Congressional Research
Service
To: The Honorable Jared Polis
Prepared at your request, this memorandum addresses whether programs and
services that state or local governments provide for a fee could be found to
constitute “state and local public benefits” for purposes of the Personal
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996. Based on the judicial
opinions published to date, it would appear that such services are unlikely to
be viewed as state and local public benefits because they do not “assist
people with economic hardship” and “create little or no incentive for illegal immigration.” In fact, courts have
traditionally viewed certain services provided for a fee (i.e., education
at state-sponsored institutions of higher education) as not constituting state
public benefits under PRWORA. However, it should be noted that there are relatively few published decisions
addressing this question, and that many of the extant decisions have been
issued by state courts and might not be viewed as precedential—or even
persuasive—authority in all jurisdictions. In addition, some states and
localities may have enacted their own statutory definitions of “public
benefit.” Not all such state or local definitions may be permissible under
federal law, but where permissible, they could help to determine whether fee-based
services may be provided to certain aliens. These state or local definitions
are outside the scope of this memorandum, as is the legislative history of
PRWORA, information about which has already been provided to you by other
CRS analysts. Information in the memorandum is drawn from publicly available sources
and is of general interest to the Congress. As such, all or part of this
information may be provided in memoranda or reports for general distribution
to the Congress. Your confidentiality as a requester will be preserved in any
case.
Date of Report: July 10, 2012
Number of Pages: 5
Order Number: M-071012
Price: $19.95
To Order:
M-071012.pdf
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Justin Murray
Information Research Specialist
When federal government agencies and programs lack budget authority, they
experience a “funding gap” (sometimes referred to as funding lapses).
Under the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. §1341 et seq.), they must cease
operations, except in certain circumstances. When there is a funding gap
that affects many federal entities, the situation is often referred to as a
government shutdown.
This report provides an annotated list of Congressional Research Service (CRS)
resources and analyses relevant to
• the funding gap that commenced on October 1, 2013, and terminated on
October 17, 2013, with the enactment of P.L. 113-46, a continuing
appropriations measure providing appropriations through January 15,
2014;
• historical funding gaps; and
• continuing appropriations measures.
On the subject of government shutdowns, congressional staff who wish to contact
CRS experts should refer to CRS Report R41723, Funding
Gaps and Government Shutdowns: CRS Experts.
Date of Report: November 4, 2013
Number of Pages: 7
Order Number: R43250
Price: $19.95
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R43250 .pdf
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Mindy R. Levit
Analyst in Public Finance
The federal budget is central to Congress’s ability to exercise its “power
of the purse.” Recent economic turmoil put strain on the federal budget
due to declining revenues and increasing spending levels. Subsequently,
policies enacted to restrain spending, along with an improving economy,
have put the federal budget on a more sustainable path in the near term. In
FY2013, the U.S. government spent $3,454 billion (20.8% of GDP) and
collected $2,774 billion in revenue (16.7% of GDP), resulting in a budget
deficit of $680 billion (4.1% of GDP).
The Obama Administration released its FY2014 budget on April 10, 2013. Under
the proposals in the President’s budget, the deficit is estimated at $744
billion (4.4% of GDP) in FY2014. The FY2014 budget contains a policy
agenda that largely focuses on providing additional stimulus to create
jobs, increasing infrastructure investment, and providing additional funding
for early childhood education programs. The President’s budget also
proposes new deficit reduction aimed at replacing the Budget Control Act’s
(BCA’s) automatic spending reduction process. These proposals include
additional tax revenues generated by limiting deductions on
higher-income households and ensuring that higher-income households pay a
minimum percentage of their income in taxes. On the spending side, the
proposals include reductions in health spending, certain mandatory programs,
and lowering of the BCA’s discretionary spending caps. The budget also
contains a proposal to use the chained consumer price index (CPI) for the
purposes of calculating annual increases in certain federal benefits and
for the indexation of tax brackets.
On March 21, 2013, the House agreed to a budget resolution by a vote of
221-207. The resolution provided for a deficit of $528 billion, or 3.2% of
GDP in FY2014. By FY2023, the budget is projected to reach a surplus of $7
billion. The budget proposal contained several policy changes affecting
spending, including removing the BCA’s additional spending reductions set to
affect defense discretionary spending and reallocating them to non-defense
discretionary spending. The budget resolution also contains reconciliation
instructions to eight committees to find further deficit reduction
totaling $8 billion over 10 years.
On March 23, 2013, the Senate agreed to a budget resolution by a vote of 50-49.
The resolution provided a deficit of $693 billion, or approximately 4.2%
of GDP in FY2014. By FY2023, the deficit is projected to fall to $566
billion or 2.7% of GDP. The budget resolution proposes revising the BCA’s statutory caps on discretionary spending and replacing the automatic
spending reductions with other deficit reduction, including some
reductions to the current BCA caps. The budget resolution contains
reconciliation instructions to the Senate Finance Committee to increase
revenues by $975 billion between FY2013 and FY2023.
On October 1, 2013, the federal government experienced a funding gap and
partial shutdown, which ended on October 17, 2013. As part of the
negotiations related to the passage of the Continuing Appropriations Act,
the House and Senate agreed to go to conference on the FY2014 budget
resolution.
CBO, GAO, and the Administration agree that the current mix of federal fiscal
policies is unsustainable in the long term. Under their projections,
putting the federal budget on a sustainable long-term path requires an
agreement on additional deficit reduction, which may include increases in
revenues or changes to large spending programs or both. This report will be
updated as events warrant.
Date of Report: November 6, 2013
Number of Pages: 25
Order Number: R43068
Price: $29.95
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R43068 .pdf
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