Components of Federal Outlays, 1962--2003

Introduction

The graphs and tables below depict trends in the size of various components of federal spending since 1962.

Note that spending depicted below is outlays, not budget authority. Also note that the terms discretionary and mandatory describe how programs are funded, not how important they are to the nation. Roughly speaking, discretionary programs are funded by annual appropriations, whereas mandatory spending is authorized by permanent law and is typified by entitlement programs.

For each category of spending, two sets of figures are presented:

• In each year, how much was spent in dollars? Note that these dollar amounts are not adjusted for inflation.
• In each year, how much was spent relative to the size of the economy? Formally, the amounts are expressed as percent of GDP.

Finally, note that years are fiscal years, not calendar years.

Components of outlays, 1962--2003

Table 1: Components of outlays, 1962--2003

Graph 1: Components of outlays as percent of GDP, 1962--2003

Components of discretionary spending, 1962--2003

Table 2: Components of discretionary spending, 1962--2003

Graph 2: Components of discretionary spending as percent of GDP, 1962--2003

Components of mandatory spending, 1962--2003

Categories used

Mandatory spending is dividing here into the following categories:

• Social Security
• Medicare
• Medicaid (including the state children's health insurance fund)
• Income support (includes unemployment compensation, food and nutrition assistance, aid to families, and supplemental security income)
• Federal employee disability and retirement
• Undistributed offsetting receipts
• Other: all mandatory spending not included above

For comparison, see references [4], [5], [6], [7], and [8] below.

Precise definitions

The spending figures for the following categories of mandatory spending depend on the precise definition of each category. The definitions used here were chosen in part for their simplicity.

Note that many of these categories are also associated with some discretionary spending, which is why the amounts below may differ from those obtained using "Federal Budget: Detailed Numbers". Only mandatory spending is included in the figures below, however.

• Social Security: budget subfunction 651
• Medicare: budget subfunction 571
  • Note this is net of premiums: the figures below would be larger if the effect of premiums were excluded
• Medicaid: Subfunction 551, accounts 0512 (Medicaid) and 0515 (state children's health insurance fund)
• Income support: budget subfunctions 603 (unemployment compensation), 605 (food and nutrition assistance), and 609 (other income security)
• Federal employee disability and retirement: budget subfunction 602
• Undistributed offsetting receipts: budget function 950
• Other: all mandatory spending not included in the above

Table 3: components of mandatory spending, billions of dollars, 1962--2003

Table 4: components of mandatory spending, as percent of GDP, 1962--2003

Graph 3: Some components of mandatory spending as percent of GDP, 1962--2003

Graph 4: Remaining components of mandatory spending as percent of GDP, 1962--2003

Data sources

Figures for federal outlays were obtained from reference [2].

Figures for GDP are taken from quarterly data in reference [3] and then averaged over the federal fiscal year. Note that the quarterly GDP data are seasonally averaged. (See reference [1] for additional comment.)

References

[1]	"Constant dollar amounts and percents of GDP," in Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005 (2004), Washington, p. 2
[2]	"Public Budget Database, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005" (2004) (database)
[3]	Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Table 1.1.5. Gross Domestic Product," January 30, 2004
[4]	"Table 3-6: CBO's baseline projections of mandatory spending, including offsetting receipts," in Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2005 to 2014 (January 2004), p. 57
[5]	"Table 8.1: outlays by budget enforcement act category: 1962--2009," in Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005 (2004), Washington, p. 125
[6]	"Table 8.4: outlays by budget enforcement act category as percentages of GDP: 1962--2009," in Office of Management and Budget, Historical Tables, Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2005 (2004), Washington, p. 128
[7]	"Table F-9: outlays for entitlements and other mandatory spending, 1962 to 2003 (in billions of dollars)," in Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2005 to 2014 (January 2004), p. 137
[8]	"Table F-10: outlays for entitlements and other mandatory spending, 1962 to 2003 (as a percentage of GDP)," in Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2005 to 2014 (January 2004), p. 138