The Bush Administration, in accordance with the statutory requirement that the President present a budget proposal by the first Monday in February, released The Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2008 on February 5, 2007. The full set of budget documents ( Budget, Appendix, Analytical Perspectives, Historical Tables , as well as several other supplemental budget documents) contains extensive and detailed budget information, including estimates of the budget without the proposed policy changes (known as "current service baseline" estimates), historical budget data, detailed budget authority, outlay and receipt data, selected analysis of specific budget-related topics, and the Administration's economic forecast. The budget documents contain general and specific descriptions of the Administration's policy proposals and expectations from FY2007 through FY2012, as well as limited information on budget policies for FY2012 through FY2017. The documents also discuss long-term fiscal issues facing the nation and provide historical data on previously enacted appropriations, past outlays and revenues, and other budget items. The congressional budget process, which includes the annual budget resolution and appropriations bills, begins once the Administration submits its budget to Congress. As Congress deliberates over the budget, the Administration often revises its proposals as it interacts with Members of Congress and as national and international economic conditions change. Congress adopted the conference report ( H.Rept. 110-153 ; S.Con.Res. 21 ) on the FY2008 budget resolution on May 17, 2007. The House and Senate Appropriation Committees began considering the FY2008 appropriation bills shortly afterwards. By late July, all twelve regular appropriation bills for FY2008 had cleared the House Appropriations Committee and, except for the defense bill, the Senate Appropriation Committee. By August 5, the House had passed all twelve regular appropriations bills. The Senate passed the Homeland Security bill in July and three others in mid-September, but failed to pass the remaining eight by September 30, the end of FY2007. In October, the Senate passed the defense appropriations and Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bills. On September 26, the House passed a continuing resolution ( H.J.Res. 52 ) to fund the government until November 16, which the Senate passed the following day. The President signed the continuing resolution on September 29 ( P.L. 110-92 ). On November 8, Congress approved the Labor-HHS-Education bill ( H.R. 3043 , S. 1710 ), which the President vetoed, and Defense bill ( H.R. 3222 , P.L. 110-116 ) that provided $459 billion in non-emergency budget authority, which he signed. The President had said he would veto nearly all of the appropriation bills that reached the House or Senate floor, either because they exceeded requested funding levels or because of policy disagreements. These veto threats may have complicated the appropriations process. The defense bill included extended funding for government operations from November 16 until December 14. On December 14, Congress passed another funding continuation ( H.J.Res. 69 ) to December 21, which the President signed. On December 19, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill ( H.R. 2764 ) that incorporated 10 remaining regular appropriations bills into the State-Foreign Operations appropriations bill and a fourth continuing resolution ( H.J.Res. 72 ). On the same day, Congress passed a fourth continuing resolution, which the President signed two days later ( P.L. 110-149 ), that funded government operations through the end of the calendar year. On December 26, the President signed the omnibus measure, entitled the Consolidated Appropriations Act of FY2008 ( P.L. 110-161 ), which provided $555 billion in discretionary budget authority. Table 1 contains budget estimates for FY2008 from CBO, the Administration (the Office of Management and Budget, OMB), and Congress. Estimated budget totals can vary due to differing underlying economic, technical, and budget-estimating assumptions and techniques, as well as differences in policy assumptions. Minor differences in underlying assumptions, which may generate small short-term discrepancies, can produce wide divergences in projected long-term budget paths. Budget estimates produced by the President, CBO, Congress, or by others, should be expected to change as new data arrive or as economic conditions change. CBO's first budget report for FY2008 contained budget baseline and economic projections for FY2007 through FY2017. The report estimated an FY2008 baseline deficit of $98 billion, down from the estimated FY2007 baseline deficit of $172 billion. The CBO baseline showed a FY2012 surplus of $170 billion and a projected $249 billion surplus in FY2017. CBO baseline projections are computed using certain assumptions set by law. These assumptions typically yield higher revenue estimates and projections of slower growth of discretionary spending relative to scenarios that independent forecasters consider likely. Three key assumptions incorporated in CBO baseline projections are that discretionary spending remains constant in inflation-adjusted terms, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts fully expire after 