President Donald Trump returned to the White House with a promise to slash spending by trillions of dollars and balance the federal budget.

But, as the first fiscal year of his second term came to a close, progress had not been made on either of those goals.

Despite the high-profile efforts of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the 2025 federal fiscal year ended with the federal government having spent more money than it did in the previous fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported this week. For the fiscal year that ended on September 30, the federal government spent a little more than $7 trillion, a $301 billion increase from FY 2024.

Because tax collections climbed by $308 billion over last year's total, the overall budget deficit fell by a scant $8

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