Yes. USAspending.gov provides near-real-time award data reported by agencies, and FiscalData.Treasury.gov hosts live series like the debt, receipts, and outlays with APIs for reuse. Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement summarizes each month’s receipts and spending. The Smarter Citizen app by the Tax Project shows the same near-real-time data with interactive visualizations that allow you to explore the data. These sites are designed for public transparency: you can search by place, program, and recipient, and download the exact data used in the charts.
No. Agencies may not obligate or spend beyond what Congress has provided except as permitted by law. The Antideficiency Act prohibits spending in excess of or in advance of appropriations. For true emergencies, Congress can pass supplemental appropriations or laws that provide specific emergency authorities. OMB, GAO, and agency Inspectors General monitor compliance and report violations publicly.
No, new spending does not always have to be offset by cuts or revenue increases. Whether Congress must offset new spending depends on the specific budget rules in place, such as budget resolutions, PAYGO (Pay-As-You-Go) laws, or chamber rules. Some spending is statutorily required to be offset, especially under PAYGO, which mandates that new mandatory spending or tax cuts that increase the deficit must be balanced by savings or revenues. However, Congress can also designate certain spending as emergencies or exempt from offset requirements.
Mandatory spending programs (like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) operate automatically and often do not require annual offsets as their funding is set by permanent laws. In contrast, discretionary spending is more subject to offsets via appropriations and budget rules. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Congressional Research Service (CRS) offer guidance on how offsets apply under various scenarios, helping explain when lawmakers must pay for policies and when they have more flexibility.
Interest payments are mandatory and must be made before many other priorities. So YES, when interest costs rise there is less room left in the budget for other programs unless taxes rise, other spending falls, or the the budget takes on more debt. CBO’s baseline shows how net interest compares with other categories over time, helping voters and officials weigh trade-offs in a transparent way.
In FY 2024 Interest on Debt was over $1.1 trillion making it the 3rd largest budget item in the Federal budget larger than National Defense. If debt and the interest from the debt continue to grow at some point it could have negative consequences to the Service government provides or require adjustments to our tax structure to increase revenue.
Earmarks and pork barrel spending refer to funds that members of Congress allocate for specific projects, typically benefiting their own districts or states. Today, the House calls them “Community Project Funding” and the Senate calls them “Congressionally Directed Spending.” These are line-item awards requested by Members of Congress that must comply with published eligibility and disclosure rules. While they constitute a small share of total government spending and must fit within regular appropriations limits, critics argue that earmarks can be used to bypass normal competitive processes and steer taxpayer money for political gain or local favors.
Despite these concerns, earmarks are defended as a way to direct resources toward local priorities that might otherwise be overlooked. Both House and Senate Appropriations Committees publish detailed lists and disclosures showing who requested what and why, enhancing transparency. Yet, the practice remains controversial because it can blur the lines between legitimate funding for community needs and political bargaining, posing challenges to clear, efficient budgeting and inviting public skepticism about waste and favoritism.
You can look up the bill on Congress.gov to read the text and committee reports, then check whether the Congressional Budget Office issued a cost estimate explaining the expected budget effect (increases, decreases, or no significant change). To see how your member voted, use the House or Senate roll-call pages linked from Congress.gov. These official records support community oversight of proposed spending.
Use official oversight tools: read GAO and IG reports, check USAspending award data, and compare agency goals and results on Performance.gov. If you have questions or concerns, contact your member of Congress or the relevant IG office. These resources are designed for public use and include plain-language summaries plus the underlying data and audits.
Congratulations, your participation strengthens our democracy. You can send public comments on proposed rules at Regulations.gov, submit testimony or public-witness statements to House and Senate Appropriations (during open periods), and contact your elected Congressional representatives directly. Local town halls and agency listening sessions are additional channels. These inputs become part of the public record. Use the official portals below to find open dockets and instructions for submissions.
