How Should Policymakers Treat The Budget For Non-Defense "Discretionary" Programs?

Publication Date: March 2007

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Robert Greenstein; Richard Kogan; Matt Fiedler

Research Area: Economics

Keywords: Economic projections; Fiscal future; Federal budget

Type: Report

Abstract:

Domestic discretionary programs are not the cause of the nation’s fiscal problems. It also should be recognized that some non-defense discretionary programs will require additional resources in coming years if the nation is to improve the productivity of the workforce and maintain international competitiveness, to confront a variety of global challenges like the global HIV/AIDS crisis and global warming, and to address poverty and rising inequality in the United States.