The Scope of Government Spending

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A number of definitions of the scope of federal government spending have already been developed in the course of preparing various official series on government expenditures or purchases. Each of these definitions is useful for certain purposes. Each measure, from a separate point of view, draws at a different place and in a different way the line between the transactions which are included in the measure of government spending and those which are not. Cash Withdrawals. The Daily Statement of the United States Treasury reports the amount of cash withdrawals from the Treasury, other than public debt transactions. This measure includes the expenditures of all wholly-owned federal government agencies and enterprises (plus the social insurance and other trust funds they administer) which clear through the United States Treasury. This measure essentially reports the disbursements of those agencies for which the Treasury acts as banker. Federal agency transactions through commercial and other private banking facilities are not covered. In effect, this excludes most of the operations of government-sponsored enterprises, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Federal Land Banks, which maintain accounts at commerical banks. The series on cash withdrawals is the only measure of federal government spending which is available on a daily basis. Budget Expenditures. The central series in the annual budget document, budget expenditures include the transactions of all wholly-owned federal government agencies. Trust funds and government-sponsored enterprises, which deal in various degrees with funds not owned by the federal government, are omitted. Cash Payments. The annual budget contains a special measure of federal government payments to the public, the so-called consolidated-cash series on government expenditures. This series includes the transactions of wholly-owned agencies as well as trust funds and some government-sponsored enterprises. It is rather an eclectic, pragmatic series whose scope is never defined except by inventorying of its coverage. In general, all of the agencies whose funds are appropriated or controlled by the Congress or the President are included. Some partially-owned and other government-sponsored enterprises which, at least in the past, were subject to budgetary control are also included, such as the Federal Home Loan Banks and the Federal Land Banks. The Federal Reserve System, however, is excluded.