Budget Watchdog All Federal

Fiscal year 2026 is over, and the books are closed. The Congressional Budget Office puts the deficit just shy of $2 trillion: $218 billion more than the year before, in a year with no pandemic and no recession. Spending grew twice as fast as revenue. Outlays rose $386 billion to $7.4 trillion. Revenue rose $169 billion to $5.4 trillion. Corporate tax receipts fell 16 percent even as corporate inco...

It's the last week of fiscal year 2026, and for once there's no shutdown drama. A continuing resolution runs through December 11. But late Friday, the White House sent Congress $810 million in "pocket rescissions." That's money Congress appropriated and the president signed into law, which the administration now plans to hold until it expires at midnight Wednesday. Congres...

This week, three numbers, one fiscal year. The Congressional Budget Office projects $1.1 trillion in net interest on the national debt in fiscal year 2027. The Pentagon is asking for $1.5 trillion. And in Dallas on September 9th, the president promised every adult citizen $5,000 if Republicans hold Congress. Multiply it out and that is roughly $1.2 trillion, about the size of the interest bill. Ho...

Ground beef hit a record $6.90 a pound in spring 2026 and has stayed there — $6.89 in July. And in August, the Trump administration responded three times in eight days: a 300,000 metric-ton import quota, a signed proclamation, and a social media post promising ranchers could process and sell their own cattle. Objections came from inside the president's own party, with more than a dozen Republ...

There is an iron law of building complicated things, and it applies to your kitchen renovation exactly the same way it applies to a nuclear-powered warship: the most expensive moment in any project is the moment somebody changes their mind after the work has started. A new presidential memorandum directs the Navy to plan for ripping electromagnetic catapults out of carriers already under construct...

The House passes a CR with two months left on the clock. A punt is a concession you make when you've run out of downs. The House made this one on first down. With more than two months left in the fiscal year and none of the twelve appropriations bills finished, it passed a continuing resolution funding the government at fiscal year 2026 levels through December 4th, largely on party lines. App...

The Pentagon's FY2027 budget request comes in at $1.54 trillion — a 45% increase over current spending. TCS teamed up with the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) on a new report, How to Cut a Half a Trillion Dollars from the Pentagon Budget Request and Strengthen National Security , identifying nearly $500 billion in defensible cuts to acquisition programs. Gabe Murphy (TCS) is joined by...

America turns 250, and the fiscal ledger is sobering: $39.3 trillion in national debt — 85% of it accumulated in just the last 25 years. TCS President Steve Ellis and Director of Research & Policy Josh Sewell set aside the holiday Wastebasket they planned to write and instead take a hard look at how the republic arrived here. From the $430 million in daily debt averaged across 250 years, to $8...

The House Armed Services Committee spent all of Thursday, June 4th, marking up the National Defense Authorization Act, and what happened inside that room was anything but routine. TCS Policy Analyst Gabe Murphy was there for the debate, and he joins Steve Ellis to break down an unprecedented fight over the Pentagon's $1.14 trillion top line, a bipartisan push on military right to repair that...

America has spent $1.5 trillion on federal surface transportation since the early '90s. Roads and bridges: same condition as 2001. So where did the money go? Steve Ellis talks with Beth Osborne of Smart Growth America about Repair Priorities 2026 , a new TCS-partnered report tracking how states actually spend federal highway dollars — and why expansion keeps winning over maintenance, no matte...

The U.S. economy grew at a solid 2% annual rate in the first quarter of 2026. So why is Taxpayers for Common Sense sounding the alarm? Because at the same moment, the national debt held by the public crossed 100% of GDP — a threshold once considered unthinkable. TCS President Steve Ellis and Director of Research and Policy Josh Sewell break down why good economic news and a historic debt milestone...

Gas prices are above $4 a gallon. Crude oil is past $100 a barrel. And Washington is doing what Washington does — pointing to federal leasing as the fix. But is it? TCS President Steve Ellis sits down with TCS Vice President Autumn Hanna to break down exactly how global oil markets work, why a domestic leasing policy can't move a global price, and what the numbers actually say about royalty r...

