American Government / Unit 10 Gov 457 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Discretionary Spending
Captions available
The idea
Discretionary spending is government spending Congress must pass legislation to authorize each year.
In practice
Defense, education, transportation — the annually appropriated share of the budget.
Where people slip
The power of the purse works annually only on the discretionary share.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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