The Consolidated Federal Funds Report is a presentation of Federal Government expenditures or obligations in State, county, and subcounty areas of the United States. The District of Columbia and U.S. Outlying Areas also are included. Various Federal Government agencies provide the data for this report from their existing reporting systems. These data have been consolidated and tabulated in a standard format for presentation in publications and electronic form covering different levels of geographic detail. The publications are:

• Consolidated Federal Funds Report: Fiscal Year 1998 State and County Areas
• Federal Aid to States for Fiscal Year 1998

Data also are available on CD-ROM and on Internet. Information on publications and CD-ROM’s appears in the section, ‘‘Availability of Data’’ at the end of this Introduction.

The Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) covers Federal Government expenditures or obligations for the object categories listed below. For fiscal year 1998, amounts reported totaled $1.5 trillion for the direct expenditure or obligation categories, and $683 billion for other Federal assistance (loans and insurance programs):

• Retirement and disability ($507 billion)
• Other direct payments ($328 billion)
• Grants ($269 billion)
• Procurement contracts ($209 billion)
• Salaries and wages ($170 billion)
• Direct loans ($24 billion)
• Guaranteed or insured loans ($145 billion)
• Insurance ($514 billion)

Dollar amounts reported under these categories can represent either actual expenditures or obligations. Users should be aware of the differences in this coverage which varies in accordance with the data, as described later under ‘‘Data Sources,’’ and Appendix D. As a general guide, the grants and procurement data in this report represent obligated funds, while salaries, wages and direct payments represent actual expenditures (outlays). Data on loan and insurance programs generally represent the contingent liability of the Federal Government.

Certain categories of Federal Government spending are intentionally excluded from this report. These include such items as interest on Federal Government debt, travel expenses when not provided under contract, and international payments and foreign aid. These are described under the heading ‘‘Amounts Excluded From CFFR Coverage.’’

The financial activity of all Federal Government agencies is covered, with exceptions for those agencies which do not submit data to any of the Federal reporting systems that serve as sources of information for the CFFR. These agencies are also listed under the heading ‘‘Amounts Excluded From CFFR Coverage.’’