Solve the Problem How Much Was Spent on Non-Defense Discretionary Outlays That Year

question 144

Multiple Choice

Solve the problem.
-In a recent year, the total receipts for the US federal government were estimated to be $2288 billion. The total outlays were estimated to be $2613 billion. The table below shows the makeup of federal
Government outlays in that year- the percentage of total outlays spent in each category. $$\begin{array}{l}\text { Approximate makeup of federal government outlays }\\\begin{array} { l c } \hline \text { Category } & \text { Portion of outlays } \\\hline \text { Social security } & 21 \% \\\text { Defense and homeland security } & 20 \% \\\text { Non-defense discretionary } & 18 \% \\\text { Medicare } & 13 \% \\\text { Medicaid, government pensions, and other mandatory spending } & 20 \% \\\text { Interest on debt } & 8 \% \\\hline\end{array}\end{array}$$ How much was spent on non-defense discretionary outlays that year?

• A)$470 billion
• B)$523 billion
• C)$388 billion
• D)$479 billion

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