Recognizing gay marriage would reduce, yes reduce, federal spending by about $500 million/year. While that’s just two-hundredths-of-one-percent of annual federal spending, it helps. Spending will fall because generally fewer married couples qualify for (means-tested) entitlements such as welfare, Medicaid, Medicare, and SSI. Moreover, added revenue from the “marriage penalty” more than offsets all increases in Social Security payments, employee health insurance costs, and “marriage bonus” revenue losses.