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The attached tables and figures update data that were originally provided in the December 1998 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) memorandum, Emergency Spending Under the Budget Enforcement Act. That memorandum analyzed trends in emergency spending since the enactment of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990. It included data for fiscal years 1991 through 1999 and in some cases provided comparative data for earlier years.

On May 21, 1999, the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act (Public Law 106-31) was signed into law. The attached tables and figures update those in the 1998 CBO memorandum to include the effects of that act. They also reflect the release of emergency appropriations that were contingent on an emergency designation by the President when the CBO memorandum was published but that have since been designated as emergencies and made available for obligation. The following tables and figures have been updated:
 

	Table 1.	Overview of Emergency Spending, 1991-2000
	Table 2.	Emergency Spending, 1991-2000
	Figure 1.	Emergency Spending, 1991-2000
	Figure 2.	Discretionary Supplementals Net of Rescissions, 1985-2000
	Figure 3.	Supplemental Spending for Disasters (1976-1990) and Domestic Emergency Spending (1991-2000)
	Table A-1.	Emergency Spending in Supplemental Appropriations, 1991-2000
	Table A-2.	Emergency Spending in Regular Appropriations, 1991-2000
	Table A-3.	Number of Accounts That Contain Emergency Funding Provided in Supplemental Appropriations, 1991-2000
	Table A-4.	Number of Accounts That Contain Emergency Funding Provided in Regular Appropriations, 1991-2000
	Table A-5.	Supplemental and Regular Appropriation Acts That Include Emergency Spending

CBO estimates that the 1999 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act provides about $12.9 billion in emergency appropriations for fiscal year 1999 and nearly $2 billion in emergency funds for fiscal year 2000. Of the amount provided for 1999, about $9.3 billion is for defense programs and about $3.6 billion for nondefense programs.⁽¹⁾ Most of the amount available for 2000 is for military pay and retirement.

The act includes emergency appropriations for a variety of purposes. It provides funds for military operations in Kosovo and Southwest Asia, refugee relief in those and other regions, assistance to Jordan and Central America, domestic and international relief for natural disasters (principally the tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas and Hurricane Mitch in Central America), and for other purposes.

Except for emergency spending for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (which was offset by foreign contributions), the 1999 act is the largest emergency supplemental enacted since the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 went into effect.⁽²⁾ When combined with the $21.4 billion in emergency appropriations that was provided in the Omnibus Appropriations Act for 1999 (Public Law 105-277), the 1999 emergency supplemental brings total emergency appropriations for the year to just over $34 billion. That amount is more than three times the annual average of non-Desert Storm/Desert Shield emergency appropriations for the 1991-1999 period.
 

FIGURE 1. EMERGENCY SPENDING, 1991-2000

SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office.

NOTES: Data are current as of June 3, 1999. The large amounts in 1991 reflect the costs of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

FIGURE 2. DISCRETIONARY SUPPLEMENTALS NET OF RESCISSIONS, 1985-2000

SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office.

NOTE: Reflects supplementals and rescissions enacted through June 3, 1999. Does not include emergency spending enacted in regular appropriations.

FIGURE 3. SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING FOR DISASTERS (1976-1990) AND DOMESTIC EMERGENCY SPENDING (1991-2000)

SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office.

NOTES: The figure shows the disasters and emergencies that largely accounted for the spikes in spending.

Pre-1991 data are from Congressional Budget Office, Supplemental Appropriations in the 1970s (July 1981), and Supplemental Appropriations in the 1980s (February 1990). Post-1990 spending includes both regular and supplemental appropriations enacted as of June 3, 1999. All data exclude defense and international discretionary spending.

NOTE: This analysis was prepared by Ellen Hays and Sandy Davis of CBO's Special Studies Division. The data were provided by Priscilla Aycock of CBO's Scorekeeping Unit.

1. Letter from Dan L. Crippen, Director, Congressional Budget Office, to the Honorable Jacob J. Lew, Director, Office of Management and Budget, May 26, 1999. This information is also available in "CBO's Current Status of Discretionary Appropriations" at www.cbo.gov.

2. The largest previous emergency supplemental (Public Law 103-211) provided about $10 billion in emergency appropriations and was enacted in 1994 for the Los Angeles earthquake and Midwest floods.