Poli Sci Exam 3 Unit 14

Front 1

Sixteenth Amendment

Back 1

The constitutional amendment adopted in 1915 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax.

Front 2

entitlement programs

Back 2

Policies for which expenditures are uncontrollable because Congress has in effect obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients. Each year, Congress's bill is a straightforward function of the X level of benefits times the Y number of beneficiaries.

Front 3

Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Back 3

A counterweight to the president's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). They advise Congress on the probable consequences of budget decisions and forecasts revenues.

Front 4

incrementalism

Back 4

The belief that the best predictor of this year's budget is last year's budget, plus a little bit more. According to Aaron Wildavsky, "Most of the budget is a product of previous decisions".

Front 5

continuing resolutions

Back 5

When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these resolutions allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year.

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deficit

Back 6

An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues.

Front 7

appropriations bill

Back 7

An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills. They usually cover one year.

Front 8

Gramm-Rudman-Hollings

Back 8

Named for its sponsors and also known as the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Act, legislation mandating maximum allowable deficit levels each year until 1991, when the budget was to be balanced. In 1987, the balanced budget year was shifted to 1993, but the Act was abandoned in 1991.

Front 9

budget resolution

Back 9

A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs.

Front 10

expenditures

Back 10

Federal spending of revenues. Major areas of such spending are social services and the military.

Front 11

Senate Finance Committee

Back 11

The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.

Front 12

uncontrollable expenditures

Back 12

Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for some particular program. According to Lance LeLoup, an expenditure is classified this way "if it is mandated under current law or by a previous obligation". Three-fourths of the federal budget is considered thus. Congress can change these only by changing a law or existing benefit levels.

Front 13

Social Security Act

Back 13

A 1935 law passed during the Great Depression that was intended to prvide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty.

Front 14

House Ways and Means Committee

Back 14

The House of Representatives committee that, along with the Senate Finance Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.

Front 15

income taxes

Back 15

Shares of individual wages and corporate revenues collected by the government. The first one was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1895, but the Sixteenth Amendment explicitly authorized Congress to levy these.

Front 16

tax expenditures

Back 16

Defined by the 1974 Budget Act as "revenue losses attributable to provisions of the federal tax laws which allow a special exemption, exclusion, or deduction". These represent the difference between what the government actually collects in taxes and what it would have collected without special exemptions.

Front 17

Medicare

Back 17

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other expenses.

Front 18

revenues

Back 18

The financial resources of the federal government. The individual income tax and Social security tax are two major sources.

Front 19

federal debt

Back 19

All the money borrowed by the federal government over the years and still outstanding. Today it is about $5.5 trillion.

Front 20

budget

Back 20

A policy document allocating burdens (taxes) and benefits (expenditures).

Front 21

reconciliation

Back 21

A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings. It usually also includes tax or other revenue adjustments.

Front 22

authorization bill

Back 22

An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement. It specifies program goals and maximum expenditures for discretionary programs.

Front 23

Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974

Back 23

An act designed to reform the congressional budgetary process. Its supporters hoped that it would also make Congress less dependent on the president's budget and better able to set and meet its own budgetary goals.

Front 24

Internal Revenue Service

Back 24

The office established to collect federal income taxes, investigate violations of the tax laws, and prosecute tax criminals.