Money & budgets
mandatory spending
Spending that flows automatically under permanent law, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, without annual votes. About two-thirds of the budget.
In full
Congress divides spending into discretionary (set each year through appropriations) and mandatory (set by eligibility formulas in permanent law, also called entitlements). Mandatory programs plus interest on the debt make up roughly two-thirds of federal spending, which is why annual appropriations fights, however loud, touch only the remaining third.
Also written as: entitlements
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.