AP Government Chapter 14 Flashcards

6356957350	Budget	A policy document allocating burdens and benefits.	0
6356965801	Deficit	An excess of federal expenditures over federal revenues.	1
6356974280	Expenditures	Government spending.	2
6356981271	Revenues	The financial resources of the government.	3
6356983130	Income Tax	Shares of individual wages and corporate revenues collected by the government.	4
6357032596	Sixteenth Amendment	The constitutional amendment adopted in 1913 that explicitly permitted Congress to levy an income tax.	5
6357042619	Federal Debt	All the money borrowed by the federal government over the years and still outstanding.	6
6357047916	Tax Expenditures	Revenue losses that result from special exemptions, exclusions, or deductions allowed by federal tax law.	7
6357054640	Social Security Act	A 1935 law intended to provide a minimal level of sustenance to older Americans and thus save them from poverty.	8
6357061646	Medicare	A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides health insurance for the elderly, covering hospitalization, doctor fees, and other health expenses.	9
6357071317	Incrementalism	A description of the budget process where the best predictor of this year's budget is last year's budget, plus a little more.	10
6357076462	Uncontrollable Expenditures	Expenditures that are determined by how many eligible beneficiaries there are for a program or by previous obligations of the government and that Congress therefore cannot easily control.	11
6357118934	Entitlements	Policies for which Congress has obligated itself to pay X level of benefits to Y number of recipients.	12
6357129656	House Ways and Means Committee	The House of Representative committee that, along with the Senate Finance Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.	13
6357140225	Senate Finance Committee	The Senate committee that, along with the House Ways and Means Committee, writes the tax codes, subject to the approval of Congress as a whole.	14
6357145465	Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974	An act designed to reform the congressional budgetary process, including by forcing Congress to look at the budget as a whole.	15
6357150986	Congressional Budget Office	Advises Congress on the probable consequences of its decisions, forecasts revenues, and is a counterweight to the president's Office of Management and Budget.	16
6357158306	Budget Resolution	A resolution binding Congress to a total expenditure level, supposedly the bottom line of all federal spending for all programs.	17
6357160967	Reconciliation	A congressional process through which program authorizations are revised to achieve required savings.	18
6357182598	Authorization Bill	An act of Congress that establishes, continues, or changes a discretionary government program or an entitlement.	19
6357186859	Appropriations Bill	An act of Congress that actually funds programs within limits established by authorization bills.	20
6357214455	Continuing Resolutions	When Congress cannot reach agreement and pass appropriations bills, these allow agencies to spend at the level of the previous year.	21