Budget of the U.S. Government In Fiscal 2021, mandatory spending on the three entitlement programs—Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid—was 11.1 percent of GDP. This expenditure was projected to rise to 12.6 percent of GDP by 2031. Over that same period, discretionary expenditure on national defense was projected to fall from 3.4 percent of GDP to 2.5 percent of GDP. The deficit was projected to fall from 14.9 percent of GDP to 4.7 percent of GDP. If politicians continue to avoid legislating changes that lower the projected increases in the three big entitlement programs, how do you think the fiscal imbalance will change? If Congress introduced changes that slowed the growth of expenditure on the three entitlement programs, who would benefit and who would pay?