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Lord of Misrule
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For other uses, see Lord of Misrule (disambiguation) and Lords of Misrule.
In England, the Lord of Misrule – known in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and in France as the Prince des Sots – was an officer appointed by lot during Christmastide to preside over the Feast of Fools. The Lord of Misrule was generally a peasant or sub-deacon appointed to be in charge of Christmas revelries, which often included drunkenness and wild partying.
The Church held a similar festival involving a boy bishop.[1] This custom was abolished by Henry VIII in 1541, restored by the Catholic Queen Mary I and again abolished by Protestant Elizabeth I, though here and there it lingered on for some time longer.[2] On the Continent it was suppressed by the Council of Basle in 1431, but was revived in some places from time to time, even as late as the eighteenth century. In the Tudor period, the Lord of Misrule (sometimes called the Abbot of Misrule or the King of Misrule)[1] is mentioned a number of times by contemporary documents referring to revels both at court and among the ordinary people.[3][4][5]
In the spirit of misrule, identified by the grinning masks in the corners, medieval floor tiles from the Derby Black Friary show a triumphant hunting hare mounted on a dog.
While mostly known as a British holiday custom, some folklorists, such as James Frazer and Mikhail Bakhtin (who is said to have plagiarized the novel idea from Frazer) have claimed that the appointment of a Lord of Misrule comes from a similar custom practiced during the Roman celebration of Saturnalia.[6][7] In ancient Rome, from the 17th to the 23rd of December (in the Julian Calendar), a man chosen to be a mock king was appointed for the feast of Saturnalia, in the guise of the Roman deity Saturn;[1] at the end of the festival, the man was sacrificed.[6] This hypothesis has been heavily criticized by William Warde Fowler and as such, the Christmas custom of the Lord of Misrule during the Christian era and the Saturnalian custom of antiquity may have completely separate origins;[6] the two separate customs, however, can be compared and contrasted.[6][8]
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Ancient Rome
1.2 Tudor England
2 Decline of the custom in Britain
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
History[edit]
Ancient Rome[edit]
On January 1, AD 400, the bishop Asterius of Amasea[9] in Pontus (Amasya, Turkey) preached a sermon against the Feast of Calends ("this foolish and harmful delight")[10] that describes the role of the mock king in Late Antiquity. The New Year's feast included children arriving at each doorstep, exchanging their gifts for reward:[9][10]
This festival teaches even the little children, artless and simple, to be greedy, and accustoms them to go from house to house and to offer novel gifts, fruits covered with silver tinsel. For these they receive, in return, gifts double their value, and thus the tender minds of the young begin to be impressed with that which is commercial and sordid.
—Asterius, in "Oratio 4: Adversus Kalendarum Festum" [10]
It contrasted with the Christian celebration held, not by chance, on the adjoining day:
We celebrate the birth of Christ, since at this time God manifested himself in the flesh. We celebrate the Feast of Lights (Epiphany), since by the forgiveness of our sins we are led forth from the dark prison of our former life into a life of light and uprightness. --Asterius, "Oratio 4"
Significantly, for Asterius the Christian feast was explicitly an entry from darkness into light, and although no conscious solar nature could have been expressed, it is certainly the renewed light at midwinter that was celebrated among Roman pagans, officially from the time of Aurelian, as the "festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun". Meanwhile, throughout the city of Amasea, although entry into the temples and holy places had been forbidden by the decree of Theodosius I (391), the festival of gift-giving when "all is noise and tumult" in "a rejoicing over the new year" with a kiss and the gift of a coin, went on all around, to the intense disgust and scorn of the bishop:
This is misnamed a feast, being full of annoyance; since going out-of-doors is burdensome, and staying within doors is not undisturbed. For the common vagrants and the jugglers of the stage, dividing themselves into squads and hordes, hang about every house. The gates of public officials they besiege with especial persistence, actually shouting and clapping their hands until he that is beleaguered within, exhausted, throws out to them whatever money he has and even what is not his own. And these mendicants going from door to door follow one after another, and, until late in the evening, there is no relief from this nuisance. For crowd succeeds crowd, and shout, shout, and loss, loss. —Asterius, "Oratio 4" [10]
Honest farmers coming into the city were likely to be jeered at, spanked[11] and robbed. Worse,
"Even our most excellent and guileless prophets, the unmistakable representatives of God, who when unhindered in their work are our faithful ministers, are treated with insolence." For the soldiers, they spend all their wages in riot and loose women, see plays perhaps, "for they learn vulgarity and the practices of actors".

