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Because making this distinction (apparently for no reason at all except that it provides a misleading way to present data that have nothing to do with the reality) is a bunch of bullshit.
If you had said “here is how this data is false and what is the real information” I think you would be getting upvotes
This may not be the intent on your part, but it kinda comes across like “oh this data isn’t a TOTAL bunch of bullshit, and here is a random arbitrary distinction underlying it which wasn’t mentioned which totally makes it make sense to present these numbers this way,” and my guess is you’re getting downvotes because if that were what you were saying, that would be simply doubling down on the dishonesty of the original chart, and people are downvoting it for dishonesty
Congress/the President don't pass budgetary acts to set non-discretionary spending. The income/costs are statuary, and so their changes aren't tied to the horse trading that routinely occurs as part of the appropriations process.
The Appropriations Committee holds enormous influence over our national budgetary agenda precisely because they dictate how much money is made available to the various agencies. This isn't random or arbitrary, it is fundamental to how Congress functions under Article One of the US Constitution.
This is where the "GOTV WE NEED TO FIX THINGS" rhetoric rubber hits the fucking road. You're not going to change how Social Security or Medicare operates from cycle to cycle, but you absolutely are going to change how the Dep of Ed, the Highway and Transportation Administration, and the Pentagon function.
What on earth are you talking about?
Setting aside the dishonesty of excluding medicare, medicaid, social security, and the big assistance programs that got passed recently from the "social / economic programs" line on a chart of government spending, yes of course congress / the president pass budgetary acts that set non-discretionary spending. That's how that spending got there in the first place. Where did you think medicare and medicaid and the student loan forgiveness programs and everything got into the non-discretionary budget in the first place, if not from congress and the president passing budgetary acts?
(This annoyed me so much that I went back and added a downvote to the pile for you)
How is a discussion of discretionary spending changes dishonest? It's the thing Congress sets every two years.
That's not how the Social Security Trust or the Medicare Trust Fund work. You don't appropriate funds at the start of every budget cycle to pay for them.
Mm hm
What’s your explanation for the military budget thing?
Pentagon Spending is part of the Biannual NDAA, which falls under the purview of Appropriations.
I mean, in terms of the differences between the numbers in this chart and the numbers from the CBO that I posted.