Guidelines for FY12 Budget Requests

Underscoring the growing focus on reducing spending and the deficit, the White House released two memos on Tuesday setting guidelines for departments and agencies on their FY 12 budget requests.  The first memo, signed by White House Chief of Staff Emanuel and OMB Director Orszag, asks all departments and agencies “to identify the programs and subprograms that have the lowest impact on [their] mission and constitute at least 5%” of their budgets.  The second memo, signed by Orszag, stipulates that all non-security agencies’ FY 12 budget requests (due to OMB by Sept. 13) must be at least 5 percent below the FY11 request level.  The International Affairs Budget, which is classified as part of the security funding, is not subject to this directive.  The Budget Guidance states that the “the President is firmly committed to a freeze on overall non-security funding through FY 2013” and that “tight budget targets will also be imposed on security-related agencies.”

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