The president has released his fiscal year 2027 budget request — and buried inside the rhetoric about "historic paradigm shifts" and the end of "fiscal futility" is a $1.5 trillion Pentagon spending request. A 44% increase in a single year. And that's before the Iran War supplemental reportedly in the pipeline. TCS President Steve Ellis brings in national security analyst...

Taxpayers for Common Sense doesn't just watch Congress — sometimes it sits at the witness table. Last week TCS President Steve Ellis testified before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance on flood insurance, repetitive loss properties, and mitigation. With reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program on the horizon, we take you inside the hearing room t...

Two weeks into the U.S. military campaign against Iran — launched without congressional authorization — the costs are staggering. Estimates put taxpayer exposure at up to $28 billion already, with no clear end in sight. TCS President Steve Ellis sits down with TCS policy analyst Gabe Murphy to break down what we know: the human toll, the daily cost of operations, the shifting justifications from t...

While breaking news about U.S. military action against Iran dominates the headlines, a consequential piece of legislation quietly cleared a major hurdle in Washington. In the early morning hours of March 5th, after a 20-hour marathon markup session, the House Agriculture Committee voted 34-17 to advance the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026 — dubbed "Farm Bill 2.0." With the...

In a historic 6-3 ruling the U.S. Supreme Court struck down President Trump's sweeping global tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), holding that the Constitution's taxing power belongs squarely to Congress — not the executive branch. TCS President Steve Ellis and Director of Research and Policy Josh Sewell break down the ruling in real time. The c...

TCS President Steve Ellis and Policy Analyst Gabe Murphy break down President Trump's Golden Dome missile defense program—an ambitious vision to shield the entire United States from nuclear attack. With potential costs ranging from $3.6 to $6 trillion and fundamental technical challenges that make near-perfect interception virtually impossible, Golden Dome represents fiscal irresponsibility o...

Congress faces a partial government shutdown at midnight over Department of Homeland Security funding—but the border enforcement operations at the center of the fight will continue largely uninterrupted. Last summer's reconciliation bill locked in $170 billion for immigration enforcement through 2029, sitting outside the annual appropriations process. This means agencies like FEMA, TSA, and t...

Just when you thought Pentagon spending couldn't get more out of control, President Trump proposes a 50% budget increase in one year—rocketing Defense spending from $901 billion to $1.5 trillion. That's $500 billion more... and tariffs won't cover it. On Budget Watchdog All Federal, host Steve Ellis and TCS policy analyst Gabe Murphy break down why this "dream military" pr...

The Trump administration has announced a $12 billion agricultural bailout package as trade wars squeeze American farmers—a familiar scenario from the first Trump administration. TCS Director of Research and Policy Josh Sewell joins host Steve Ellis to break down the "Farmers to Family Bridge Aid" package, examining who receives payments, what's actually in the relief, and whether a...

With nearly 30 billion-dollar extreme weather events in 2024 alone, disaster costs are spiraling out of control—and Congress is finally taking action. Steve Ellis sits down with TCS Director of Research Josh Sewell and Policy Analyst Tyler Work to examine the FEMA Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation that could modernize America's approach to disaster preparedness and response. They explore wh...

Nearly half a billion dollars spent, families separated over the holidays, small businesses operating short-staffed, and violent crime was already declining. TCS Policy Analyst Gabe Murphy breaks down the mounting taxpayer costs of National Guard deployments to Los Angeles, DC, Chicago, Portland, and Memphis, explaining why these expensive missions are a solution in search of a problem. From the u...

After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history has ended. But at what cost? Steve Ellis and Josh Sewell break down the $60 billion price tag taxpayers absorbed for absolutely nothing. Beyond the waste, the Trump administration used the shutdown to expand executive control over federal spending, bypassing Congress to reallocate funds and lay off thousands of workers. The compromise...

In the midst of a full government shutdown, the Trump administration has taken an unprecedented step: firing thousands of federal workers while government funding remains frozen. The problem? This might violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, a law on the books since 1884 that prevents the government from spending money it doesn't have. TCS President Steve Ellis and Director of Research and Policy J...