Therefore, funding these programs at the 2022 level in 2024, consistent with the House Republicans’ pledge, would require a cut of $133 billion or 8 percent from the current 2023 level.Īs Table 1 shows, if defense and non-defense discretionary programs were each reduced to their 2022 levels, the percentage reduction for each would be 9 percent for defense and 7 percent for non-defense. Applying our methodology, we estimate that a total of $1.52 trillion was appropriated for defense and non-defense programs in 2022 and $1.65 trillion in 2023. In general, we focus on annual funding that addresses ongoing programmatic needs. ![]() There is no agreed-on way to measure total funding for annually appropriated programs, also known as discretionary programs. A Closer Look at the Cuts Required in Different Scenarios ![]() Funding for these programs needs to rise to meet national needs, address shortfalls that hamper the delivery of government services, and help create an economy in which everyone has the resources needed to thrive. Even with a recent boost in 2023, funding for non-defense programs outside of veterans’ medical care is about 3 percent below its 2010 level, adjusted for inflation, and 10 percent below when adjusted for both inflation and population growth. Moreover, many of these programs are still feeling the effects of austerity imposed largely by the 2011 Budget Control Act. The non-defense programs under threat touch a wide array of public services that the federal government provides and that people and communities depend on, including public health food safety inspections air traffic control operations the administration of Medicare and Social Security housing and other assistance for families with low incomes education and job training and scientific and medical research, to name just a few. The non-defense programs under threat touch a wide array of public services that the federal government provides and that people and communities depend on. For instance, fully funding veterans’ medical care and shielding defense from cuts (but still freezing it at its 2023 level) would mean an average cut of 23 percent to other non-defense programs to achieve the House Republican goal of lowering total funding for appropriations to the 2022 level. To the extent that certain programs are exempted from these cuts, as some Republicans have indicated they will seek to do, other programs would need to be cut more deeply. To return total funding for all defense and non-defense programs funded through annual appropriations to their 2022 levels would, for example, require cutting these appropriations below their 2023 enacted level by roughly 8 percent on average. In this short analysis, we show the likely implications of the House Republicans’ pledge under a few different scenarios. ![]() But the required cuts to important domestic needs would be deep under any likely scenario that meets their pledge, and would hit programs still feeling the after-effects of a decade of austerity. There are no details to know how such a cut to 2024 appropriations would be implemented. McCarthy as Speaker - a pledge made more salient by House Republicans’ calls for deep spending cuts as their price for agreeing to raise the debt limit. House Republicans reportedly pledged to cut programs funded by annual appropriations in 2024 back to their 2022 levels as part of the deal to elect Rep.
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