By the way, the interest on the debt is part of what we call mandatory spending. Our total expenditures this year will be about $2.4 trillion. We will vote on about one-third of that, about $800 billion, and about half of that will be defense. Defense is running roughly half of our total discretionary spending. This mandatory spending is kind of hidden, but it represents two-thirds of all of the money that we spend.
Discussing federal spending and the distinction between mandatory and discretionary spending.
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