WE HAVE A SPENDING PROBLEM, FULL STOP: Current Federal Deficit.

For FY25, the deficit was $41 billion below last year’s level. However, October 1, 2023, fell on a weekend, thereby causing certain federal payments to be shifted into the previous fiscal year (FY23) and artificially reducing the deficit in FY24. Without that effect, the deficit for FY25 would have been $113 billion less than last year’s adjusted total.

For FY25, total outlays were $7 trillion, $275 billion higher than the same period in the previous year. Adjusting for the timing shift, spending was $202 billion above the same period last year. That increase was driven mainly by three categories: Social Security spending was up by $120 billion, stemming from cost-of-living adjustments and some retroactive payments; net interest rose by $89 billion; and Medicare outlays increased by $78 billion (adjusted for timing shifts). Partially offsetting those and other increases was a $235 billion decrease by the Department of Education due to several loan estimation adjustments and a $63 billion decrease in outlays by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation related to the resolution of bank failures that occurred last year.

Continuing resolutions don’t cut it. We need Congress to get back to actual budgeting, which ought to start with the question, “How much income do we have?” instead of “How much spending can we get away with?”