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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (148181)	10/19/2004 3:10:12 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Discretionary budget items are written into law too. See the other description of entitlement I posted. I will see if I can shed further light...... Are you referring to the Appropriations Bills as "law"? Googling around. So far every reference I've hit, includes entitlements within the category of mandatory spending. Head Start is under discretionary spending and doesn't appear to be thought of as an "entitlement". * Discretionary spending, which accounts for one-third of all Federal spending, is what the President and Congress must decide to spend for the next year through the 13 annual appropriations bills. It includes money for such activities as the FBI and the Coast Guard, for housing and education, for space exploration and highway construction, and for defense and foreign aid. * Mandatory spending, which accounts for two-thirds of all spending, is authorized by permanent laws, not by the 13 annual appropriations bills. It includes entitlements—such as Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, and Food Stamps—through which individuals receive benefits because they are eligible based on their age, income, or other criteria. It also includes interest on the national debt, which the Government pays to individuals and institutions that hold Treasury bonds and other Government securities. The President and Congress can change the law in order to change the spending on entitlements and other mandatory programs—but they don’t have to. Think of it this way: For discretionary programs, Congress and the President must act each year to provide spending authority. For mandatory programs, they may act to change the spending that current laws require. whitehouse.gov jttmab