U.S. federal budgeting has two major categories of spending. The one subject to the most scrutiny is “discretionary” spending, which is the basis of the annual appropriations process. This includes ...

Elon Musk's DOGE aims to cut $4T from the federal budget, but the $36T national debt remains a major challenge.

This means a business or household is still able to maintain itself even if all discretionary consumer spending stops. Meals at restaurants and entertainment costs are examples of discretionary ...

Compare that with the same period last year under Joe Biden: federal spending back then came to about $26bn a day. Outflows ...

The U.S. federal ... Combined, mandatory spending and interest payments amount to about three-quarters of what the federal government spent. What remains is discretionary spending, which Congress ...

which is responsible for appropriating government funds, according to the U.S. Constitution. “I think they are likely to find awful examples of wasteful spending. I don’t contest that.