Congress appropriates funds that agencies distribute by formula or competition through grants and cooperative agreements. These dollars support schools, roads, public health, and more. USAspending provides state profiles and recipient-level details so residents can see how much funding flows to their communities and which programs are involved. You can also use the Smarter Citizen app by the Tax Project to see the Fund Flow to and from States.
The government decides which programs to fund or cut through a multi-step process starting with the President’s budget proposal, which reflects administration priorities and agency requests. This proposal is submitted to Congress, where the House and Senate Budget Committees draft budget resolutions setting overall spending and revenue targets. These resolutions provide a framework but do not allocate specific funds.
Next, appropriations committees in both chambers review agency needs and negotiate funding through 12 subcommittees that draft appropriations bills. Congress debates, amends, and passes these bills, which the President must sign to become law. Mandatory programs follow separate authorizing laws for eligibility and funding levels, so changes require legislative action beyond the annual appropriations. This complex process balances priorities, fiscal constraints, and politics, with oversight from agencies like the Congressional Budget Office and opportunities for public engagement. (See our Article)
Government borrowing influences overall demand for credit and the supply of Treasury securities, which help set benchmark interest rates throughout the economy. When investors expect higher inflation or larger deficits, long-term Treasury yields can rise, affecting mortgage and auto loan rates. No single factor determines consumer rates, but the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Federal Reserve track how deficits, inflation, and monetary policy interact. Following these official releases helps households understand why rates move.
The National debt affects future generations by increasing the government’s interest costs, which can crowd out other budget priorities and reduces government flexibility to respond to recessions or emergencies. As debt grows, it can push up long-term interest rates, making borrowing more expensive for businesses and consumers. This hampers economic growth and may burden future taxpayers with repaying debt accumulated for current spending.
However, the full impact depends on factors like economic growth, interest rates, and policy decisions. Managing the debt responsibly is crucial to preserving economic stability and opportunity for coming generations. Transparent projections and analyses by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) highlight these trade-offs, encouraging informed public discussion about the risks and fiscal options ahead.
The President proposes a budget prepared by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Congress then writes and passes spending and revenue bills through its budget, authorizing, and appropriations processes; the President signs or vetoes them. Agencies execute the enacted laws, and Treasury reports the actual cash in and out. For a plain-English view of where money comes from and where it goes, use OMB’s Budget of the U.S. Government and Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement and USAspending.gov, or the Smarter Citizen app by the Tax Project which provide interactive tables, charts, and download-ready data the public can audit. (See our Article)
To compare, use the official U.S. net interest outlays for FY2024 and line them up against each country’s GDP in current U.S. dollars. Treasury’s MTS , OMB Historical Tables, and the Federal Reserve FRED site report annual net interest; the World Bank publishes country GDP. Sort the GDP list and count how many exceed the U.S. net-interest dollar amount. Citing these primary sources keeps the comparison consistent and reproducible.
In FY 2024 FRED data shows Net Interest from the US at $1.1 trillion, and using the Worldbank GDP figures for 2024 the Net Interest on debt alone would be the 20th largest country in the world (including the US) by GDP ahead of Switzerland.
References
- U.S. Department of the Treasury. (n.d.). Monthly Treasury Statement—Net interest outlays.
- Office of Management and Budget. (n.d.). Historical tables—Function 900 (net interest).
- World Bank. (n.d.). World Development Indicators: GDP (current US$).
- Federal Reserve. (n.d.) Federal Government Current Expenditures: Interest Payments.
Per-person spending equals total federal outlays divided by the U.S. population for that year. You can compute this by pairing OMB’s outlay totals with the Census Bureau’s (or BEA’s) population series. In FY 2024 Federal spending was $6.8 trillion, and the last 2020 Census there were 331 Million Americans equating to over $20 thousand per year in Federal Spending per capita. Total Federal, State, and Local Government revenue was estimated over $11 trillion equating to over $30 thousand per capita in total government spending per capita.
