Even Eliminating Vital Defense Spending Completely Would Not Solve the Entitlement Spending Problem

Everyone wants to know more about the budget and here is some key information with a chart from the Heritage Foundation and a video from the Cato Institute.

Long-term deficits are the result of unsustainable levels of spending on entitlement programs. Rather than tackle them directly, some would cut defense. But even if spending on this crucial national priority was eliminated completely, entitlements would continue to drive deficits to unmanageable levels.

PERCENTAGE OF GDP

Source: Heritage Foundation calculations based on Congressional Budget Office data.

In Depth

• Policy Papers for Researchers

  • FACTSHEET ON AUGUST 17, 2010Solutions for America: The Building Blocks of a Strong National Defense
  • BACKGROUNDER ON APRIL 05, 2011The FY 2012 Defense Budget Proposal: Looking for Cuts in All the Wrong Places

• Technical Notes

  The charts in this book are based primarily on data available as of March 2011 from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The charts using OMB data display the historical growth of the federal government to 2010 while the charts using CBO data display both historical and projected growth from as early as 1940 to 2084. Projections based on OMB data are taken from the White House Fiscal Year 2012 budget. The charts provide data on an annual basis except… Read More

• Authors

  Emily GoffResearch Assistant
  Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy StudiesKathryn NixPolicy Analyst
  Center for Health Policy StudiesJohn FlemingSenior Data Graphics Editor