A critical function of our government is to protect us from known harm. We expect our national government to keep contaminated food off the grocery store shelves and out of restaurants; to prevent industrial facilities from poisoning the air and water in our communities, and to ensure we have safe workplaces. When our health and safety systems are working well, they tend to be invisible to us, and we take them for granted. It's when they fail that we pay attention. And we are likely to see more failures in coming years if we continue to reduce the resources available to public agencies when the scope and complexities of the challenges they face are increasing.

For instance, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspected about ten percent more meat, poultry, and egg products in 2013 – 110 billion pounds – than in 2004 when it inspected 100 billion pounds. At the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the complex issue of food imports has grown in importance. "About 15 percent of food that Americans eat comes from abroad, more than double the amount just 10 years ago, including nearly two-thirds of fresh fruits and vegetables," according to a New York Times article from July 2013. "The F.D.A. has tried to keep tabs on imports, but, in reality, manages to inspect only 1 to 2 percent of all imports at American ports and borders."

As the Center for Effective Government noted in a report last year, "[The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)] had fewer health and safety compliance inspections staff in 2011 than in 1981, the first year of the Reagan administration, even though the number of workplaces doubled to 9 million from 4.5 million establishments, and the number of workers rose to 129.4 million from 73.4 million." At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the number of cars and light-duty trucks whose emissions the agency is responsible for overseeing grew from 136.4 million in 2004 to 192.5 million in 2011, an increase of 41 percent. In addition, hundreds of new chemicals are being added each year to the current inventory of over 84,000 chemicals available for commerce, yet less than two percent of these chemicals have been adequately tested for health risks.

The Center for Effective Government has compiled the budget levels for the four federal regulatory agencies named above using White House budget documents going back to fiscal year 2004 (the federal fiscal year is October 1 through September 30) and adjusted them for inflation.

This presentation is best used for analyzing trends in spending levels.

Aside from FDA, these regulatory agency budgets are on a declining path. After adjusting for inflation, FSIS, OSHA, and EPA will have less funding than they had during the George W. Bush administration – even if the president receives all the funding he requested in his budget, which may be unlikely. In previous years, Congress has often provided lower levels of funding than that requested by the president.

The budget data for fiscal year 2014 is an estimate, and the numbers for fiscal year 2015 represent only the White House budget request. Congress will ultimately set 2015 budget levels later this year, either through appropriations legislation or a continuing resolution that maintains current levels of funding.

These budget levels are just a starting point for any assessments of these programs. The Center for Effective Government has developed this simple dashboard to help provide the public and the media with a simple entry point for learning more about our government's efforts to protect the public. Please note that there are substantial caveats with the data. See the Notes section below the tables for more information.


Budget authority by agency and obligations by program activity (in millions of 2012 dollars)


Fiscal Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

2014
(est)

