The big pots of mandatory spending include such politically sensitive programs as Medicare, welfare and Medicaid.
The Budget proposes discretionary spending caps as well as restraints on new mandatory spending.
Roosevelt created programs that would morph into the biggest mandatory spending initiatives of the U.S. federal government.
The expiration of tax cuts, the implementation of mandatory spending cuts, the limitation of certain benefits and so on.
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And the way they are categorized means that those are called mandatory spending cuts as opposed to discretionary spending cuts.
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Thus, in February lawmakers passed pay-as-you-go legislation, decreeing that new mandatory spending will be offset by spending cuts or tax hikes.
Nor would it affect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory spending programs, which take up another 56% of the budget pie.
In the space of four decades, mandatory spending has grown from 26 percent of our budget in 1962 to 53 percent of our budget in 2006.
One of those past agreements -- to increase the debt ceiling in 2011-- included the mandatory spending cuts that cut across all agencies of government but not entitlement programs.
And, as usual, they ignore the unfunded liabilities of social insurance programs, even though these benefits are officially recognized as "mandatory spending" when the time comes to pay them out.
The economy is approaching a so-called "fiscal cliff" brought on by the looming expiration of several tax cuts as well as the approach of a series of mandatory spending cuts.
As Robert Bixby, the head of the Concord Coalition, points out, legislators this year have also agreed to increases in mandatory spending (for example, improved medical benefits for retired soldiers and sailors).
Obama and congressional Democrats are locked in a fierce political debate with Republicans over government spending and federal deficits, with a showdown pending on mandatory spending cuts set to take effect March 1.
Obviously, Congress could choose to cut discretionary spending less and make up the difference by cutting so-called mandatory entitlement spending if it so desired.
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At the same time, he proposed a number of new programs that the White House describes as "mandatory" spending, which wouldn't be subject to the caps.
Here are the facts about so-called mandatory entitlement spending in the U.S.: Out of a typical year's federal budget about half goes to transfer payments of various sorts--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment compensation, disability programs, etc.
The stimulus package the Democrats are now working on would work differently: It could provide states with funds to cover mandatory Medicaid spending, which would help state governments avoid cuts to education and other programs, Democratic leadership aides said.
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Note, however, that the fiscal year runs from October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013, so that mandatory reductions in spending must occur over the remaining nine months of the fiscal year.
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Thrice he was caught, spending a mandatory 72 hours in jail each time .
The two sides have failed to reach an agreement to avert mandatory, across-the-board spending cuts that took effect Friday.
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