[A.Hun]

Earmarks or not, discretionary spending is just about where it has been since the '60s (as a percentage of GDP).

http://www.cbo.gov/budget/historical.pdf

[neverdem]

Earmarks or not, discretionary spending is just about where it has been since the '60s (as a percentage of GDP).

That's too much. We have at least $7 trillion in debt, unfunded mandates out the wazoo, social security and medicare staring into the abyss.

[inquest]

Earmarks or not, discretionary spending is just about where it has been since the '60s (as a percentage of GDP).

But given that mandatory spending has rocketed sky-high with Bush's Medicare boondoggle, that makes it all the more imperative to get discretionary spending under control, especially since the debt isn't getting any smaller over time.

This of course is all aside from the fact that pork creates problems far beyond the number of dollars wasted.

[Moonman62]

I have the feeling that a lot of what used to be discretionary is now defined as mandatory.