Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid combined to take up almost half of the federal government's nondefense, nonintelligence spending in 2005, according to the latest edition of the Census Bureau. Of the $2.3 trillion spent that year on direct expenditures, grants, contracts, loans, disability, insurance, and salaries and wages, almost $1.1 trillion went to the entitlement programs, with Social Security spending around $568 billion, Medicare around $336 billion, and Medicaid around $192 billion. Total spending was 6% higher than in 2004. The report can be accessed at