Spending Spree

Where your money is going:

Overall, CBO increased the estimated budget deficit for the current fiscal year (which ends on Sept. 30) by $408 billion and the 10-year budget deficit by nearly $2.1 trillion. A breakdown in the report shows the major causes of the worsened financial conditions. The (bloated) spending bills passed in March added nearly $1.3 trillion to the 10-year deficit, as higher spending this fiscal year leads CBO to assume (not incorrectly, in most cases) that spending will continue at those higher levels in the future. Spending on Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies will increase deficits by $511 billion in the coming decade, in large part because more people will continue signing up for “free” coverage. The budget office also noted that “the recent surge in immigration [has] made more people than CBO previously estimated eligible for” Obamacare subsidies, accounting for an increase in projected enrollment. The Biden administration’s student “loan forgiveness” will cause the deficit to grow by $145 billion this fiscal year alone, and because the administration has not finalized several of its regulatory proposals, CBO has yet to put the full fiscal effect of these giveaways onto the federal government’s books. Even though the budget gnomes assumed that changes in economic projections since the last estimate (primarily higher income tax receipts) will reduce the budget deficit by $568 billion, the effect of Washington’s spending overwhelmed the comparatively good economic news, leading CBO to raise deficit projections overall.

It all has to be paid for somehow...