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2025 United States federal budget
The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2025 runs from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. BackgroundBudget processUnder the United States budget process established in 1921, the US government is funded by twelve appropriations bills formed in response to the presidential budget request submitted to Congress in the first few months of the calendar year. The various legislators in the two chambers of Congress negotiate over the precise details of the various appropriations bills. In some politically contentious years when these negotiation processes deadlock, the Legislative Branch passes a continuing resolution that essentially extends the current funding levels into the new fiscal year until a budget can be agreed upon by a majority of both houses and signed into law by the President of the United States. Supplemental appropriations bills can provide additional appropriations for emergencies and other matters. These appropriations bills are discretionary spending, comprising around 22% of federal expenditures. The remainder is classified as mandatory spending, which includes programs such as Social Security and Medicare, as well as interest on debt.[1] Political backgroundIn the 2024 United States elections, Donald Trump was elected president, and the Republican Party won majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. However, the new Congress does not take office until January 3. This resulted in a lame-duck session for the 118th Congress, where Republicans held a narrow majority in the House, and the Democratic Party held a narrow majority in the Senate, with Democrat Joe Biden serving as president until Trump's inauguration on January 20.[2] In the 118th Congress, the far-right House Freedom Caucus has secured several House of Representatives seats.[3] Many Freedom Caucus members initially did not support the party's nominee, Kevin McCarthy, for speaker, although McCarthy won on the 15th ballot after agreeing to give hardliners seats on the Rules Committee, which controls which bills come to the floor, to lower the threshold for a motion to vacate the chair to one member, and to push for steep spending cuts.[4] However, Republican infighting and opposition from Democrats meant that Republicans were unable to pass a complete budget.[5][6] In response, McCarthy cut deals with Democrats to raise the debt ceiling and keep the government open.[7] This led to his removal as speaker and the election of Mike Johnson as speaker.[8] Johnson also cut spending deals with Democrats for fiscal year 2024, but a motion to remove him was unsuccessful.[9] Budget legislationThe Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, passed in June 2023, resolved that year's debt-ceiling crisis and set spending caps for FY2024 and FY2025. The act called for $895 billion in defense spending and $711 billion in non-defense discretionary spending for fiscal year 2025, representing a 1% increase over fiscal year 2024.[10] During the summer of 2024, House Republicans, however, looked to pass partisan spending bills, which included a 6% cut to non-defense spending and added restrictions on abortion access, environmental programs, gender-affirming care, and diversity initiatives.[11][12] Although these bills were considered dead on arrival in the Senate, Republicans hoped to pass all 12 regular appropriations bills before the August recess to gain a better hand in negotiations. They passed five bills largely along party lines but failed to pass additional bills due to internal disagreements over policy riders.[13][14] Appropriations legislationSeptember 2024 continuing resolutionOn September 9, with only 22 days left until funding appropriated in 2024 expired, the Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2025 was introduced. The bill combined a continuing appropriations provision, which renewed government funding at the previous year's levels for six more months, with a voting reform measure that would have made it compulsory to show proof of citizenship before voting in federal elections.[15] The proposed Act drew criticism from Democrats (who believed the new voting requirements could disenfranchise poor American citizens unable to afford I.D. renewal) and hardline Republicans (who were disappointed by the lack of spending cuts). On September 18, the House rejected the draft law in a 202—220 vote. 199 Republicans and 3 Democrats voted in favor; 14 Republicans and 206 Democrats voted against. In addition, two Republicans (Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie) voted "present".[16] Subsequently, House Speaker Mike Johnson proposed a clean continuing resolution funding the government until December 20.[17] The bill passed the House on September 25 by a vote of 341 to 82 and the Senate on September 26 by 78 to 18; it was signed into law by President Biden later that day.[18][19] December 2024 continuing resolutionFirst proposalOn December 17, congressional leaders released a bipartisan continuing resolution. The bill contained an extension of government funding to March 14, 2025, a one-year extension of the farm bill, and $110 billion in disaster aid.[20] The bill, which was 1,547 pages, was described as a Christmas tree bill due to its inclusion of unrelated policy riders.[21] These included $10 billion in economic aid for farmers, restrictions on US capital investment in China, transferring ownership of RFK Stadium to the District of Columbia allowing for a new Washington Commanders stadium, extensions of numerous healthcare programs, legislation requiring pharmacy benefit managers to pass 100% of rebates to sponsors of prescription drug plans, several tech and AI related bills, legislation requiring ticket sellers to list the full prices of each ticket, provisions allowing gas stations to sell E15 fuel year-round, and an effective 3.8% pay increase for members of Congress.[22][23][24][25][26][27] Even before the bill was released, numerous hardline Republicans came out against it, criticizing the lack of member input in its development and the riders, which they called unnecessary and wasteful.[28][29] Elon Musk, a top Republican donor and proposed head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, posted over 100 times on X in opposition to the bill, making numerous misleading claims, and was widely credited for its eventual defeat.[30][31][32] About 12 hours after Musk first came out against the package, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance released a statement criticizing the deal, calling it a "Democrat giveaway," leading to Johnson abandoning the bill.[33] Trump called for pairing government funding with an increase to the debt ceiling, which was scheduled to be reached sometime between January and June of 2025, and later argued it should be abolished entirely.[34] Democrats criticized Republicans for walking away from a bipartisan deal after Musk, the richest man in the world, came out against it, with Senator Bernie Sanders calling it "oligarchy at work" and many insinuating that Musk was the "shadow president."[30][35][36] Second proposalOn December 19, President-elect Donald Trump issued a statement demanding the removal of additional spending (except for disaster relief and aid to farmers) and the suspension of the debt ceiling (due to be reached in 2025).[37] After several hours of negotiations, House Republicans announced the American Relief Act the same day. The bill, similar to the previous one, extended government funding to March 14 while providing disaster aid and prolonging the farm bill but also suspended the debt ceiling until 2027. It removed most of the riders in the previous bill, except for economic assistance for farmers and some healthcare extensions.[38] Trump announced his support for the bill.[39] Democratic leaders quickly came out against the bill, saying they were not involved in the negotiations and that the bill, which removed most riders sought by Democrats while keeping those sought by Republicans, was "laughable."[40] However, many hardline Republicans opposed raising the debt ceiling without spending cuts.[41][42] Republicans brought the bill to the floor later that day under suspension of the rules, which requires a 2/3rds majority to pass.[43] The House rejected the proposal by a vote of 174 to 235, with most Democrats joining 38 Republicans in voting against it. Jeffries criticized Republicans for abandoning the bipartisan deal at the very last moment.[44]
Third proposalOne day after the rejection of the second proposal, Republicans released a third remodeled bill, which was essentially the same as the second bill but without the suspension of the debt ceiling as proposed by Donald Trump.[46] Republicans also announced that they had reached a handshake agreement with President-elect Trump to cut $2.5 trillion in government spending in exchange for a $1.5 trillion debt ceiling hike. The agreement was not part of the third proposal nor voted on by the House.[47] The bill was passed on December 20 in the House by a 366–34 vote, with one member voting present. Only one Democrat did not vote for the bill, while 34 Republicans voted against it.[46][48] Early the next morning, in the Senate, the bill passed by an 85–11 vote,[49] and Biden signed the bill later that day, funding the government through March 14, 2025.[50] Although the deadline had passed before the bill was voted and signed in, as federal funding is tracked daily, the Office of Management and Budget didn't activate the shutdown procedures and directed agencies to continue normal operations based on the high probability of the resolution being passed following the successful House vote.[51]
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