Their military discipline is relaxed and slackened. They make sport of the laws and the government of which they have been appointed guardians. For they ridicule and insult the august government. They mount a chariot as though upon a stage; they appoint pretended lictors and publicly act like buffoons. This is the nobler part of their ribaldry. But their other doings, how can one mention them? Does not the champion, the lion-hearted man, the man who when armed is the admiration of his friends and the terror of his foes, loose his tunic to his ankles, twine a girdle about his breast, use a woman's sandal, put a roll of hair on his head in feminine fashion, and ply the distaff full of wool, and with that right hand which once bore the trophy, draw out the thread, and changing the tone of his voice utter his words in the sharper feminine treble?
However, according to the anthropologist James Frazer, there was a darker side to the Saturnalia festival. In Durostorum on the Danube (modern Silistra), Roman soldiers would choose a man from among them to be the Lord of Misrule for thirty days. At the end of that thirty days, his throat was cut on the altar of Saturn. Similar origins of the British Lord of Misrule, as a sacrificial king (a temporary king, as Frazer puts it) who was later put to death for the benefit of all, have also been recorded.[12]
References to Frazer's view of this ancient sacrifice were made in the 1973 film The Wicker Man.
While the later Roman custom of a Lord of Misrule as a master of revels, a figure of fun and no more than that, is most familiar, there does seem to be some indication of an earlier and more unpleasant aspect to this figure. Frazer recounts:
We are justified in assuming that in an earlier and more barbarous age it was the universal practice in ancient Italy, wherever the worship of Saturn prevailed, to choose a man who played the part and enjoyed all the traditionary privileges of Saturn for a season, and then died, whether by his own or another's hand, whether by the knife or the fire or on the gallows-tree, in the character of the good god who gave his life for the world.[13]
Tudor England[edit]
In the Tudor period, John Stow in his Survey of London, published in 1603, gives a description of the Lord of Misrule:[1]
[I]n the feaste of Christmas, there was in the kinges house, wheresoeuer hee was lodged, a Lord of Misrule, or Maister of merry disports, and the like had yee in the house of euery noble man, of honor, or good worshippe, were he spirituall or temporall. Amongst the which the Mayor of London, and eyther of the shiriffes had their seuerall Lordes of Misrule, euer contending without quarrell or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the Beholders. These Lordes beginning their rule on Alhollon Eue [Halloween], continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonlie called Candlemas day: In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisinges, Maskes and Mummeries, with playing at Cardes for Counters, Nayles and pointes in euery house, more for pastimes then for gaine.
The Lord of Misrule is also referred to by Philip Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses (1585) where he states that "the wilde heades of the parishe conventynge together, chuse them a grand Capitaine (of mischeefe) whom they ennobel with the title Lorde of Misrule". He then gives a description of the way they dress colourfully, tie bells onto their legs and "go to the churche (though the minister be at praier or preachyng) dauncying and swingyng their handercheefes".
Decline of the custom in Britain[edit]
The Oxford Movement and writings by authors such as Charles Dickens brought the religious and family oriented aspects of Christmastide to the forefront of the celebration, cementing popular traditions that are maintained to this day[14]
With the rise of the Puritan party in the 17th century Church of England, the custom of the Lord of Misrule was outlawed as it was deemed "disruptive"; even after the Restoration, the custom remained banned and soon became forgotten.[15] In the early 19th century, the Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church ushered in "the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival" as well as "special charities for the poor" in addition to "special services and musical events".[14] Charles Dickens and other writers helped in this revival of the holiday by "changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated" as they emphasized family, religion, gift-giving, and social reconciliation as opposed to the historic revelry common in some places.[14]
See also[edit]
Bracebridge Dinner
Nine Lessons and Carols
Notes[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c d Love, Suzi (2013-12-20). History of Christmases Past: History Events. Suzi Love. ISBN 9780992345686.
Jump up ^ Tudor Christmas, The Anne Boleyn Files
Jump up ^ John, Stow. "A Survey of London (1603)". British History Online. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
Jump up ^ Hadfield, Miles & John (1961). The Twelve Days of Christmas. London: Cassell. pp. 134–135.
