Budget Plans Offer Some Insight into 2016 Spending Priorities

Congress and the White House are giving some indications about how they want to spend revenues next fiscal year.

Albeit, we must note that nowadays budget plans from Congress and the White House are just that: plans. And often these plans are merely a set of idealistic and ideological principles rather than a true accounting of how our tax revenue will actually be spent.

House Republicans released a budget plan this month for fiscal year 2016, which begins in October. While the plan does not go into great detail about how much money they would like to give to your agency, it offers a broad assessment of how House Republicans would spend tax revenue.

In short, it would cut non-defense spending, while increasing defense spending, according to FierceGovernment.

Depending if you work on the defense side of government or in a non-defense agency, you could see a windfall in revenue and therefore a flurry of job perks and promotions — potentially. Or you could be stuck in an agency with limited funds and limited opportunities.

The House Republican’s budget would also tighten mandatory sequestration caps on non-defense agencies, while loosening caps on defense-related functions.

According to a recent Office of Management and Budget analysis, if the current caps remain unchanged for fiscal year 2016, discretionary defense spending must be reduced by $53.9 billion and discretionary non-defense spending must be cut by $36.5 billion.

No doubt that will likely have an effect on your workplace.

OMB warned that “the cap reductions that are now required by law to resume in 2016 do not provide sufficient resources for national security, domestic investments, and core government functions that are required to ensure the nation is achieving its full potential in a growing economy.”

The Obama Administration’s 2016 budget proposal calls for relaxing the cap restrictions a bit by restoring “discretionary spending to levels that would continue to support economic growth, opportunity, and safety and security.”

The administration’s ideal budget, which more than likely will not be enacted in its entirety by the Republican-controlled House and Senate, also calls for giving federal workers a 1.3 percent raise in 2016.

Ultimately, these budget plans are more like a political wish list and arguably serve as political statements. We don’t know how this is going to shake out.  However, it’s important we keep a close eye on how your agency is being perceived on Capitol Hill and at the White House.

Your career and your earnings potential will be affected by forces that you and even your bosses have little control over.