United States federal government¶
| Level | national |
| Part of | United States |
| Seat | Washington, D.C. |
| Governing body | Congress (appropriations and authorizing laws) and the President; budget execution by OMB and the Treasury |
| Fiscal year | October 1 to September 30 (FY2026 began Oct. 1, 2025) |
| Official websites | https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/, https://www.usaspending.gov/, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/, https://www.cbo.gov/, https://www.gao.gov/ |
| Repository | https://github.com/govspends/us-national |
Investigations
| Investigation | Status | Headline |
|---|---|---|
| United States: how federal spending is controlled, and the Social Security and Medicare trust funds | Revision 1 (Oct. 6, 2026), not yet independently reviewed | Spending is controlled against appropriations, not authorizations ($494B of FY2026 money went to programs with expired authorizations); mandatory programs were 59.5% of FY2025 outlays; general revenue paid $571.7B of Medicare Parts B and D in 2025; Social Security's retirement fund runs out in late 2032 and Medicare Part A's in 2033. |
The federal government spends only what Congress provides by law. Congress passes authorizing laws, which create programs and sometimes say how much may be appropriated, and appropriations acts, which give agencies the legal authority to commit and pay money. Most discretionary spending is provided each year in twelve regular appropriations bills (or a continuing resolution when they are late). Most spending, however, is mandatory: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other benefits are paid under permanent laws that set who is eligible and how much they receive, and interest on the debt is paid under a permanent appropriation, so their cost is whatever those rules produce in a year.
The fiscal year runs from October 1 to September 30 and is named for the calendar year in which it ends. The President's budget request is due in early February; the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes its own baseline and scores legislation for Congress; the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) apportions appropriations to agencies; the Treasury keeps the government's accounts, one Treasury Account Symbol per appropriation and period of availability, and publishes receipts and outlays monthly; the Government Accountability Office (GAO) audits, issues appropriations-law decisions and receives reports of violations. Account-level and award-level spending is published on USAspending.gov.
The Social Security and Medicare trust funds are accounts inside the Treasury that record dedicated taxes, premiums and transfers and the benefits paid from them; their Boards of Trustees report on them every year.