Congress Has Cut Discretionary Funding By $1.5 Trillion Over Ten Years

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2013/02/overlooking-23-trillion-in-deficit-reduction.html

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3840

By Richard Kogan
Revised November 8, 2012

Policymakers and budget experts generally agree on the need to reduce projected deficits and put the federal budget on a sustainable path. They have focused less attention, however, on the amount of deficit reduction that the 112th Congress and the President have enacted. Reductions in funding for discretionary (i.e., non-entitlement) programs enacted last year, primarily in the Budget Control Act, have produced $1.5 trillion in savings in discretionary spending for fiscal years 2013 through 2022. This part of the budget includes defense, international programs, and an array of domestic programs ranging from education to law enforcement, food safety, and environmental protection.

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The $1.5 trillion in reductions in discretionary spending also will produce lower interest payments on the debt. The interest savings amount to about $250 billion, bringing the total deficit reduction achieved to date to more than $1.7 trillion.

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