In January 1918, some ten months before the end of World War I, US President Woodrow Wilson had written a list of proposed war aims which he called the Fourteen Points..
Today, discretionary spending makes up less than 40 percent of the entire budget. Net Interest-Net interest is the only part of future spending that cannot be reduced by legislative action because it is money that must be paid to service the U.S. debt.
Another useful assessment that provides context for the national debt is its relationship to government spending: the U.S. government borrows about 42 cents of every dollar it spends. And approximately $1 out of every $4 dollars that it borrows goes to pay just the interest on the national debt.