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)

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