2010 (as current law specifies), and the "patch" to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), which expired at the end of calendar year 2006, will lapse. After 2010 when most of the tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 expire, according to baseline projections, receipts grow substantially. The assumption that these tax cuts expire and that growth in discretionary spending is zero in real terms explains most of the declining deficit and the surpluses that emerge over the 10-year baseline forecast window. Unless major policy changes are made, federal deficits are expected to grow rapidly beyond the 10-year forecast window. In large part those future deficits would result from the retirement of the baby boom generation and growing health care costs. CBO's report includes the estimated budgetary effects on revenues and outlays of selected policies omitted from baseline estimates. These include, among a few others, estimates of the budgetary effects of making the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent, indexing the AMT for inflation to limit its expanding coverage, increasing discretionary appropriations at the rate of growth of gross domestic product (GDP), and freezing total discretionary appropriations at the level provided in FY2007. The first two reduce expected receipts, the third increases expected outlays, and the last reduces outlays. In March 2007, CBO released its analysis of the President's budget proposals based on its economic and budget models. CBO forecast slightly higher revenues and smaller outlays, implying a FY2008 deficit of $226 billion, somewhat smaller than $239 billion deficit in the President's budget. By FY2012, CBO projected that the President's proposals would produce a deficit of $31 billion, rather than the $61 billion surplus the Administration's expected. This difference in forecasts is largely due to the uncertainty of medium-term projections. For the five years 2008 through 2012, CBO's cumulative deficit estimate based on the President's proposals was $790 billion, while the President's budget had a cumulative net deficit estimate for the same period of $514 billion. Economic forecast and assumptions used in the President's budget yielded larger revenues and somewhat larger outlays than CBO's reestimates of the President's proposals. President Bush's FY2008 budget called for extending and making permanent most of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, as well as extending other expiring tax provisions. The President's proposals would reduce estimated receipts by almost $600 billion between FY2008 and FY2012 relative to the baseline, and by an estimated $1.9 trillion between FY2008 and FY2017, apart from higher debt-service costs resulting from the change. Administration proposals, according its own estimates, would reduce mandatory spending by $96 billion over five years and by $309 billion over 10 years. Proposed policy changes include both spending reductions and some increases—termed "augmentations" by the Administration. The budget includes a cost estimate of $637 billion over 10 years for proposed personal accounts for Social Security. The Administration estimates its proposals affecting mandatory spending, including indirect effects and the outlay effects of tax proposals, would yield five-year savings of $59 billion and 10-year increases of $359 billion. Much of that projected increase is due to the proposed introduction of personal Social Security accounts. The Administration's budget provided limited information for years beyond FY2012. The budget includes estimates of the cumulative proposed revenue changes and proposed mandatory spending changes for the periods FY2008 through FY2012 and FY2008 through FY2017, but these projections omit data for the individual years after FY2012. Estimates for other components of the budget or for budget totals beyond FY2012 were also omitted. The President proposed eliminating, reducing, or reforming about 141 programs. Many of these proposals, which would affect both discretionary and mandatory spending programs, were also proposed last year. According to Administration estimates, those policy changes would cut $22 billion of budget authority in FY2008 compared to FY2007. The Administration's Mid-Session Review (MSR) released in July featured the same proposals as the President's FY2008 budget issued in February. Administration estimates showed some deterioration in the FY2008 budget outlook since February. In particular, the MSR FY2008 deficit estimate was $19 billion higher than the February estimate. A mix of technical reestimates, economic changes, and minor policy differences account for the changes. Slightly over one-half of the increase in the cumulative five-year deficit estimate, which jumped from $514 billion in the February outlook to $651 billion in the MSR, was due to unexpectedly fast growth in Medicare and Medicaid spending. Rising health care prices and hospital patient volumes were largely responsible for the faster Medicare and Medicaid spending rates. CBO estimates the spending totals for discretionary appropriations legislation according to the specifications of budget legislation, a process usually known as "scoring." A summary of the CBO analysis of FY2008 appropriations is presented in Table 2 .