The theme of President Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget plan is to spend less but make targeted investments in education initiatives and programs that will put people to work.
“The main idea in the budget is this: At a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we’ve got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track,” the president said during a speech Monday at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.
The Commerce Department and Small Business Administration would see the biggest relative discretionary spending increases over fiscal 2011 actual spending — up 41.9 percent and 30 percent, respectively. Combined, the departments’ total proposed expenditures for fiscal 2013 amount to a little less than $9 billion.
The biggest reduction in spending by a wide margin will be absorbed by the Justice Department, where the president is proposing a 33.4 percent cut, from $26.9 billion to $17.9 billion. The next-largest cut goes to the Health and Human Services Department, which would see an 8.8 percent reduction in total discretionary authority.
View our chart below to see how the major agencies fared in Obama’s proposal. We looked at total discretionary authority for each agency.
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Discretionary budget authority (billions of dollars)
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| Departments | 2011 Actual |
2013 Request |
Percent Change |
| Agriculture | 23.2 | 23 | -0.9% |
| Commerce | 5.6 | 8 | 41.9% |
| Defense (DoD — Excluding Overseas Contingency Operations) |
528.3 | 525.4 | -0.5% |
| Education | 68.3 | 69.8 | 2.2% |
| Energy (Excluding National Nuclear Security Administration) |
15.2 | 15.6 | 2.8% |
| Health and Human Services | 76.5 | 69.7 | -8.8% |
| Homeland Security | 41.9 | 39.5 | -5.8% |
| Housing and Urban Development | 37.1 | 35.3 | -4.8% |
| Interior | 11.7 | 11.4 | -2.7% |
| Justice | 26.9 | 17.9 | -33.4% |
| Labor | 12.5 | 12 | -4% |
| State and Other International Programs (Excluding Non-Security Funding) |
48.8 | 54.8 | 12.3% |
| Transportation | 13.7 | 13.8 | 0.6% |
| Treasury | 13.5 | 12.6 | -7% |
| Veterans Affairs | 56.4 | 61 | 8.1% |
| Major Agencies | |||
| Corps of Engineers — Civil Works | 4.9 | 4.7 | -4.3% |
| Environmental Protection Agency | 8.7 | 8.3 | -3.90% |
| National Aeronautics and Space Administration | 18.4 | 17.7 | -4% |
| National Science Foundation | 6.8 | 7.4 | 8.3% |
| Small Business Administration | 0.7 | 0.9 | 30.2% |
| Social Security Administration | 10.7 | 11.0 | 2.8% |
| Corporation for National and Community Service | 1.1 | 1.1 | -1% |
— by Andrew Lapin and Caitlin Fairchild, Government Executive, February 13, 2012 at http://www.govexec.com/management/2012/02/discretionary-budget-authority-billions-dollars/41189/.