Jump up ^ Higginbotham, Susan. "The Lord of Misrule Comes to Court: 1551/52". Retrieved 16 October 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Miles, Clement A. (25 November 2016). Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. Xist Publishing. p. 108. ISBN 9781681955988. A striking feature of the Saturnalia was the choosing by lot of a mock king, to preside over the revels. ... This king may have been originally the representative of the god Saturn himself. In the days of the classical writers he is a mere "Lord of Misrule," but Dr. Frazer has propounded the very interesting theory that this time of privilege and gaiety was once the prelude to a grim sacrifice in which he had to die in the character of the god, giving his life for the world. Dr. Frazer's theory, dependent for its evidence upon the narrative of the martyrdom of a fourth-century saint, Dasius by name, has been keenly criticized by Dr. Warde Fowler. ... Still, in whatever way the king of the Saturnalia may be explained, it is interesting to note his existence and compare him with the merry monarchs whom we shall meet at Christmas and Twelfth Night. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ Bagshaw, Hilary B.P. (8 April 2016). Religion in the Thought of Mikhail Bakhtin. Routledge. p. 95. ISBN 9781317067450. This appears to be an unacknowledged borrowing from Frazer, which would be hard to explain in any other way than direct or indirect transmission of Frazer's ideas. Material on Saturnalia alone might well come from a different source, but the association of Saturnalia and the medieval carnival is strongly suggestive of affiliation to Frazer. Bakhtin picks up, and reinforces, the idea taken from Saturnalia, that the festive period is a time when political order is overturned, slavery was temporarily abolished and hierarchies may have been inverted. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ Jeffrey, Yvonne (27 September 2008). The Everything Family Christmas Book. Everything Books. p. 46. ISBN 9781605507835. The Lord of Misrule was ... appointed by the king and nobility to reign over the twelve days of Christmas. ... Much of the custom surrounding the Lord of Misrule had parallels with the Roman Saturnalia, during which masters and slaves changed places, with general rowdiness abounding. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
^ Jump up to: a b "Asterius of Amasia, Sermons (1904). Preface to the online edition", Roger Pearse (translator), Ipswich, UK, December 2003, webpage: ECWritings-Aste.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "On the Festival of the Calends", Asterius, AD 400.
Jump up ^ "Flogged" is the bishop's unlikely remark.
Jump up ^ Frazer, The New Golden Bough, Ed. Theodor H. Gaster, part 7 "Between Old and New: Periods of License," New York: Criterion Books, 1959; rpt. New York: New American Library, 1964. pp. 643–44; 645-50
Jump up ^ Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, 1922, p.586
^ Jump up to: a b c Rowell, Geoffrey (December 1993). "Dickens and the Construction of Christmas". History Today. 43 (12). Retrieved December 28, 2016. There is no doubt that A Christmas Carol is first and foremost a story concerned with the Christian gospel of liberation by the grace of God, and with incarnational religion which refuses to drive a wedge between the world of spirit and the world of matter. Both the Christmas dinners and the Christmas dinner-carriers are blessed; the cornucopia of Christmas food and feasting reflects both the goodness of creation and the joy of heaven. It is a significant sign of a shift in theological emphasis in the nineteenth century from a stress on the Atonement to a stress on the Incarnation, a stress which found outward and visible form in the sacramentalism of the Oxford Movement, the development of richer and more symbolic forms of worship, the building of neo-Gothic churches, and the revival and increasing centrality of the keeping of Christmas itself as a Christian festival. ... In the course of the century, under the influence of the Oxford Movement’s concern for the better observance of Christian festivals, Christmas became more and more prominent. By the later part of the century cathedrals provided special services and musical events, and might have revived ancient special charities for the poor – though we must not forget the problems for large: parish-church cathedrals like Manchester, which on one Christmas Day had no less than eighty couples coming to be married (the signing of the registers lasted until four in the afternoon). The popularity of Dickens' A Christmas Carol played a significant part in the changing consciousness of Christmas and the way in which it was celebrated. The popularity of his public readings of the story is an indication of how much it resonated with the contemporary mood, and contributed to the increasing place of the Christmas celebration in both secular and religious ways that was firmly established by the end of the nineteenth century.
