Summary: GAO discussed S. 1679, the Honest Budgeting Act of 1983, which would require that receipts and disbursements of the Federal Financing Bank (FFB) be included in the Federal budget and be charged to the relevant agency. FFB was created to achieve better coordination of the Government's borrowing activities. GAO believes that S. 1679 will increase the visibility of the Government's credit activities and cause the budget to more accurately reflect these activities, but it suggests certain changes to the legislation. These changes include ensuring that: (1) the amounts of loan guarantees financed by FFB do not exceed the budget authority of the program agency, since loan guarantees are now specifically excluded from budget authority; (2) FFB transactions with Federal agencies are treated as borrowing rather than as offsets to budget outlays and budget authority totals; and (3) agencies created in the future use FFB if they issue, sell, or guarantee obligations of the type financed by FFB. GAO recommended enactment of the bill with the suggested changes.
