Perhaps the single biggest legislative fight this year has been over federal spending. There’s a good reason for that: The national debt is now an eye-popping $32.5 trillion (roughly $250,000 per household), and out-of-control deficit spending is one of the main reasons why families are struggling with inflation .
In May, Congress passed a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for reforms that would supposedly reduce spending levels. Some parts of the deal were good, but as we learn more about the details of the package, it looks more and more like a raw deal for current and future taxpayers.
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Rather than simply living with lower spending levels, Congress is going to extreme lengths to hide spending within the limits. Not only does this reduce the amount of inflation-fighting deficit reduction, but it could ultimately mean more spending when this year’s appropriations process is done.
The best example of that is an obscure, strangely worded provision tucked into the debt limit deal that provides $11 billion for a “Nonrecurring Expenses Fund” within the Department of Commerce. If you haven’t heard of this, you’re not alone. The fund is meant to cover things like upgrading obsolete equipment owned by the federal government.
When Congress created the fund in 2019 , they provided it only $20 million to last through 2022. If the fund only needed $20 million over the span of 2019 through 2022, how could it use $11 billion now? The answer is: It can’t.
That’s because the $11 billion figure is an authorization; meaning, it allows spending up to that amount, like with a credit card limit. However, the fund is designed to spend only a much smaller amount in reality.