Mandatory and Discretionary Spending

The US Congress has a fundamental role in the appropriation of the country’s expenditures every fiscal year starting the 1 st of October. Some expenditures, however, do not occur though the appropriations by Congress. As a popular President of the USA, I would define mandatory spending as entitlement spending. This type of spending goes to programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. On the other hand, I would define discretionary spending as the spending, which Congress must approve annually in the appropriations process. Unlike the case of the mandatory spending, discretionary spending must adhere to the predetermined limit each year. As evident in the case of the United States, most of the federal money goes to the mandatory programs concerning the federal health plans, means-tested entitlement programs, Medicaid, Medicare, and interest on the federal debt. In the case of the discretionary spending, I will incorporate the defense and domestic spending to make up the balance on federal spending. Discretionary spending is about one-third of the spending at the federal level. From the above illustrations, it is essential to note that mandatory spending relates to the different spending practices that do not take place through appropriations legislation. Such spending practices are always ongoing while occurs per year regardless of the changes in the underlying laws offering the funding. Alternatively, it is impossible for the discretionary spending to occur without actions of Congress per year in the provision of the funds through appropriation bills. One of the small changes I will make in the integration of the practices in these categories is tax legislation. Rather than be part of the discretionary spending, I will consider making it part of the mandatory spending in the legislative process. I believe that this is an entitlement spending taking the majority of the federal spending and, therefore, should be part of the mandatory spending.