Has federal government spending on means-tested welfare become a larger or smaller share of the federal budget since 1970?
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In 1970, means-tested welfare was 5.2% of all federal government spending. It has become a larger portion of the federal budget in every decade but the 1980s, and it stood at 16.8% at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Politicians have since enacted trillions of dollars in "Covid relief," raising this figure to 23.2% in 2021.
DocumentationMeans-Tested Welfare Covid Relief
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