Federal government current expenditures

What the federal government spends, in the dollars of the day.

What it measures

Federal current expenditures on a national-accounts basis: purchases of goods and services, transfer payments such as Social Security and Medicare, grants to states, and interest paid.

How it is measured

BEA national income accounts, quarterly, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. Because it is built on the accounting used for GDP, it does not match the budget outlays Congress votes on line for line.

Reading it over a presidential term

Nominal dollars again: inflation and population growth push it up regardless of policy. As a share of GDP it would be comparable across decades; as dollars it is not.

What it leaves out

Most of it is not discretionary. Benefit programs, set by law long ago, dominate the total, and they rise automatically with the retired population and with prices.

Which direction counts as better?

Spending more and spending less are both policy goals held by serious people. The site takes no position on the right size of government.

Chart this series · See it by president · Download the data · The source at FRED