CHIPS Bill Feeds Washington's Mandatory Spending Habit
House Budget Committee Republican Leader Jason Smith (MO-08) issued the following statement today as the U.S. House of Representatives is preparing to consider semiconductor manufacturing legislation – otherwise known as CHIPS – that will increase spending by $280 billion and specifically increase mandatory spending by over $60 billion:“Last year, federal mandatory spending topped $5 trillion – more than the total amount of taxes collected by the federal government and a sum larger than the economies of every nation on Earth except the U.S. and China. Mandatory spending is on track to rise to more than $18 trillion over the next three decades, climbing to 80 percent of the federal budget. Simply put, Congress needs to stop adding to the mandatory side of the ledger where there is less oversight and less control to rein in year over year spending growth. Unfortunately, the CHIPS bill currently before Congress would do just that – to the tune of another $60 billion.
“As evidenced by the fact that the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives tried to add $7 trillion worth of new mandatory spending to the American taxpayer’s tab last year alone, it is clear that Washington Democrats have gotten into the increasingly bad habit of trying to classify larger and larger portions of federal spending as mandatory on their way out the door. When it increases mandatory spending, Congress is rewarding its own failure to budget responsibly. There is no reason that Congress cannot make strong investments in America’s future without putting more and more of its annual spending decisions on autopilot.”
Key Facts About Mandatory Spending:
- Mandatory spending has increased from 33 percent of the federal budget in 1965 to 76 percent of total spending today and is projected to reach 80 percent of the federal budget by mid-century.
- Mandatory spending is projected to increase to more than $18 trillion within three decades.
- Mandatory spending has grown from $1.2 trillion in 2000 to $5.2 trillion in 2021.
- Under President Biden’s FY23 Budget proposal, Mandatory spending would grow from its historical average of 12.6 percent to 18.6 percent of GDP.
- House Democrats passed $7 trillion in new mandatory spending in 2021.
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