This Weekly Standard article is just silly political spin, but it’s based on a genuine report by the Congressional Research Service (a rigorous, nonpartisan government research agency) which was requested by the Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee (who had political motivations for requesting this particular report, but limited control over its contents). This press release from the Senate Republicans describes the source of the numbers in more detail, and includes a link to the full report (pdf).
The CRS report counts about $750 billion in federal government spending on “welfare programs”, which they define as spending which is means-tested; that is, programs that “(1) had provisions that base an individual’s eligibility or priority for service on a measure (or proxy) of low or limited income; or (2) target resources in some way (e.g., through allocation formulas, variable matching rates) using a measure (or proxy) of low or limited income.” Entitlement programs (Social Security and Medicare) were not included. The Senate Republicans estimated that there was another $280 billion in state and local government spending on federal welfare programs, bringing the total just over $1 trillion.
About half of that $1 trillion in spending is for health programs (primarily Medicaid). Most of that money is spent on people with expensive medical issues rather than being simple redistribution to the poor—about 2⁄3 of Medicaid spending goes to people who are disabled or elderly.
For the non-health half of the spending, this webpage has a list of the largest programs with brief descriptions of what they do (or see the pdf above for a more detailed breakdown). The top 5 spending areas (accounting for 80% of the non-health federal spending) are Negative Income Tax (primarily EITC), SNAP (food stamps), Housing Assistance (Section 8 housing subsidies and various other programs), SSI (cash for the disabled and elderly), and Pell Grants (financial aid for college students).
This Weekly Standard article is just silly political spin, but it’s based on a genuine report by the Congressional Research Service (a rigorous, nonpartisan government research agency) which was requested by the Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee (who had political motivations for requesting this particular report, but limited control over its contents). This press release from the Senate Republicans describes the source of the numbers in more detail, and includes a link to the full report (pdf).
The CRS report counts about $750 billion in federal government spending on “welfare programs”, which they define as spending which is means-tested; that is, programs that “(1) had provisions that base an individual’s eligibility or priority for service on a measure (or proxy) of low or limited income; or (2) target resources in some way (e.g., through allocation formulas, variable matching rates) using a measure (or proxy) of low or limited income.” Entitlement programs (Social Security and Medicare) were not included. The Senate Republicans estimated that there was another $280 billion in state and local government spending on federal welfare programs, bringing the total just over $1 trillion.
About half of that $1 trillion in spending is for health programs (primarily Medicaid). Most of that money is spent on people with expensive medical issues rather than being simple redistribution to the poor—about 2⁄3 of Medicaid spending goes to people who are disabled or elderly.
For the non-health half of the spending, this webpage has a list of the largest programs with brief descriptions of what they do (or see the pdf above for a more detailed breakdown). The top 5 spending areas (accounting for 80% of the non-health federal spending) are Negative Income Tax (primarily EITC), SNAP (food stamps), Housing Assistance (Section 8 housing subsidies and various other programs), SSI (cash for the disabled and elderly), and Pell Grants (financial aid for college students).