Alexis Galvan

Government/ Period 2
Mr. Hawkins
October 1, 2014
The Preamble and the Federal Budget: Are We Slicing the Pie Correctly
Our Preamble lists five main goals that are required to help create a strong
and stable society within our country. However, money is required in order to
achieve these goals. We get this money from the Federal Budget which is the yearly
amount we receive in order to better our country. The question here is, are we
slicing the pie correctly in relation to the federal budget? In each of three budget
clusters, the U.S Government should make adjustments in the way it is
distributing money by making changes involving the Big Five, the Middle
Five, and the Little Guys.
One of the most important groups would be the Big Five. The most
money, being 82% of the Federal Budget is put into this group (Document C). This
group includes Interest on National Debt, Safety Net Programs for Poor and Elderly,
Defense, Social Security, and Medicare. Besides Interest on National Debt, each
category has roughly around the same amount of money being spent on them. Of
course each category is very important and has its advantages, but there are some
changes that can be made financially. Medicare spends about $845 billion and
Defense spends about $716 billion of the Federal Budget (Document C). A little
more than half of the 82% of our budget that we use for this group is spent on these
two categories together. However, this should be changed. People are living a lot
longer now than before. Instead of starting Medicare at the age of 65, the age can

be changed to around 70. This allows our nation to have more money for the time
being to help with other things. For Defense, we have so much money and that we
dont really know what to do with. We are ending up buying things to help protect us
that arent necessary. We have too much money for Defense and some of that can
be put into another category. The amount of money we spend on these more
advances weapons and Medicare should be decreased some and more should be
put into the safety net programs. Safety net programs include tax help for poor
families, additional money to elderly and disabled, food stamps, and low-income
housing assistance (Document C). So as one can see, safety net programs affect
everyone and not just one particular group. This could be such a great help and
make a really big change in peoples lives. This option should definitely be
considered because in the end more people will benefit from this and it can better
our society as a whole.
Another one of the groups that involve some important categories is
the Middle Five. This group includes Homeland Security, Justice, Education,
Transportation, and Veterans Benefits. These are all very important groups however,
there should definitely be some changes made. Transportation is getting $103
billion to be used for construction and maintenance purposes while education is
only getting $68 billion (Document D). Transportation is very important because we
need to have safe roads and bridges to travel on but education just isnt getting a
fair cut of money. Road and bridge construction should only occur when we are in
absolute need of maintenance. When construction takes place, it is usually way
before it is actually needed. Of course it is helping prevent dangerous and fatal
occurrences but for the most part some of these changes can wait. Instead of
spending so much money on our transportation category we should be putting more
into education. The money that the Federal Budget gives for education covers

college aid loans, special education programs, free lunch to students in need, antidiscrimination efforts, research, and special programs (Document D). Education is
one of the most important things a person can have. It is covered under the
Preamble because it promotes the general Welfare and secures our Blessings of
Liberty (Document D). Without it, one will not have much pride and unfortunately
wont get so far in life which will only make it harder for them in the long run. We
need to improve our education systems so that future generations can benefit from
it. For a lot of people, it is very difficult to pay for certain things dealing with
education such as college or books. This is one of the main reasons that people
dont go to college as much as they used to, because of the costs. Luckily, there is
an option that people can take which is getting college aid or loans which allows
people to get the education they want. Also the money is being put towards
research which can majorly change how things are. This allows us to find out more
cures for diseases, things that are yet unknown to man-kind and so on. Overall,
these two categories are very important but the changes that can be made will
greatly benefit us as a society.
The last group that the Federal Budget contributes to is the Little
Guys. This group contains the FBI, Energy, the NASA program, National Park
Service, and Natural Resources. Once again, these are all very important groups
however, there can be changes made to them. These changes dont necessarily
need to happen but there can be some benefits from them. The NASA program
administers NASA, pays for the National Science Foundation, and general science
programs at the Department of Energy (Document E). Our country needs to be one
step ahead of other countries at all times. This is because if we let them, another
country can one-up us which in the end can lead to major problems for the U.S. The
NASA program also gives us a whole new insight to how we see things and how we

live our lives daily. For example Google Maps, which is used by many people, uses
satellite that we get from having this program. However, some of the money used
for this category can be taken and put into another category such as the FBI. It is a
very critical to have this because it allows us to be protected from terrorism and
crime. The FBI however is only getting $8 billion which is a lot but by adding more, it
will allow us a better protection system. By having more money into this category
more FBI agents could possibly be hired which will allow a lot less crime to occur.
Overall, taking some money from the NASA program and putting it into the FBI can
definitely have its benefits and should be considered.
In conclusion, the Federal Budget is there to help the U.S better its nation as
a whole. In each of three budget clusters, the U.S Government should make
adjustments in the way it is distributing money by making changes involving the Big
Five, the Middle Five, and the Little Guys. As stated above the changes that can be
made definitely have their benefits. The Big Five was one of the harder groups to
make changes to because each category is evenly important to the people.
However, changes can be made to better the lives of citizens. The Middle Five, after
being changed will allow more education aid and programs to people which will
greatly improve future generations in a positive way. For the Little Guys, it was kind
of hard to make a change but it was definitely possible. The categories were evenly
important, on a lower level, but some changes are able to be made. However, these
changes arent as major in comparison to the other two groups and definitely arent
our countrys number one priority. Lastly, the U.S Government works very hard
together to make sure that the money we have is spread out evenly to benefit the
people and their interests. However, its not always easy because there will always
be positives and negatives to every change made but they do they best that they
can.