There is no single official “per taxpayer” figure because “taxpayer” can mean returns filed, individuals, or households. Since the IRS does not count individuals, most common reporting use the number of returns filed as a proxy for taxpayer. A simple approach would be to divide total outlays (spending) by the number of federal individual income tax returns filed in that year. The IRS Statistics of Income (SOI) tables report counts of returns; combine those with OMB outlays to compute your preferred measure, and state your definition clearly. For example in FY 2024 the Federal government spent $6.8 trillion and there were roughly 154 million returns in IRS SOI data released in 2025 for 2022 data. That would equate to around $44 thousand per taxpayer.
The shares change over time, but you can see the breakout in the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) Historical Tables and in the Budget summary tables, which break out Defense, Health, Social Security, Income Security, transportation, and more. In general the large Entitlement and Mandatory spending programs, like Social Security and Medicaid/Medicare and Interest on Debt, make up the vast majority of Federal funding (> 60%). Discretionary spending is all other categorie make up the remainder with Defense around 13%. Infrastructure spending is not broken out but falls across several categories including Transportation, Energy, and Commerce and is thought to be under 5% in total. For a program-by-program view, USAspending.gov allows you to explore spending by budget function, agency, and award type with downloadable source data.
A Continuing Resolution (CR) is a temporary law that keeps agencies funded at existing or specified levels when regular appropriations have not been enacted on time. It prevents a funding gap between the expiration of the last appropriation and a new budget being approved thus allowing operations to continue. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) explains typical provisions, durations, and impacts on agencies and grants. Understanding CRs helps citizens track why deadlines matter in the budget cycle.
Direct spending is money the government pays out under laws—either mandatory (like Medicare) or annually appropriated (like most agency operations). Tax expenditures are special exclusions, deductions, credits, or preferential rates in the tax code that reduce taxes for certain activities or groups. OMB and the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) publish annual tax-expenditure lists and totals. Reviewing both cash outlays and tax expenditures gives a fuller picture of federal spending and taxable deducations.
Mandatory spending (sometimes called “direct spending”) is set by laws for programs like Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Interest on National Debt; spending automatically occurs unless the underlying laws change and represent the majority of the Federal Budget (over 60%). Discretionary spending, as the name implies, is subject to change including elimination. This includes areas that many people might think are mandatory like Defense and Education. Each year discretionary budget proposals are sent to Congressional appropriations and covers things like Defense, Education, and most Agency operations.
The National Debt is the total amount the federal government owes to creditors, built up over many years. It rises when the government runs budget deficits and falls when it runs surpluses. A Deficit occurs when there is a shortfall in the annual Federal budget for a single year when spending exceeds revenues. Treasury tracks the debt daily in their Debt to the Penny site, while OMB and CBO report the yearly deficit and projections so residents can see trends and drivers.
Agencies are audited by independent Inspectors General (IGs), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and external auditors for financial statements. These bodies review internal controls, spending, and program results. Reports are public and searchable—Oversight.gov aggregates IG reports across agencies, and GAO publishes its findings and recommendations. This system lets citizens trace issues and track corrective actions.
CBO is a nonpartisan legislative branch agency that provides Congress with budget and economic analysis. It does not make policy or decide what to fund. CBO estimates the cost of proposed bills, analyzes the budget outlook, and publishes methods and data so the public can review how the numbers were derived. (See our Article)
Start with GAO evaluations and agency IG reports, which audit major projects for cost, schedule, and performance. USAspending.gov shows contract and grant awards tied to each program so you can see obligations and recipients. For legislation that launched or changed a project, CBO’s cost estimates explain the expected budget impact at the time of passage, making it easier to compare plans with outcomes.
Start with CBO (budget analysis and program costs), GAO (audits and evaluations), and agency Inspectors General (program-specific reviews). These sources are nonpartisan and publish methods and data so their conclusions can be checked. Pair these with transparency portals like USAspending and Performance.gov to trace dollars to results. Using these together supports fact-based civic discussions.
