1) Between 1992-1993 and 2000-2001, Canada reduced federal spending as a percentage of GDP from 17.5% to 11.3% and spending on servicing federal debt from 5.6% to 4.3% of GDP through modest cuts in spending growth. 2) Similarly, in the US between 1990-2000, federal spending as a percentage of GDP declined from over 20% to 18% through keeping spending growth below GDP growth. 3) However, future spending growth is projected to come from entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security rather than discretionary spending.