If you’ve ever scratched your head and wondered where I get all of that data on regulatory budgets and staffing, scratch no more — the new A Decade of Growth in the Regulators’ Budget: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 is here!
Brought to us by former OIRA head, Susan Dudley, the brief combs the U.S. budget for all the summary statistics on agency appropriations and staffing. (For those of you who can’t see the axes here, along the X axis is years, beginning in 1960 and ticked off in five-year increments. Up the Y axis is billions of 2005$ in $10 billion increments).
A page turner, I know. The brief reveals that outlays and staffing are at their all-time highs, which does not surprise me. I do, however, marvel at the growth of Homeland Security. In real terms (2005$), the Homeland Security budget has gone from $8.8 billion in 2000 to more than $20 billion today, accounting for more than 40% of U.S. regulatory spending and more than half the personnel as well. Mind boggling.
As I hope will become a tradition here, feel free to play the “my favorite part of the regulatory budget report” game. The winner will receive at least one sticker.