The White House’s proposed three-year spending freeze on "non-security" discretionary federal programs would have a mixed effect on agencies, the Congressional Research Service has said. A budget outline for fiscal 2011 pending in the Senate would accept the freeze although to date the House has not drafted a counterpart budget measure.
The administration proposal would freeze non-security discretionary spending fiscal 2011-2013 at fiscal 2010 levels not adjusted for inflation. After 2013, growth of spending would be linked to inflation. If enacted in this form, the budget projects that this proposal will save approximately $250 billion over the next 10 years, relative to current policy.
Non-security discretionary spending in this proposal is defined as discretionary budgetary resources outside of defense, homeland security, veterans affairs, and international affairs.
The freeze would not impact all programs and agencies uniformly, CRS said. For example, funding is proposed to be eliminated or consolidated in several education programs, while others receive funding increases. There are proposals to increase government-wide spending for job training and employment programs. Spending increases for research and development funding will be targeted to the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, while the President’s budget would cancel NASA’s Constellation program.
At the agency level, the largest cuts in budgetary resources are proposed for the Department of Commerce ($5 billion), the Department of Justice ($3.4 billion), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development ($2 billion). Those entities receiving the largest increases include the Department of Education ($2.9 billion), the Department of Transportation ($1 billion), and the Social Security Administration ($0.8 billion), it said.
