Civic Register
| 8.15.20
CBO: Federal Deficit Approaching $3 Trillion - Are You Worried About the Deficit?
Are you worried about the budget deficit?
This content leverages data from USAFacts, a non-profit that visualizes governmental data. You can learn more on its website, Facebook, and Twitter.
What’s the story?
- The federal budget deficit topped $2.8 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2020, according to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) review of the budget in July 2020. At the same point in fiscal year 2019, the budget deficit was $867 billion, and the CBO in May projected that the FY2020 budget deficit would reach $3.7 trillion.
- The sharp widening of the deficit comes amid federal efforts to provide coronavirus relief through fiscal stimulus and reduced tax revenue while the economy gradually reopens from the lockdowns imposed to slow the pandemic.
- The federal government spent a total of $626.5 billion in July 2020, a decrease from $979.7 billion in April and $1.104 trillion in June as coronavirus relief legislation was implemented. This USAFacts chart shows monthly federal spending dating back to November 2019:
- This USAFacts chart shows the change in federal spending for a given month from 2019 to 2020, and how federal spending spiked in April 2020 (+$604.5 billion from 2019), May (+$132.8 billion), and June (+$762 billion):
- In percentage terms, federal spending increased in April by 161% compared to the same month the prior year, a dramatic increase that was surpassed by June’s 223% spending increase compared to June 2019. This USAFacts chart shows the trend dating back
— Eric Revell
(Photo Credit: iStock.com / mj0007)
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The law firm of Schumer, McConnell, McCarthy, & Jeffries (“The Firm”) has learned that members of Congress (and voters) don’t like “omnibus” spending bills—that is, legislative proposals that fund all of the functions of the federal government in a single, consolidated bill.
This presents a challenge for The Firm, which has used omnibus spending bills for years to manipulate the legislative process. Before addressing The Firm’s latest challenge and how it’s responding, let’s first review some basic dynamics at play here.
An omnibus spending bill is typically written by The Firm in secret, with assistance from a few “appropriators” (members of the House and Senate spending or “appropriations” committees), hand-picked by The Firm.
Once written, an omnibus will first be seen by the public—and even by nearly every member of Congress—only days or hours before a scheduled shutdown.
The timing and sequence of a typical omnibus, carefully orchestrated by The Firm, all but ensures that it will pass without substantive changes once it becomes public and that very few elected federal lawmakers will have meaningful input in this highly secretive process.
At the same time, the fast (almost mindless) flurry of legislative action at the end of this legislative charade gives it the false appearance of democratic legitimacy.
Let's end this charade.