The fiscal year has closed, and the federal government’s annual budget deficit totaled $2 trillion in 2026. To put this otherwise incomprehensible sum into perspective: Washington spent roughly $15,000 per household more than it collected in revenue over the past 12 months.
The $2 trillion deficit isn’t the result of a national emergency or temporary circumstance. It’s the nation’s current fiscal program. Washington is expected to average $2.4 trillion in annual deficits over the next ten years.
While only a lame duck session remains in the 119th Congress, the House of Representatives has already sent several bills to the Senate that could deliver substantial taxpayer savings by helping agencies prevent fraud in federal spending programs, a problem that the Government Accountability Office estimates costs the federal government between $233 billion and $521 billion annually.