Jump up ^ Jeffrey, Yvonne (17 September 2008). The Everything Family Christmas Book. Everything Books. pp. 46–. ISBN 9781605507835. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
References[edit]
Asterius of Amasia, AD 400, Asterius of Amasea: Sermons (1904 edition) pp. 111–129, "Sermon 4: On the Festival of the Calends" from Latin "Oratio 4: Adversus Kalendarum Festum" transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK, 2003.
External links[edit]
"On the Festival of the Calends", Asterius of Amasea, AD 400, transcribed by Roger Pearse, Ipswich, UK, 2003, webpage: Asterius-4.
James Frazer, The Golden Bough: "The Roman Saturnalia," which deals with the Lord of Misrule.
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United States budget process
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The United States budget process is the framework used by Congress and the President of the United States to formulate and create the United States federal budget. The process was established by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921,[1] the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974,[2] and additional budget legislation.
Prior to 1974, Congress had no formal process for establishing a federal budget. When President Richard Nixon began to refuse to spend funds that Congress had allocated, they adopted a more formal means by which to challenge him. The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 created the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which gained more control of the budget, limiting the power of the President's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The Act passed easily while the administration was embroiled in the Watergate scandal and was unwilling to provoke Congress.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 The budget processes
1.1 The President's budget request
1.2 Budget resolutions
1.3 Authorization and appropriations
2 Discretionary and mandatory spending
2.1 Discretionary spending
2.2 Mandatory spending
3 Budget functions
4 See also
5 References
6 External links
The budget processes[edit]
The President's budget request[edit]
The United States budget process begins when the President of the United States submits a budget request to Congress. The President's budget is formulated over a period of months with the assistance of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the largest office within the Executive Office of the President. The budget request includes funding requests for all federal executive departments and independent agencies. Budget documents include supporting documents and historical budget data and contains detailed information on spending and revenue proposals, along with policy proposals and initiatives with significant budgetary implications. The President's budget request constitutes an extensive proposal of the administration's intended revenue and spending plans for the following fiscal year. The budget proposal includes volumes of supporting information intended to persuade Congress of the necessity and value of the budget provisions. In addition, each federal executive department and independent agency provides additional detail and supporting documentation on its own funding requests. The documents are also posted on the OMB website.
The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 requires the President to submit the budget to Congress for each fiscal year, which is the 12-month period beginning on October 1 and ending on September 30 of the next calendar year. The current federal budget law (31 U.S.C. § 1105(a)) requires that the President submit the budget between the first Monday in January and the first Monday in February. In recent times, the President's budget submission has been issued in the first week of February.[4] The budget submission has been delayed, however, in some new presidents' first year when the previous president belonged to a different party. The 2014 United States federal budget was not submitted by the President until April 10, 2013 due to negotiations over the United States fiscal cliff and implementation of the sequester cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011.[5] (The House had already prepared its budget proposal on March 21, and the Senate proposed a budget on March 23.)
President Warren G. Harding brought about the enactment of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which, for the first time, required the President to submit a budget annually to Congress and which established the Bureau of the Budget, the forerunner of the Office of Management and Budget, to assist in the formulation of the budget. Initially the Bureau was within the U.S. Department of the Treasury, but in 1939 it was moved to the Executive Office of the President.[6]
Budget resolutions[edit]
The President's budget submission is referred to the House and Senate Budget Committees and to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Other committees with budgetary responsibilities submit requests and estimates to the budget committees during this time.
In March, the CBO publishes an analysis of the President's budget proposals. The CBO budget report and other publications are also posted on the CBO website. CBO computes a current-law baseline budget projection that is intended to estimate what federal spending and revenues would be in the absence of new legislation for the current fiscal year and for the coming 10 fiscal years. However, the CBO also computes a current-policy baseline, which makes assumptions about, for instance, votes on tax cut sunset provisions. The current CBO 10-year budget baseline projection grows from $3.7 trillion in 2011 to $5.7 trillion in 2021.[citation needed]
In March, the budget committees consider the President's budget proposals in the light of the CBO budget report, and each committee submits a budget resolution to its house by April 1. The House and Senate each consider these budget resolutions, and are expected to pass them, possibly with amendments, by April 15. A budget resolution is a kind of concurrent resolution; it is not a law, and therefore does not require the President's signature.
