As we noted in our brief comparing the Senate- and House-passed operating budgets, the surplus in funds subject to the outlook (NGFO) is about $13.8 billion over the outlook period. That does not include the ending balance of the budget stabilization account (BSA, or the rainy day fund), the current balance of the Washington rescue plan transition account (WRPTA, the shadow reserve account), or the remaining general federal relief funds.

The conference committee’s operating budget would use 80.5% of the surplus on new spending. Under the proposal, NGFO appropriations would increase by a net of $5.071 billion. (I wrote about some of the major new policy items here.)

Revenue reductions would use 4.2% of the surplus, and transfers to other accounts would make up another 1.1%. Reserves (the unrestricted NGFO ending balance and the $1.6 billion transferred to the WRPTA under the proposal) would account for 14.1% of the surplus.