Regardless of guarantees to chop spending throughout the marketing campaign and his first few months in workplace, President Trump‘s federal authorities has spent about $220 billion extra in his first 100 days in comparison with the identical time interval final 12 months.
Actually, the federal government is now spending extra, daily, than was spent in 9 of the final 10 years. The exception: 2021, when the federal government was spending trillions to battle the coronavirus pandemic and stop an financial catastrophe.
CBS Information analyzed the Treasury Division’s day by day monetary experiences to trace the cash flowing out of each authorities account every day since Mr. Trump returned to workplace. Right here’s a breakdown of what we discovered.
Some would possibly ask how that’s doable given the high-profile repeated bulletins of layoffs, canceled contracts, claims of fraud elimination by Mr. Trump and the Elon Musk-led Division of Authorities Effectivity and belt-tightening throughout the administration.
The reply partly lies within the fundamentals of the federal government’s funds with regards to big-ticket expenditures that the White Home can’t totally management or huge modifications to the way in which the U.S. pays for getting old People’ retirements and medical care.
The remainder of the reply is politics. The conservative base that elected Mr. Trump and the Republican majorities in Congress might not help reducing the opposite largest share of federal spending, the operations of the U.S. army and caring for veterans.
Check out among the areas representing the biggest spending and largest will increase in Mr. Trump’s first 100 days in comparison with the identical time interval in prior years.
In line with our evaluation of the Treasury Division’s day by day experiences on accounts, lots of the largest persistently rising prices are direct funds to the army and seniors.
The federal authorities’s behavior of spending extra money than it takes in means the nationwide debt is rising. Paired with increased rates of interest, the day by day price ticket of paying the curiosity on the debt is skyrocketing. The quantity over the past three months is about double the quantity paid out simply three years earlier.
And the day by day funds on bonds and different securities that present up within the Treasury Every day Assertion cowl solely money curiosity paid to public debt holders. There are different components of the federal government’s debt obligations that solely add to the associated fee.
A technique the Trump administration can influence the funds is thru the civilian workforce, and that’s been a focus of Musk and DOGE by way of layoffs and buyouts. However lots of these makes an attempt are going through authorized challenges which have delayed or reversed firings.
Regardless of the introduced employees reductions, one of many largest areas of the rising spending at first of Mr. Trump’s second time period stays federal salaries. Staff got a 2% elevate when then-President Biden signed an govt order two days earlier than Christmas, a transfer allowed due to Congress’ inaction on everlasting federal budgets.
Mixed, it’s the army and veterans, Social Safety, Medicare, Medicaid and debt funds driving the lion’s share of federal spending over the past decade. Within the final full fiscal 12 months, they accounted for almost two-thirds of federal authorities outlays. That breakdown has barely modified over the past decade.
The overwhelming majority of the tried reducing to date by DOGE has been outdoors these areas, targeted on smaller targets that may show well-liked with President Trump’s political base, resembling international support, the Training Division and grants to schools and universities.
“If the savings are rather small and the pain is high, DOGE is going to be a liability,” mentioned Nat Malkus, a senior fellow on the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, who has been monitoring DOGE’s work.
“If you really want to cut federal spending, you’re going to have to cut into the programs where the lion’s share of the money is. That’s Medicare and Medicaid, Social Security and we spend a lot of money on interest,” Malkus mentioned.
There are some vital one-year spending reductions in some companies and spending classes.
Right here’s a have a look at among the largest reductions since Mr. Trump took workplace.
“The fiscal year ends September 30. There’s still a lot more year left so let’s see where we are at the end of the year,” mentioned Stephen Miller, the White Home Deputy Chief of Employees for Coverage.
A have a look at DOGE cuts marketed
Musk’s DOGE crew has targeted its consideration on many smaller spenders amongst federal packages.
DOGE’s web site claims the duty drive has already saved that a lot, at $160 billion, between canceling grants, contracts and leases and making cuts to the federal workforce. On its “wall of receipts” web site on-line, the workplace experiences the biggest reductions to date come from the Division of Well being and Human Companies, Common Companies Administration, Division of Training, Division of Labor and Workplace of Personnel Administration.
Solely about $60 billion, or lower than 40%, of that alleged financial savings are itemized on the workplace’s on-line “wall of receipts” and even these itemizations have included errors and lax documentation.
In his work on the American Enterprise Institute, Malkus mentioned his evaluation signifies the financial savings is extra more likely to be round $80 billion.
Even the $160 billion marketed as saved to date by DOGE could be tiny within the context of the bigger federal funds and nationwide debt.
The administration has already spent about $220 billion greater than final 12 months in a bit of over three months, in line with CBS Information’ evaluation of Treasury experiences.
The marketed financial savings represents lower than 2% of a full 12 months’s nationwide funds. That’s akin to a household with $10,000 in month-to-month spending trimming its payments by $200 a month.
The supporters of the administration’s cost-cutting efforts have characterised it as essential to root out fraud and waste and to take a chew out of the nationwide debt. Nonetheless, the Treasury Division experiences that debt stands at $36 trillion as of this week.
The $160 billion marketed DOGE financial savings is about 0.5% of the debt, so the discount from DOGE’s efforts could be like a household with $10,000 in bank card balances paying it down by $50.
An unbiased evaluation by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan nonprofit that research the federal workforce, additionally reported just lately that the disruptions brought on by the DOGE cuts might have price taxpayers $135 million.
Musk just lately mentioned his work with DOGE is winding down.
Discover the spending particulars your self
You’ll be able to discover the federal government’s day by day account ledgers for your self. We’ve remoted the cash spent by class within the first few months of the Trump administration in comparison with the identical time interval in every of the final 10 years.
You’ll be able to seek for companies or spending classes beneath to see the change over time and the way a lot or much less is being spent throughout this primary 100 days of the Trump administration. We’ve restricted the desk to companies and classes with a minimum of $100 million in spending since Jan. 20, 2025.
contributed to this report.
