DISCRETIONARY SPENDING Definition

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DISCRETIONARY SPENDING consists of US government expenditures that are set on an annual basis. It is a budget that members of Congress can adjust on a yearly basis. Examples of discretionary spending in the United States:

-defense budget
-education
-Environmental Protection Agency
-Department of Veterans Affairs

When looking to cut costs, lawmakers usually look to trimming discretionary spending. See MANDATORY SPENDING.

Learn new Accounting Terms

RESIDUAL EQUITY THEORY is the theory that common stockholders are considered to be the real owners of the business, i.e., Assets - Liabilities - Preferred Stock = Common Stock.

KEYNESIAN MACROECONOMICS is the theory that shows how a market-based capitalist economy may reach equilibrium with large scale unemployment and how government spending may be used to raise it out of this to a new equilibrium at the full-employment level of output.

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