M Mandatory Spending: Outlays generally not controllable through the congressional appropriation process. Mandatory amounts are budget authority or outlays that cannot be increased or decreased in a given year without a change in substantive law. Entitlement programs (e.g., food stamps, Medicare, veterans' pensions) are chief examples of mandatory programs, whereby Congress controls spending indirectly, by defining eligibility and setting benefit payment rules, rather than directly through the appropriation process. With regard to the federal-aid highway program, mandatory spending refers to outlays resulting from obligations of contract authority programs not subject to annual obligation limitations, such as Minimum Allocation, Emergency Relief, and Demonstration Project spending.   Modification: Federal government action, including legislation or administrative action, that alters the estimated subsidy cost and the present value of outstanding direct loans (or direct loan obligations), or the liability of loan guarantees (or loan guarantee commitments). Direct modifications change the subsidy cost by altering the terms of existing contracts or by selling loan assets. Indirect modifications are actions that change the subsidy cost by legislation that alters the way in which an outstanding portfolio of direct loans or loan guarantees is administered. The term modification does not include subsidy cost reestimates, the routine administrative workouts of troubled loans, and actions that are permitted within the existing contract terms.   return to top