Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1998 contains the Budget Message of the President and information on the President's 1998 budget proposals. In addition, the Budget includes a descriptive discussion of Federal programs organized by function, i.e., by the primary purpose of the activity.

Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1998 contains analyses that are designed to highlight specified subject areas or provide other significant presentations of budget data that place the budget in perspective.

The Analytical Perspectives volume includes economic and accounting analyses; information on Federal receipts and collections; analyses of Federal spending; detailed information on Federal borrowing and debt; the Budget Enforcement Act preview report; current services estimates; and other technical presentations. It also includes information on the budget system and concepts and a listing of the Federal programs by agency and account.

Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1998 provides data on budget receipts, outlays, surpluses or deficits, Federal debt, and Federal employment covering an extended time period-in most cases beginning in fiscal year 1940 or earlier and ending in fiscal year 2002. These are much longer time periods than those covered by similar tables in other budget documents. As much as possible, the data in this volume and all other historical data in the budget documents have been made consistent with the concepts and presentation used in the 1998 Budget, so the data series are comparable over time.

Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1998Appendix contains detailed information on the various appropriations and funds that constitute the budget and is designed primarily for the use of the Appropriations Committee. The Appendix contains more detailed financial information on individual programs and appropriation accounts than any of the other budget documents. It

includes for each agency: the proposed text of appropriations language, budget schedules for each account, new legislative proposals, explanations of the work to be performed and the funds needed, and proposed general provisions applicable to the appropriations of entire agencies or group of agencies. Supplemental and rescission proposals for the current year are presented separately. Information is also provided on certain activities whose outlays are not part of the budget totals.

A Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1998 is an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) publication that provides general information about the budget and the budget process for the general public.

Budget System and Concepts, Fiscal Year 1998 contains an explanation of the system and concepts used to formulate the President's budget proposals.

AUTOMATED SOURCES OF BUDGET INFORMATION The information contained in these documents is available in

electronic format from the following sources:

CD-ROM. The CD-ROM contains all of the budget documents and software to support reading, printing, and searching the documents. The CD-ROM also has many of the tables in the budget in spreadsheet format.

Internet. All budget documents, including documents that are released at a future date, will be available for downloading in several formats from the Internet. To access documents through the World Wide Web, use the following address:

http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/budget/index.html

For more information on access to the budget documents, call tollfree (888) 293-6498.