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The United States federal budget is divided into three categories: mandatory spending, discretionary spending, and interest on debt. Also known as entitlement spending, in US fiscal policy, mandatory spending is government spending on certain programs that are required by law. [1] Congress established mandatory programs under authorization laws.
For most governments around the world, the majority of government spending takes place at the federal/national level. As of 2019, in the United States, approximately 55% of government spending is spent by the federal government, while the remaining 45% of government spending is spent by state and local government.
The United States federal budget consists of mandatory expenditures (which includes Medicare and Social Security), discretionary spending for defense, Cabinet departments (e.g., Justice Department) and agencies (e.g., Securities & Exchange Commission), and interest payments on debt.
These spending levels are then set by the congress on a yearly basis and it funds the management of all the government agencies and activities. This type of spending forms a part of fiscal policy and is a contrast to the programs that are mandatory where people can be entitled to benefits if they are eligible.
Some mandatory spending, such as Congressional salaries, is not part of any entitlement program. Mandatory spending accounted for 59.8% of total federal outlays (net of receipts that partially pay for the programs), with net interest payments accounting for an additional 6.5%. In 2000, these were 53.2% and 12.5%, respectively. [18]
Medicare and Social Security, two cornerstones of the American social safety net, provide income and health insurance for retirees and individuals with disabilities. Both programs are massive in ...
Government spending can be a useful economic policy tool for governments. Fiscal policy can be defined as the use of government spending and/or taxation as a mechanism to influence an economy. [13] [14] There are two types of fiscal policy: expansionary fiscal policy, and contractionary fiscal policy. Expansionary fiscal policy is an increase ...
The United States budget process is the framework used by Congress and the President of the United States to formulate and create the United States federal budget.The process was established by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, [1] the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, [2] and additional budget legislation.