2015
(req)
Food and
Drug Administration
1,649 1,675 1,666 1,949 1,700 2,188 2,722 2,463 2,572 2,033 2,532 2,425
Foods 498 511 498 505 542 727 819 856 866 781 846 847
Drugs 602 593 596 614 646 822 838 849 828 429 447 450
Devices and radiological products 231 252 249 255 254 323 328 330 323 290 308 298
National Center for
Toxicological Research
48 47 46 46 47 59 62 62 60 54 59 55
Other activities 110 102 97 102 105 138 148 153 154 157 165 164
Other rent and
rent-related activities
46 63 65 75 95 107 109 101 106 116 127 109
Rental payments 138 132 131 140 140 142 152 155 160 147 155 159
Buildings and facilities 28 2 9 11 9 6 23 13 9 6 9 8
CRADAs 2 2 1 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2
Animal drugs and feed - - - - - - - - - 124 135 136
Biologics - - - - - - - - - 191 202 197
Food and drug safety (no-year) - - - - - - - - - 9 - -
Offsetting collections authority
(mostly user fees)
400 464 483 495 641 724 1,203 1,241 1,358 1,368 1,827 1,782
Budget authority + offsetting
collections spending authority
2,050 2,138 2,149 2,445 2,341 2,912 3,925 3,703 3,930 3,400 4,359 4,208
Food Safety and
Inspection Service
936 957 941 984 990 1,031 1,066 1,032 1,004 955 969 939
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
554 543 535 538 519 552 585 573 565 527 529 530
Safety and health standards 19 19 19 19 18 18 20 20 20 19 19 19
Federal enforcement 201 198 196 196 194 210 234 229 208 204 199 198
Whistleblower protections - - - - - - - - 16 15 16 20
State programs 111 107 103 101 96 99 109 107 104 96 96 98
Technical support 25 25 25 24 23 24 27 27 26 24 23 23
Federal compliance assistance 81 83 82 81 76 77 76 75 76 61 66 66
State consultation grants 63 62 60 59 55 57 58 55 58 54 56 54
Training grants 13 12 11 11 11 11 12 11 11 11 11 10
Safety and health statistics 27 26 27 36 33 36 37 36 35 32 33 33
Executive direction and
administration
12 13 12 12 12 12 13 12 11 11 11 10
Environmental Protection Agency 10,118 9,399 8,637 8,538 ~7,500 8,100 10,759 8,893 ~8,500 ~7,800 ~7,900 ~7,400
Science and Technology
Clean air and global
climate change
255 246 243 218 240 258 255 279 267 237 237 234
Clean and safe water 160 158 148 138 153 178 159 161 149 142 132 130
Land preservation
and restoration
65 56 50 40 23 33 20 19 200 174 177 174
Healthy communities and
ecosystems
400 379 372 355 361 340 377 390 190 171 169 166
Compliance and environmental
stewardship
94 93 65 54 46 50 48 50 20 17 17 18
Environmental Programs and Management
Clean air and global
climate change
536 527 498 497 473 484 509 515 476 422 436 445
Clean and safe water 593 589 546 526 491 487 528 504 988 872 905 923
Land preservation
and restoration
239 251 262 242 224 231 247 225 371 330 339 347
Healthy communities and
ecosystems
703 731 708 680 678 692 1,203 1,092 437 383 400 408
Compliance and environmental
stewardship
620 609 630 610 576 607 618 619 517 460 473 483
State and Tribal Assistance Grants
Clean air and global
climate change
302 288 300 253 310 312 404 356 304 256 261 244
Clean and safe water 3,834 3,348 2,999 2,876 2,613 2,413 3,706 3,835 3,571 2,868 2,754 2,088
Land preservation
and restoration
145 144 142 146 122 120 117 122 328 310 285 306
Healthy communities and
ecosystems
297 296 287 299 293 219 260 228 37 31 30 30
Compliance and environmental
stewardship
133 141 129 115 114 115 110 115 28 24 22 21
Hazardous Substance Superfund
Clean air and global
climate change
4 4 5 4 4 4 5 4 3 4 3 4
Land preservation
and restoration
1,475 1,581 1,486 1,469 1,481 1,485 1,512 1,466 1,135 969 917 935
Compliance and environmental
stewardship
24 26 29 30 29 28 27 18 240 222 194 198
Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program
Land preservation
and restoration
88 83 97 93 115 120 122 122 2,508 106 91 96
Inland Oil Spill Programs
Land preservation
and restoration
22 21 18 17 19 18 19 20 20 18 17 23

Notes

The levels have been adjusted to 2012 dollars using the White House Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) non-defense Gross Domestic Product Deflator. For questions about the data, please feel free to contact staff at the Center for Effective Government.

The agency-wide budget numbers are "budget authority" – this is what Congress votes on when it sets appropriations. It is "the authority provided by law to incur financial obligations that will result in outlays," according to OMB. "In deciding the amount of budget authority to request for a program, project, or activity, agency officials estimate the total amount of obligations they will need to incur to achieve desired goals and subtract the unobligated balances available for these purposes. The amount of budget authority requested is influenced by the nature of the programs, projects, or activities being financed."

The program level numbers are obligations, which, according to OMB, include "the current liabilities for salaries, wages, and interest; and contracts for the purchase of supplies and equipment, construction, and the acquisition of office space, buildings, and land."

FDA's "Animal Feed" and "Biologics" program areas were broken out from its "Drugs" program for budgetary purposes in recent years.

In addition to appropriations from Congress, FDA is authorized to collect substantial amounts of funding from industry in the form of user fees that nearly double its budget. The Center for Effective Government derived this information from the "Spending authority from offsetting collections, discretionary (total)" budget line that is mostly made up of collected user fees from industry. The other agencies examined do not get substantial funding from user fees.

OSHA's "Whistleblower Program" was broken out from "Federal Enforcement" for budgetary purposes in recent years.

OMB budget documents do not include EPA's agency-wide budget authority numbers for fiscal years 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. However, rounded to the nearest one hundred million dollars, these budget authority numbers exist in the budget summary table. After adjusting for inflation, staff at the Center for Effective Government rounded these budget authority numbers to the nearest one hundred million. If more detailed information becomes available, the Center for Effective Government will update this dashboard.

The EPA received substantial amounts of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars, especially in 2010.

There are substantial budget variations for some EPA programs in certain years. EPA should be consulted for more details.

Research: Mark Boyd, Nick Schwellenbach, and Ronald White
Text: Nick Schwellenbach and Ronald White
Table Layout: Katie Vann
Other Contributions: Katherine McFate, Scott Klinger, and Brian Gumm

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