Guns and Butter: Things We Do Not Like Or Want

In the wake of a bipartisan agreement to establish new spending levels through fiscal year 2019, the Republican Administration sent out an official White House statement:

…we were forced to increase spending on
things we do not like or want
in order to finally,
after many years of depletion,
take care of our Military…

Discretionary spending is often divided into defense spending and non-defense spending – what we have long described as “guns” and “butter“.

Defense spending is, of course, military spending. But what makes up the “things we do not like or want“?

  • suspension of the debt ceiling
  • infrastructure spending, to finance and repair roads, water supplies
  • emergency funding to repair damage due to natural disasters
  • funding for community health centers, rural hospitals, and Medicare-related health services
  • additional funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
  • funding for government programs including the 2020 Census
  • continued government health research at the National Institute of Health
  • emergency funding to combat the opioid epidemic and provide mental health care

It’s instructive to note that these are things the GOP Administration doesn’t like.

Guns and butter