alt Hacker News>Defense LAPS every other budget category.
I suppose it matters how you lump things, but for federal spending:
- $678 B, Social Security
- $478 B, Medicare
- $425 B, Net Interest
- $419 B, Health
- $412 B, National Defense
- $320 B, Income Security
- $184 B, Veterans Benefits and Services
- $75 B, Education, Training, Employment, and Social Services
- $53 B, Transportation
- $43 B, Administration of Justice
- $15 B, Other
Replies
Not all of those are discretionary spending? Maybe not equivalent to include, for example, Social Security.
"Please note: Values displayed are outlays, which is money that is actually paid out by the government. Other sources, such as USAspending, may display spending as obligations, which is money that is promised to be paid, but may not yet be delivered."
The Biden administration's FY2025 defense budget request was $850 billion for the DoD, with the total national security budget reaching over $895 billion. The FY2026 proposal submitted by the Trump admin is 1.5 trillion for DoD.
I think the common miscommunication here is that defense is the largest part of the US discretionary budget (about half overall), but that doesn't include those non-negotiable things like Social Security, Medicare, etc .
Note there would be no veterans benefits and services without a military, so effectively the total for defense is 412 PLUS 184 = $596B, more than anything except SS.
Also note that most people consider social security to be an entirely different kind of government spending than anything else in that list.