Monday, October 29, 2007

Governmental Discretionary Spending


In a speech at the Des Moines, Iowa, Rotary Club that we captured for our documentary on the subject, David Walker, the U.S. comptroller general, pointed out that “38% percent of the federal budget today is deemed to be ‘discretionary spending.’ And it’s getting squeezed and going down every year.”
What is “discretionary spending”? It’s:
National DefenseHomeland SecurityForeign PolicyThe Treasury DepartmentThe Judicial SystemThe Executive Office of the President
“In fact,” says David, “all of the basic functions of government at the end of George Washington’s second term are now deemed to be discretionary.
“Sixty-two percent of government spending is either on interest on the debt or ‘mandatory spending’ like entitlement programs and other things that, quite frankly… did not exist at the founding of this republic.”

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