How Much Does America Spend?

Discussions about federal spending are difficult because the numbers are so large that they can be difficult to grasp.How many ordinary folks can truly comprehend how much $1 billion — that’s a thousand millions — is? And still, it’s a rounding error (just 0.01 percent of spending) compared with the nearly $7 trillion federal budget.This is the context for the federal spending cuts led by President Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Last week, the administration announced its latest dismissals: 10,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services.That sounds like a lot of people, but it’s small for a government that employs three million civilian workers.How much has DOGE pared back so far? Federal spending is actually higher this year than it was at this point in 2024, according to the Hamilton Project.Today’s newsletter walks through what the federal government spends money on, to clarify these big numbers and show the actual effects of Trump’s efforts.Growing debtSince the early 2000s, the federal government has spent more money — sometimes much more — than it collects in taxes.

That has caused the debt to grow to levels not seen since World War II....