There is no obligation for either or both houses of Congress to pass a budget resolution. There may not be a resolution every year; if none is established, the previous year's resolution remains in force. For example, the Senate has not passed a budget resolution for FY2011, FY2012, or FY2013, and passed the FY2014 budget resolution on March 23, 2013, 23 days before the April 15 deadline set by the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013. This was the first budget resolution passed by the Senate since a FY2010 budget passed on April 29, 2009. The House and Senate may propose a budget independently of the President's budget. For example, for the 2014 budget process, the House prepared its budget proposal on March 21 and the Senate proposed a budget on March 23, while the President's budget was not submitted until April 10.
After both houses pass a budget resolution, selected Representatives and Senators negotiate a conference report to reconcile differences between the House and the Senate versions. The conference report, in order to become binding, must be approved by both the House and Senate.
The budget resolution is not legally binding but serves as a blueprint for the actual appropriation process, and provides Congress with some control over the appropriation process. All new discretionary spending requires authority through enactment of appropriation bills or continuing resolutions.
Authorization and appropriations[edit]
In general, funds for federal government programs must be authorized by an "authorizing committee" through enactment of legislation. Then, through subsequent acts by Congress, budget authority is then appropriated by the Appropriations Committee of the House. In principle, committees with jurisdiction to authorize programs make policy decisions, while the Appropriations Committees decide on funding levels, limited to a program's authorized funding level, though the amount may be any amount less than the limit.
The budget resolutions specify funding levels for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and their 12 subcommittees, establishing various budget totals, allocations, entitlements, and may include reconciliation instructions to designated House or Senate committees. The appropriations committees start with allocations in the budget resolution and draft appropriations bills, which may be considered in the House after May 15. Once appropriations committees pass their bills, they are considered by the House and Senate. When there is a final budget, the spending available to each appropriations committee for the coming fiscal year is usually provided in the joint explanatory statement included in the conference report. The appropriations committees then allocate that amount among their respective subcommittees, each to allocate the funds they control among the programs within their jurisdiction.[7]
A conference committee is typically required to resolve differences between House and Senate appropriation bills. Once a conference bill has passed both chambers of Congress, it is sent to the President, who may sign the bill or veto it. If he signs, the bill becomes law. Otherwise, Congress must pass another bill to avoid a shutdown of at least part of the federal government.
In recent years, Congress has not passed all of the appropriations bills before the start of the fiscal year. Congress may then enact continuing resolutions that provide for the temporary funding of government operations. Failure to appropriate funds results in a partial government shutdown, such the federal government shutdown in October 2013.
In practice, the separation between policy making and funding and the division between appropriations and authorization activities are imperfect. Authorizations for many programs have long lapsed, yet still receive appropriated amounts, while other programs that are authorized receive no funds at all.[citation needed] In addition, policy language, which is legislative text changing permanent law, is included in appropriation measures.
Discretionary and mandatory spending[edit]
Each function within the budget may include "budget authority" and "outlays" that fall within the broad categories of discretionary spending or direct spending.
Discretionary spending[edit]
Discretionary spending requires an annual appropriation bill, which is a piece of legislation. Discretionary spending is typically set by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and their various subcommittees. Since the spending is typically for a fixed period (usually a year), it is said to be under the discretion of the Congress. Some appropriations last for more than one year (see Appropriation bill for details). In particular, multi-year appropriations are often used for housing programs and military procurement programs.
There are currently 12 appropriation bills that must be passed each fiscal year in order for continued discretionary spending to occur. The subject of each appropriations bill corresponds to the jurisdiction of the respective House and Senate appropriation subcommittees:
As of 2012, there are 12 appropriations bills which need to be passed each year:[8]
Agriculture, Rural Development, and Food and Drug Administration
Commerce, Justice, and Science
Defense
Energy and Water Development
Financial Services and General Government (includes judicial branch, the Executive Office of the President, and District of Columbia appropriations)
Homeland Security
Interior and Environment
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education
Legislative Branch
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs
State and Foreign Operations
Transportation and Housing and Urban Development
Multiple bills are sometimes combined into one piece of legislation, such as the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009. A continuing resolution is often passed if an appropriations bill has not been signed into law by the end of the fiscal year.
