Budget Takes Center Stage at the White House

Yesterday at the opening of the Fiscal Responsibility Summit, President Obama stated that he is "pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we've long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay -- and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control." You can read a transcript of President Obama's and Vice President Biden's remarks at WhiteHouse.gov. You can read more about the Fiscal Responsibility Summit in the Washington Post.

You can find the Budget of the United States Government, from 1997 to present, on GPO Access. On this page there is already a place-holder for "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America’s Promise," the budget overview for fiscal year 2010 that should be available this February 26.

For additional government sources on budget and debt, see

• FRASER (Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research) Budget of the United States Government: This site contains digitized PDFs of the U.S. Budget from 1963 to 1986.
  

• Bureau of the Public Debt: This division of the Department of Treasury borrows the money needed to operate the Federal Government and accounts for the resulting debt. This page has information on the size of the debt, savings bonds, and treasury bills.
  

• Office of Management and Budget: OMB helps the president to prepare the federal budget and oversees how the budget is administered in executive agencies.
  

• Government Publications Library's guide to Debt and Budget Information: Here you can find a wealth of additional resources and suggested keyword search strategies.