Over the last few years, I have heard a lot of people talk about how lawmakers in the Congress should "read the bill" before voting on it. It would be nice to see more people "read the budget" as well.
So, here are some links so you can paw through the four telephone books of information dropped on the Congress by the Obama Administration - the budget for Fiscal Year 2013.
Want the basic version? That's the 256 page budget document that is sort of a basic review of the Obama spending plans.
Just a note - that document is 4.6 MB.
For those who want to see what specific cuts the White House is offering, then there is a document for you as well, detailing a number of duplicative programs that the Obama Administration wants to jettison.
You can check out the "Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings" to see some of those details.
That document is a speedy 1.4 MB, which shouldn't take long to download at all.
But maybe you want more - maybe you really want to dig your teeth into the details of the budget.
Then I would advise reading through one of my favorite parts of the budget, known as the "Analytical Perspectives." .
That checks in at 510 pages and 8.1 MB of pdf information, where you can check out all kinds of economic and accounting reviews of the budget, check out the baseline and other fine print details that your inner budget wonk really wants to look at.
It was in that document that I found one of the best line items in the budget, a plan to raise more money by eliminating "the deduction for contributions of conservationeasements on golf courses."
That would raise $593 billion over 10 years. You can find that in Table 15-3.
Along those lines, if you want to have the definitive answer guide to settle those water cooler political battles over whether the national debt actually went down during the Clinton Administration or not, then you need something else to look at, and the budget has that as well.
That something else would be the document known by the simple name of Historical Tables .
That will give you 358 pages and 3.5 MB of interesting information that might thrill and amaze your co-workers.
But maybe you want more - I mean MORE about the budget.
Then there is only one document for you, the holy grail of the federal budget from the White House.
For most of us, the word "appendix" means something additional - but for the federal government budget, it is the meat of the White House proposal, with all kinds of information about the nitty gritty details of the budget plan.
If you are ready for 1478 pages of mind-numbing information, and 18.7 MB of pdf madness, then the Appendix is for you.
If your head hurts, it is understandable.
But remember - you wanted to read the bill - so you may as well read the budget, too.
Happy reading. And let me know if you find anything good.