Mandatory spending[edit]
Direct spending, also known as mandatory spending, refers to spending enacted by law, but not dependent on an annual or periodic appropriation bill. Most mandatory spending consists of transfer payments and welfare benefits such as Social Security benefits, Medicare, and Medicaid. Many other expenses, such as salaries of federal judges, are mandatory, but account for a relatively small share of federal spending. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates costs of mandatory spending programs on a regular basis.[citation needed]
Congress can affect spending on entitlement programs by changing eligibility requirements or the structure of programs. Certain programs, because the language authorizing them are included in appropriation bills, are termed "appropriated entitlements." This is a convention rather than a substantive distinction, since the programs, such as Food Stamps, would continue to be funded even were the appropriation bill to be vetoed or otherwise not enacted.[citation needed]
Budget functions[edit]
The federal budget is divided into categories known as budget functions. These functions include all spending for a given topic, regardless of the federal agency that oversees the individual federal program. Both the President's budget, and Congress' budget resolution provide summaries by function.
List of budget functions:[9]
Function Number
Category
Description
050 National Defense The National Defense function includes the military activities of the Department of Defense (DoD), the nuclear-weapons related activities of the Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration, the national security activities of several other agencies such as the Selective Service Agency, and portions of the activities of the Coast Guard and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The programs in this function include: the pay and benefits of active, Guard, and reserve military personnel; DoD operations including training, maintenance of equipment, and facilities; health care for military personnel and dependents; procurement of weapons; research and development; construction of military facilities, including housing; research on nuclear weapons; and the cleanup of nuclear weapons production facilities.
150 International Affairs Function 150 contains funding for all U.S. international activities, including: operating U.S. embassies and consulates throughout the world; providing military assistance to allies; aiding developing nations; dispensing economic assistance to fledgling democracies; promoting U.S. exports abroad; making U.S. payments to international organizations; and contributing to international peacekeeping efforts. Funding for all of these activities constitutes about one percent of the federal budget. The major agencies in this function include the Departments of Agriculture, State, and the Treasury; the United States Agency for International Development; and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
250 General Science, Space, and Technology This function includes the National Science Foundation (NSF), programs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration except for aviation programs, and general science programs at the Department of Energy (DOE).
270 Energy Function 270 contains civilian energy and environmental programs in the Department of Energy (DOE). This function also includes the Rural Utilities Service of the Department of Agriculture, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This function does not include DOE's national security activities, which are in Function 050 (National Defense), or its basic research and science activities, which are in Function 250 (General Science, Space and Technology).
300 Natural Resources and Environment Function 300 includes programs concerned with environmental protection and enhancement; recreation and wildlife areas; and the development and management of the nation's land, water, and mineral resources. It includes programs within the following federal departments and agencies: Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, Transportation, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
350 Agriculture Function 350 includes farm income stabilization, agricultural research, and other services administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The discretionary programs include research and education programs, economics and statistics services, administration of the farm support programs, farm loan programs, meat and poultry inspection, and a portion of the Public Law (P.L.) 480 international food aid program. The mandatory programs include commodity programs, crop insurance, and certain farm loans.
370 Commerce and Housing Credit Function 370 includes mortgage credit, the Postal Service, deposit insurance, and other advancement of commerce (the majority of the discretionary and mandatory spending in this function). The mortgage credit component includes housing assistance through the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae), and rural housing programs of the Department of Agriculture. The function also includes net postal service spending and spending for deposit insurance activities of banks, thrifts, and credit unions. Most of the Commerce Department is provided for in this function. Finally, the function also includes funding for independent agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the majority of the Small Business Administration.
400 Transportation Function 400 consists mostly of the programs administered by the Department of Transportation, including programs for highways, mass transit, aviation, and maritime activities. This function also includes two components of the Department of Homeland Security: the Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. In addition, this function includes several small transportation-related agencies and the research program for civilian aviation at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
450 Community and Regional Development Function 450 includes federal programs to improve community economic conditions, promote rural development, and assist in federal preparations for and response to disasters. This function provides appropriated funding for the Community Development Block Grant, Department of Agriculture rural development programs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other disaster mitigation and community development-related programs. It also provides mandatory funding for the federal flood insurance program.
500 Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services Function 500 includes funding for the Department of Education, social services programs within the Department of Health and Human Services, and employment and training programs within the Department of Labor. It also contains funding for the Library of Congress and independent research and art agencies such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
550 Health Function 550 includes most direct health care services programs. Other health programs in this function fund anti-bioterrorism activities, national biomedical research, protecting the health of the general population and workers in their places of employment, providing health services for under-served populations, and promoting training for the health care workforce. Some of the agencies funded in this function include the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration. The major mandatory programs in this function are Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), federal and retirees' health benefits, and health care for Medicare-eligible military retirees.
