I. Budget Vocabulary You Need to Know: Use this link to define these concepts in 10 words or less. These words appear many times throughout this lesson!
1. Budget Resolution:
2. Appropriations Bill:
3. Mandatory Spending:
4. Discretionary Spending:
5. Entitlement Spending:
6. Receipts
7. Outlays:
II. THE BASICS OF THE BUDGET PROCESS__
A. Federal Tax Revenues: Use the data to answer the following questions
8. List the breakdown of where the federal government receives funding:
| Source of Revenue | List the Amount of Money Collected |
| List the Largest Source of Revenue: | |
| List the Second Largest Source of Revenue: | |
| List the Third Largest Source of Revenue: |
B. The Office of Management and Budget:
10. What is the job of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)?
11. How does the Congressional Budget Office affect the federal budget process? (use this link)
12. Which agency (CBO or OMB) is more credible when it comes to providing non-politicized (not overly Republican or Democrat) data and analysis?
C. Surpluses, Deficits, and the National Debt: http://www.investopedia.com/
13. Define budget surplus. What caused the surpluses to "disappear"?
14. Define budget deficit.
15. Define national debt. What can cause the national debt to rise? How does the national debt affect the budget process?
16. How do mandatory spending programs differ from discretionary spending programs? What makes factor(s) determine if a program is a “mandatory spending program”?
D. Budget Timetable:
17. Succinctly summarize each of the following budget-making steps using this website.
| Name of Step | Succinct & Detailed Summary of Step |
| Step 1: President Submits a Budget Proposal | |
| Step 2: Congress Passes a Budget Resolution | |
| Step 3: Congressional Subcommittees 'Markup' Appropriation Bills | |
| Step 4: The House and Senate Vote on Appropriation Bills and Reconcile Differences | |
| Step 5: The President Signs each Appropriation Bill and the budget is enacted. |
18. What can Congress do if the budget timetable takes longer than expected?
III. The Politics of Making the Federal Budget: Use this link
19. Describe the impact to lobbyists and interest groups have on making the federal budget?
20. Describe why earmarks are so controversial. What effect do earmarks have on the federal budget?
IV: YOU GET TO MAKE THE BUDGET
Directions: Go to this link. In the introduction screen, click on Congressional Budget to learn about the basics of the federal budget.
21. Click on Your Estimate and decide how much the federal government spent on the following 14 items—put your estimates in the chart below before going to the next step:
|| Category
| Your Estimate (%) | Actual Budget (%) | What you Think it Should be? (%) | |
| Agriculture | |||
| Community Development | |||
| Defense | |||
| Education | |||
| Environment | |||
| Homeland Security | |||
| Interest on the National Debt | |||
| International Activities | |||
| Law Enforcement | |||
| Misc. Smaller Programs | |||
| Science Programs | |||
| Senior Programs | |||
| Transportation | |||
| Welfare |
22. Click on Actual Budget and write these percentages in the column above labeled Actual Budget (%). How accurate were your predictions? Did you come across any surprises? Explain your answers.
23. Click on What You Think it Should Be? And allocate the money based on your preferences. After doing this, how does your budget compare/differ with the actual budget?
More Helpful Budget Resources:
1. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/02/01/us/budget.html (2010/11 federal budget info)
2. http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/ (lots of data on the budget)
3. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/04/051904.asp#12924398005142&close (fiscal policy explainer)
4. http://www.voteiq.com/hot-topics/economy-deficit-intro (focus on the deficit, but all of the budget is included)
5. http://nationalpriorities.org/ (great explainer on the whole process)
