Where Does The Money Go? Appendix

1. The Sweet Spots for Info

Here are some of the Web’s best places to find out more.

Office of Management and Budget ( www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget)

This is where you will find the president’s annual budget request and rationale for spending the country’s money in the coming year. Not surprisingly, the OMB puts the best foot forward on the president’s plans, but this is the place to go if you want the details of both the current budget and what’s in the works. For example, there are “factsheets” for every department—the Department of Education, Department of Justice, and so on—describing performance goals for each and detailing how the President’s budget is being allocated. There are also fact sheets for each state so you can see how much money your state got for public schools, highway construction, children’s health insurance, etc.

The site also houses major administration publications focusing on budget issues such as the report on the February 2009 summit convened by the White House to “solicit ideas and discuss solutions to our long-term fiscal imbalance with a broad array of national leaders—from both political parties, from in and out of government, and from Washington, D.C. and the country as a whole.” Even though it’s part of the government, the Office of Management and Budget has several Web resources that ought to be useful for budding reformers.

The OMB Earmark Database is the best way of trying to track down earmarks—the little pork-barrel projects quietly tucked away in the budget. Unfortunately, the database has some serious limitations. For example, the site can’t tell you who sponsored the earmark (very critical) or even the ultimate beneficiary of the funding (even more critical).The site is at http://earmarks.omb.gov.

OMB also has several other sites providing information on government finances. Recovery.gov, with the tagline “Track the Money,” is designed to lay out stimulus spending across the country and provide a way to report waste and fraud in the programs.

Congressional Budget Office ( www.cbo.gov)

The CBO is an independent, nonpartisan agency set up to give Congress reliable budget estimates. It’s nonpartisan and highly respected, but we’re not going to kid you. A lot of CBO reports are a pretty rough read for—well, probably for anyone who’s not a budget analyst. When we were using the site, we noticed that the most accessible material from the CBO is generally found in testimony presented before Congress. You might want to have a glass of water handy, because they are really, really dry. Nonetheless, the CBO is the place to go for all sorts of detailed projections on what would happen if the Congress cuts spending and/or raises taxes in dozens of different ways. The CBO’s “Budget Options” series are the place to look.

Government Accountability Office ( www.gao.gov)

Formerly known as the General Accounting Office, this is the federal government’s auditor. This agency is about as independent as federal bureaus get—its boss, the comptroller general, is appointed to a fifteen-year term, and GAO auditors review the operations of every government agency and issue often-stinging reports on how the government could function better. The GAO also issues an annual audit of the country’s finances, the Financial Report of the United States Government. The 2009 audit is at www.gao.gov/financial/fy2009financialreport.html, and you can watch the GAO Web site for annual updates. The GAO also produces a “citizen’s guide” to accompany the audit which is authoritative, succinct, and well worth reading (the 2009 guide is at www.gao.gov/financial/fy2009/09guide.pdf). You can also keep current on GAO reports and analyses through its Twitter feed and YouTube channel.

The Debt to the Penny ( www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np)

The government’s Treasury direct site includes a daily report on what the country owes down to the penny, along with historical information about the debt and more specialized information for financial types on buying and selling governments bonds. And just in case you’re motivated, here’s where you can make your voluntary contribution to help pay off the debt.

Monthly Treasury Statement ( www.fms.treas.gov/mts)

This site lists the government’s income and expenses for the last month, the last year, and the year before that. It’s a little more headache-inducing (you can download the monthly statement in Excel, which should give you a little warning),but it is chock-full of specifics on just where the country’s money comes from and where it’s spent, and not just in the major categories.

Fedspending.org ( www.fedspending.org) and USAspending.gov (www.USAspending.gov )

These are both searchable databases of federal grants and contracts. Fedspending.org is the original, run by the group OMB Watch, while USAspending.gov is run by OMB itself. Both sites allow you to search by department, contractor, state or congressional district, and whether the contract involved competitive bidding or not. It’s a great resource for looking at the generally less-examined question of who the federal government pays to do its work.

Stimulus.org (www.stimulus.org )

Set up by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Stimulus.org sets out how the economic stimulus and Wall Street bailout money is being spent much more clearly than anything the government has put out there. You can breakout the spending by the type of action, the target group (consumers, banks, housing, manufacturing, etc.) or by agency. The site also offers regular updates and background briefings on what the various packages do and how much they cost.

2. Groups Working On The Issue

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget ( www.crfb.org).

