Book Description

This General Accounting Office report provides information on entitlement, benefit payment, and mandatory spending programs identified during our survey. We used the following sources to identify these programs: 1) House Budget Committee and Senate Budget Committee lists of entitlement programs; 2) Congressional Budget Office's list of entitlement programs; 3) GAO reports, particularly, Implementing FY 1986 Reductions: Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (GAO/OCG-86-3, June 30, 1986) and Budget Issues: Inventory of Accounts With Spending Authority and Permanent Appropriations, 1987 (GAO/AFMD-87-44A, July 17, 1987); and Information obtained from the Budget of the United States Government, 1988--Appendix. The data sheets provided in appendix II are organized by agency. Information is provided for fiscal years 1982 through 1988. Each sheet contains numerous elements such as trust fund assets, caseload data, and type(s) of special appropriation authority. A sample sheet and explanation of each element follows. We did not verify the amounts and information shown on the data sheets with the agencies or trace them to agency records. Information shown on spending ceilings and special funding characteristics was based on information contained in the budget and has not been verified by independent examination of pertinent statutes.