Chapter 16 Self-Check Quiz
Twelve multiple-choice questions and four short-answer questions. Answer all of them before checking the key in the appendices. The numbers are the spine of this chapter; if you cannot reproduce them, you do not yet know the chapter.
Multiple Choice
1. Approximately what were total federal outlays in fiscal year 2024?
a) $3.4 trillion b) $4.9 trillion c) $6.8 trillion d) $9.2 trillion
2. Approximately what was federal revenue in fiscal year 2024?
a) $4.9 trillion b) $6.8 trillion c) $3.6 trillion d) $5.7 trillion
3. The federal deficit in FY2024 was approximately:
a) $700 billion b) $1.2 trillion c) $1.9 trillion d) $2.8 trillion
4. Which category of federal spending is the largest, in dollars, in FY2024?
a) Defense discretionary b) Non-defense discretionary c) Mandatory spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlements) d) Net interest on the federal debt
5. Mandatory spending accounts for approximately what share of federal outlays?
a) About one-third (33%) b) About half (50%) c) About two-thirds (63%) d) About four-fifths (80%)
6. The largest single source of federal revenue is:
a) Corporate income taxes b) Payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) c) Individual income taxes d) Excise taxes and customs duties
7. Individual income taxes account for approximately what share of federal revenue?
a) 25% b) 36% c) 50% d) 70%
8. Net interest on the federal debt in FY2024:
a) Was less than one percent of federal outlays b) Was about half the cost of defense discretionary spending c) Exceeded defense discretionary spending for the first time in the postwar era d) Was lower than at any time since 1990
9. When the federal government begins a fiscal year without enacted appropriations, it typically:
a) Defaults on its debt b) Operates under a continuing resolution (CR) that funds agencies at prior-year levels c) Stops issuing Treasury securities d) Hands authority back to the states
10. Budget reconciliation, in the modern Senate, is significant primarily because it:
a) Requires a supermajority of 60 senators to pass b) Allows certain budget-related legislation to bypass the filibuster and pass with a simple majority c) Is the only mechanism by which appropriations bills can be enacted d) Is required by the Constitution
11. The Byrd Rule prohibits reconciliation provisions that:
a) Increase taxes on the highest earners b) Reduce defense spending c) Affect Social Security or that increase the deficit beyond the budget window (typically ten years), among other restrictions d) Are sponsored by the minority party
12. Foreign aid (the State Department's aid budget plus military assistance to allies, etc.) accounts for approximately what share of federal outlays?
a) About 1% b) About 5% c) About 15% d) About 25%
Short Answer
Each short answer should be 100–250 words and cite the relevant chapter section.
13. Distinguish between mandatory spending and discretionary spending. What are the three largest mandatory programs by dollar amount? What is the difference between defense discretionary and non-defense discretionary spending, and roughly how is the total $1.7 trillion in discretionary spending split between them?
14. Explain the debt ceiling: when it was created, what it does mechanically, and why most other developed democracies do not have one. Then steel-man the conservative argument for retaining the debt ceiling and the progressive argument for repealing it. Identify the common ground between the two positions.
15. What is a tax expenditure? Identify three of the largest tax expenditures by annual revenue cost. Why are tax expenditures sometimes described as "spending hidden in the tax code"? What is the approximate total annual cost of all federal tax expenditures, and how does that compare with discretionary spending?
16. Summarize the three serious diagnoses of the long-run federal fiscal trajectory presented in §16.9.3 (conservative, progressive, centrist). For each, identify what its proponents take as the central problem and what they propose to do about it. Then identify what each diagnosis concedes to the others, and what the empirical evidence does and does not settle between them.
Key Concepts to Be Able to Reproduce From Memory
After completing this quiz, you should be able to state, without consulting the chapter or any reference:
- Total FY2024 outlays (~$6.8T), revenue (~$4.9T), deficit (~$1.9T)
- Federal debt held by the public (~$28T) and total debt (~$36T)
- Debt held by the public as a share of GDP (~99%)
- Mandatory share of outlays (~63%), discretionary share (~24%, roughly half defense), net interest share (~13%)
- Three biggest mandatory programs: Social Security (~$1.5T), Medicare (~$1T gross), Medicaid (~$650B federal share)
- Revenue sources: individual income (~50%), payroll (~36%), corporate (~11%), other (~5%)
- That foreign aid is ~1% of outlays; TANF cash welfare is ~0.2%; arts/humanities/CPB combined are ~0.014%
- That reconciliation bypasses the filibuster on simple-majority lines, subject to the Byrd Rule
- That CBO is the nonpartisan congressional analytical authority and that its scoring is contested by both parties when inconvenient
- The basic shape of the long-run trajectory: rising debt-to-GDP through the 2030s under current law
If any of these are not yet stable in your memory, return to the relevant chapter section and reread before moving on. The numbers are the spine of any informed political conversation about the federal budget. There is no substitute for knowing them cold.
Answer Key
MC: 1c, 2a, 3c, 4c, 5c, 6c, 7c, 8c, 9b, 10b, 11c, 12a.
SA: Brief answers in the appendix on quiz keys; full answers should be developed by the student before consulting the key. Each short-answer question is gradeable on accuracy of figures, fairness of presentation (steel-manning where required), and citation of chapter sections.