This is a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that is “committed to educating the public about issues that have significant fiscal policy impact.” It is led by Maya MacGuineas, a respected budget expert, and it’s board is a who’s who of former heads of Congressional budget committees, the CBO, OMB, and the Federal Reserve. The Web site features a simulator that gives visitors a chance to try their hand at getting the country’s debt to 60 percent of GDP by 2018. It also includes blogs and news releases responding to ongoing developments related to the budget and a set of charts you can download and share.

America Speaks ( http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/)

This nonprofit organization works to give citizens an opportunity to discuss important national problems, and, in its words, give the public “a greater voice on the most important policy issues that impact their lives.” With a $4.2million dollar grant from three major foundations—The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Kellogg Foundation—the group organized a “national town meeting” in June 2010 where participants nationwide could talk about a range of policy options “framed by a diverse, bipartisan group of experts.” The group is now working to bring the insights of citizens to national leaders including the President and his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and Congress. The Website— http://usabudgetdiscussion.org/—has tools for citizens who want to become more active on the issue.

Concord Coalition ( www.concordcoalition.org).

Concord was founded during the early 1990s as an organization “advocating fiscal responsibility while ensuring Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations.” The Concord folks are “budget hawks”—they want action on this issue—so they do have a point of view, but the group is widely respected for its bipartisanship and strong command of the facts. The Web site features blogs and issues briefs on what’s happening in Congress and the administration related to the budget and the debt. The site also lists upcoming speaking events and panel discussions that Concord organizes nationwide. The Concord Coalition is a sponsor of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour, a series of town hall meetings about this problem occurring around the country, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation, the Committee for Economic Development, and the Committee for a Responsible Budget.

Our Fiscal Future ( www.ourfiscalfuture.org)

This nonpartisan initiative to get the federal budget on a sustainable path grew out of the Committee on the Fiscal Future of the United States, a nonpartisan commission organized by the National Research Council and the National Academy of Public Administration. The committee report itself offered four different paths to put the budget on a sound footing, ranging from a big-government high-tax option to a small-government, low-tax option. The Our Fiscal Future initiative is designed to build public support for political action, led by NAPA and our organization, Public Agenda. This is a great place for people who care about the issue to find out more and get organized, no matter what their political views.

3. Points of View

In Where Does the Money Go? we haven’t taken positions on the various solutions for addressing the country’s financial problems, but there are plenty of think tanks and advocacy groups that have. We hope, by now, that you’ll find yourself curious about what they have to say. Here are some of the most important that have done significant work in this area.

American Association of Retired Persons ( www.aarp.org)

With over 35 million members, AARP is generally considered the country’s most influential organization representing older Americans. In the “Issues and Elections” section of the AARP Web site, you can read the organization’s position papers on Social Security and Medicare, among other related issues.

American Enterprise Institute ( www.aei.org)

One of the country’s leading conservative research organizations, its Web site is a gateway to AEI’s substantial library of reports and publications, many of which address budget and tax issues and Social Security and Medicare. AEI is home to a number of respected budget experts, such as Kevin Hassett, R. Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel Shaviro, along with Mark B. McClellan, former head of the FDA.

Brookings Institution ( www.brookings.edu)

Brookings has long been one of Washington’s dominant think tanks, home to a banner list of scholars. Just a small sampling of Brookings publications on this theme includes Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach, by Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag (Brookings Institution Press, 2005), Social Security and Medicare: Individual vs. Collective Risk and Responsibility, edited by Sheila Burke, Eric Kingson, and Uwe Reinhardt (Brookings Institution Press, copublished with the National Academy of Social Insurance, 2000), and the Restoring Fiscal Sanity series of publications mentioned on page 312. The 2007 edition of Restoring Fiscal Sanity, edited by Alice M. Rivlin and Joseph R. Antos (Brookings Institution Press, 2006), focuses on health care costs.

Cato Institute (http://www.cato.org)

Even if you come from the liberal side of the aisle, you have to admire the libertarian Cato Institute for being willing to get specific. Cato’s Project on Social Security Choice (http://www.socialsecurity.org/catoplan) and its Downsizing the Federal Governmen project— www.downsizinggovernment.org/— provide some of the most detailed information available about private accounts, Social Security, and potential cuts throughout the federal budget.

