Discretionary Spending Cuts Alone Are Not an Adequate Substitute for Entitlement Reform

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.

Annual spending on entitlement programs is massive compared to other federal spending priorities. Cutting discretionary spending is a necessary step, but cuts to foreign aid alone or pulling out of Afghanistan will not close the deficit. Entitlement spending must be reined in.

ANNUAL SPENDING (2011)

In Depth

• Policy Papers for Researchers

  • BACKGROUNDER ON OCTOBER 28, 2010How to Cut $343 Billion from the Federal Budget
  • WEBMEMO ON MARCH 01, 2011How to Fix the Federal Budget

• 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