Discretionary spending doesn't even make up half of US Federal Government outlays. The CBO estimates that total budget outlays in 2014 were 3.5 trillion dollars

Discretionary spending doesn't even make up half of US Federal Government outlays. The CBO estimates that total budget outlays in 2014 were 3.5 trillion dollars (https://www.cbo.gov/about/products/budget_economic_data#2 https://www.cbo.gov/about/products/budget_economic_data#2). As for how much the US actually spends on Defense alone (as in the function, not just the discretionary portion of the budget that goes to the DoD), no one really knows for sure. The only estimate I can find is on wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense#Budget https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_De...) and all the references lead to dead links. However, for whatever reason, the Oregon State Hospital hosts a copy of one of these documents (the 2010 DoD Agency Financial Report: http://www.oregonstatehospital.net/d/otherfiles/Fiscal_Year_2010_DoD_Agencywide_Agency%20Financial%20Report.pdf http://www.oregonstatehospital.net/d/otherfiles/Fiscal_Year_...) Buried on page 58, in an appendix, are the actual numbers: 1.2 trillion dollars total DoD budgetary resources in 2010. The GAO have previously stated that DoD financials are so messed up that they are unauditable: As was the case in 2010, the main obstacles to a GAO opinion on the accrual- based consolidated financial statements were: (1) serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense (DOD) that made its financial statements unauditable [http://www.gao.gov/press/financial_report_2011dec23.html http://www.gao.gov/press/financial_report_2011dec23.html] But don't worry, the DoD have a plan to have proper financial statements by 2017... [http://www.gao.gov/highrisk/dod_financial_management/why_did_study#t=1 http://www.gao.gov/highrisk/dod_financial_management/why_did...]