Center for American Progress ( www.americanprogress.org)

Headed up by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, Center for American Progress says that it is working to create a “long-term, progressive vision for America.” If you’re wondering about the liberal/progressive stance on ideas like reforming Social Security, balancing the budget, and managing the country’s long-term budget problems, this is the place to go. In 2009, the group sponsored conference entitled “Developing a Progressive Approach to the National Deficit,” which featured experts such as Alan Blinder, Paul Krugman, Robert Reischauer, and Laura Tyson discussing a wide range of options—the video is available on the Web site. The site also contains frequent analyses of specific budget areas including defense spending, tax policy, and discretionary spending.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ( www. cbpp.org)

The center is one of the few nongovernmental research organizations focusing specifically on budgetary policy at both the state and federal level. It’s generally categorized as a liberal organization, but like Cato, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities doesn’t shy away from specifics. The organization provided detailed analyses criticizing President Bush’s plans for private accounts in Social Security, and it has current analyses assessing the benefits of the stimulus spending and the government’s efforts to create jobs during and following the recession of 2008 and 2009. The blog by CBPP head Robert Greenstein is a powerful voice for progressive views on ongoing budget issues.

Center for Economic and Policy Research (www.cepr.net)

Led by economists Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot, this center is dedicated to “promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people’s lives,” and comes at the issues from a progressive perspective. Overall, they’re sharply critical of “deficit hawks” and Baker also writes the “Beat the Press” blog on economics coverage in the media.

Club for Growth ( www.clubforgrowth.org)

The Club for Growth believes “prosperity and opportunity come through economic freedom.” The club recommends candidates who support its policy goals—extending the Bush tax cuts, personal accounts in Social Security, repealing the estate tax, and others—and sponsors a Club for Growth PAC to provide campaign funds. The site has fresh commentary on current debates, including articles and op-eds from its economic policy council.

Heritage Foundation ( www.heritage.org)

For more than thirty years, the Heritage Foundation has been an influential and respected conservative source of research to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.” The Heritage Web site offers scores of research reports, issue backgrounders, and commentaries on the issues introduced here.

OMB Watch( www.ombwatch.org)

OMB Watch describes its goal as increasing “government transparency and accountability; to ensure sound, equitable regulatory and budgetary processes and policies; and to protect and promote active citizen participation in our democracy.” OMB Watch contains plenty of information about budget developments on the Hill and the status of various budget-related debates. The perspective is liberal, it’s fair to say, and the group has voiced some reservations about the president’s budget commission and whether too many of its members are “fiscal hawks” who will urge Congress to “act immediately by attacking ‘entitlements,’ including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.” The group’s blog, “The Fine Print,” covers many issues related to government performance on the environment, health, and safety, in addition to budget issues.

4. Before You Vote

Project Vote Smart provides biographical information, voting records, interest group ratings, and campaign contact information for candidates for national and state offices. Vote Smart has a good track record for nonpartisanship and providing specific, helpful information for voters. Definitely worth a visit at www.votesmart.org.

Open Secrets works to give a direct, detailed answer to any voter’s request to “show me the money.” This is the Webby Award–winning site of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a group that focuses on money and politics. Enter the name of your member of Congress, and you’ll find out how much money he or she raised in the last election and how much came from business, labor, PACs, and so on. This is definitely the place to go if you want to know who is paying the way for the candidates you’re considering. It’s at www.opensecrets.org.

Maplight.org tries to go Open Secrets one better (in fact they use Open Secrets’ data) by tying campaign contributions to legislation. You can search for bills, find out which lobbying groups and organizations favored or opposed the legislation, then see how the contributions match up with the way legislators voted. They’re funded by the Sunlight Foundation, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, and the Arkay Foundation.

FactCheck.org specializes in helping voters sort out the truth in campaign ads, campaign speeches, and other election sloganeering. You can sign up for a regular news feed, which might be a good idea during the campaign season when the going gets rough, and the truth begins to suffer as a result. Fact Check operates out of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. We consider it a must-visit every campaign season.

We’re almost to the end of the book now, so it’s OK to admit something: You’re not sure who your member of Congress is. Not to worry; many people aren’t. But this is easily fixed. A number of sites offer zip code searches to help you find out who represents your town in Washington, but the official congressional sites, www.house.gov and www.senate.gov, will do just fine. If you want to find out ways of lobbying your representative—petitions you can sign, addresses you can write to—you can try Congress.org, a private site that offers a lot of that information. And to track bills in Congress, search voting records, and get basic information about how the legislative branch works, you can’t beat the Library of Congress’s Thomas site, named for Thomas Jefferson, who surely would approve of empowering people via the Internet, if he was still around. You can find the site at Thomas.loc.gov.

Remember that old line about how 90 percent of success in life consists of showing up? It’s certainly true on Election Day (unless you live in vote-by-mail Oregon, in which case 90 percent of success consists of having a postage stamp). But for the rest of us, if you’re going to make a difference, you’ve got to register and then show up at your polling place on Election Day. If you’ve got basic questions about how to register, where your polling place is, and what to do if someone challenges your right to vote, the Vote411. Org Web site run by the League of Women Voters has the answers.