Creating a Federal Budget

Overview

This lesson briefly describes the elements of the Federal budget and gives a general overview of the Federal budget process. Students will create a simulated Federal budget.

Grade Levels

9 – 12

Objectives

Students will:

• Describe how the federal government creates a budget.
• Identify the major spending categories in the Federal budget.
• Describe the conflicts and compromises that are part of the Federal budget process.

Estimated Time

4 days

Materials Needed

• E-Learning Module: Federal Budget Allocation
• Projection device
• Internet connection

Procedure

Day 1

1. Ask student volunteers to define the term budget. Make sure students understand that a budget is a plan for spending available money during a certain period of time.
2. Explain to students that an important job of Congress is to develop a Federal budget. Students should know that through the Federal budget process Congress must determine how much money they expect the government to receive, where it will come from, and how to spend the money.
3. Use a projection device to present the E-Learning Module: Federal Budget Allocation Activity to students. Complete the activity as a class.
4. Tell students that the Federal budget process is long and complex. Have students learn more about this process by reading pages 15—17 of A Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget. Ask students to summarize the stages of the federal budget process. You may want to create a flow chart that shows the steps.
5. Explain to students that they will simulate the Federal budget process. Divide the class into three groups. Ask the first group to create a pie chart that shows what they think the Federal budget should look like. Students should use the same categories that are shown in the Federal Budget Allocation Activity. Have students in the first group present their proposed budget to the class and justify their allocations.

Day 2

1. Have students in the second group conduct research on the Internet and find out the minimum amount of money needed to provide the services in each of the categories from the Federal Budget Allocation Activity.
2. Then ask students in this group to create tables and charts that show how much money they think the U.S. government should spend and how much the government should tax.

Day 3

1. Ask students in the third group to analyze the charts from the first and second groups and come up with their own budget. They should then present their budget to the class.
2. As a class, try to come to a consensus about how the government should spend and raise money.

Day 4

1. As a class, discuss the Federal budget process. Have students describe the conflicts and compromises that are part of the budget process.

Extension Activity

Ask students to conduct a survey of their family or friends about how they feel about federal spending. Students should find out what programs people feel the government is spending too much money on, what programs people think should receive more funding, and whether or not people think that the government should cut taxes or increase taxes for large corporations and wealthy Americans. Have students graph the results of their survey.

Assessment

Basic Concepts and Processes

Ask your students to respond to the following requests for information and assess their knowledge of key concepts taught in this lesson.

1. Identify the major spending categories in the Federal Budget.
2. Explain the Federal budget process.
3. Describe the conflicts and compromises that are part of the budget process.

Lesson Plan Feedback

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