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2015 Year in Review
Federal Budget for Fiscal Year 2016
Congress was able to avoid a government shutdown in late September by using
a series of continuing resolutions and extensions. In October, House leaders
proposed the Bipartisan Budget Act (“BBA”) of 2015 which sets top-line spending
for GFY 2016 and 2017. The BBA was passed by the Senate and signed into law
by the President. Most notably the BBA increases federal discretionary spending
by $80 billion over the next two years – FY 2016 and FY 2017 – and is divided
equally between security (defense, national security, and intelligence) and non-
security (domestic) programs. The BBA also sets minimum adjustments to the
caps for overseas contingency operations (OCO) providing certainty for two years
on approximate OCO levels
.
The budget’s passing is welcomed news to Pentagon officials as short-term
spending extensions and budgetary uncertainties made it difficult to start new
programs or forecast long-term costs. The BBA also raised the federal debt
ceiling to avoid hitting the previous $18.1 trillion debt limit, which the Treasury
Department said would occur on November 3, 2015. The new agreement
increases the federal borrowing limit through March 15, 2017.
Winners
Losers
United States Military - Increased military spending,
operations funds, and missile and aircraft
procurement funds.
Department of Veterans Affairs - Received $163
billion, of which $71.4 billion is tagged for
discretionary spending, a 10% increase from the
previous year, and authorized the hiring of more than
1,500 staffers.
NASA - Received $19.3 billion, a 7% year-over-year
increase from 2015, and $750 million more than
requested.
Environmental Protection Agency - Following a
decrease in funding in 2015, EPAs funding essentially
will remain frozen at $8.1 billion.
Internal Revenue Service - Received $1.7 billion less
than the Obama administration requested. Money will
go toward customer service, fraud reduction and
cybersecurity.
Securities and Exchange Commission - Received 7%
less than requested.
2015 Enacted vs. 2016 and 2017 Budget
($ in Billions
)
Source: OMB, Deltek GovWin, TMG Proprietary Research as of 12/31/15
533.3
518.5
518.5
490.0
548.1
551.1
64.2
58.8
58.8
$0
$200
$400
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
2015
2016
2017
Non-Security Security OCO