion in 2010 and $520 billion by 2013. However the total annual increase in federal debt will be $2.72 trillion in 2009, declining to $1.37 trillion in 2010 and $925 billion by 2013. The difference between the debt due to federal budget deficits and the total federal debt is made up of debt held in government accounts, mainly the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, which invest their excess receipts in government debt.

Tax increases will be levied on the highest income earning taxpayers, returning the highest marginal tax rate to the Clinton-era level of 39.6%. The levels of funding for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security has increased by 13% over the 2009 federal budget. The base Department of Defense budget is also increased through 2014 (Table S-7), from $534 to $575 billion, although supplemental appropriations for the Iraq War are expected to be reduced.

Estimates of revenue are based on GDP growth forecasts that exceed the Congressional Budget Office's January forecast (which does not include the effect of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) through 2010 but which are broadly consistent with it from 2011 through 2019. The budget's GDP growth assumptions are more optimistic than the February Blue Chip consensus forecast through 2014 (by an average of 1.2 percentage points) but again are broadly consistent with the Blue Chip from 2015 through 2019.

House
On April 2, 2009, the House passed its original version of the FY2010 budget resolution by a vote of 233-196.



Senate
Also on April 2, 2009, the Senate passed its resolution by a vote of 55-43.



External resources

 * Wikipedia article on the 2010 U.S. federal budget
 * Policy Basics: Introduction to the Federal Budget Process, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 17, 2009
 * Policy Basics: Congress's “Pay-As-You-Go” Budget Rule, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, March 5, 2009