570 Medicare Function 570 includes only the Medicare program, which provides health insurance to senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Congress provides an annual appropriation for the costs of administering and monitoring the Medicare program. Nearly 99 percent of spending in this function occurs on the mandatory side of the budget, and almost all of the mandatory spending consists of payments for Medicare benefits.
600 Income Security Function 600 consists of a range of income security programs that provide cash or near-cash assistance (e.g., housing, nutrition, and energy assistance) to low-income persons, and benefits to certain retirees, persons with disabilities, and the unemployed. Housing assistance programs account for the largest share of discretionary funding in this function. Major federal entitlement programs in this function include unemployment insurance, trade adjustment assistance income support, food stamps, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, foster care, and Supplemental Security Income. Federal and other retirement and disability programs comprise approximately one third of the funds in this function.
650 Social Security Function 650 consists of the two payroll tax-financed programs that are collectively known as Social Security: Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI). This function includes Social Security benefit payments and funds to administer the program. Under provisions of the Congressional Budget Act and the Budget Enforcement Act, Social Security trust funds are off-budget and do not appear in the budget resolution totals. However, a small portion of spending in Function 650 - the general fund transfer of income taxes on Social Security benefits - is considered on-budget and appears in the budget resolution totals.
700 Veterans Benefits and Services Function 700 covers the programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including veterans' medical care, compensation and pensions, education and rehabilitation benefits, and housing programs. It also includes the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the American Battle Monuments Commission. Almost 90 percent of appropriated funding in Function 700 goes to veterans' health care.
750 Administration of Justice The Administration of Justice function consists of federal law enforcement programs, litigation and judicial activities, correctional operations, and state and local justice assistance. Agencies within this function include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration; Border and Transportation Security; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the United States Attorneys; legal divisions within the Department of Justice; the Legal Services Corporation; the federal Judiciary; and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This function includes several components of the Department of Homeland Security.
800 General Government This function includes the activities of the White House and the Executive Office of the President, the legislative branch, and programs designed to carry out the legislative and administrative responsibilities of the federal government, including personnel management, fiscal operations, and property control.
900 Net Interest Function 900 consists primarily of the interest paid by the federal government to private and foreign government holders of U.S. Treasury securities. This amount is slightly offset by interest income received by the federal government on loans and cash balances and by earnings of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust.
920 Allowances This function displays the budgetary effect of proposals that cannot easily be distributed across other budget functions. In the past, this function has included funding for emergencies or proposals contingent on certain events.
950 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts This function comprises major offsetting receipt items that would distort the funding levels of other functional categories if they were distributed to them.
See also[edit]
Office of Management and Budget
United States public debt
Budget resolution
Government financial statements
Anti-Deficiency Act
2015 United States federal appropriations
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 on GPO access Archived October 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 on GPO access
Jump up ^ Budget Resolution Explainer, Rudolph Penner, Urban Institute
Jump up ^ 31 U.S.C. 1105(a) on Cornell Legal Information Institute
Jump up ^ "Obama Will Send Fiscal 2014 Budget to Congress April 10". Bloomberg L.P. March 28, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Executive Office of the President". whitehouse.gov. Oct 14, 2013.
Jump up ^ Tollestrup, Jessica. "The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction". Congressional Research Service. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Status of Appropriations Legislation for Fiscal Year 2012". THOMAS. Library of Congress. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
Jump up ^ http://budget.house.gov/budgetprocess/budgetfunctions.htm
External links[edit]
Budget Calculator Online calculator that places specific tax or spending numbers in the context of the total U.S. budget. It also compares any spending or revenue item to projected defense spending. (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
The Congressional Budget Process: an Explanation - published by the Senate Budget Committee, 1998 (PDF file)
2007 Financial Report of the United States Government
Columbia University selective guide for research on the U.S. Federal budget process
Budget Process Tutorial From the House Budget Committee (Republican Staff)
The Congressional Budget Office
Eric M. Patashnik, "Ideas, Inheritances, and the Dynamics of Budgetary Change," Governance, 12.2 (April 1999): 147-174
Understanding the Federal Budget
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