# Federal Budget FY2024 The fiscal year **Oct 1, 2023 – Sep 30, 2024** — fully under the Biden administration. Final, audited actuals. **Headline:** outlays **$6.74 trillion**, revenues **$4.92 trillion**, deficit **$1.82 trillion** — the **6.3% of GDP** deficit was unusually large for an economy near full employment, a fact the right used heavily against the Biden record. Debt held by the public ended at **$28.31 trillion**. This is the year [[Net Interest on the Debt]] began its sprint toward $1 trillion, reaching $881B (function basis) / $949B (public-debt basis). ## Headline totals | Metric | FY2024 | vs FY2023 | |---|--:|--:| | Total outlays | $6,735B | +9.8% | | Total revenues | $4,918B | +10.7% | | Deficit | −$1,817B | from −$1,694B | | Deficit % of GDP | −6.3% | from −6.2% | | Debt held by public (EOY) | $28,310B | +$1,980B | | Gross federal debt (EOY) | $35,460B | +$2,290B | ## Outlays by budget function (cash basis) $ billions; from the Treasury Combined Statement. See [[Budget Functions]]. | Function | FY2024 | |---|--:| | 650 [[Social Security]] | 1,460.9 | | 550 Health ([[Medicaid]], ACA, CHIP) | 911.7 | | 900 [[Net Interest on the Debt]] | 881.0 | | 570 [[Medicare]] | 874.1 | | 050 National Defense ([[Defense Spending Landscape]]) | 874.0 | | 600 [[Income Security]] | 671.1 | | 700 [[Veterans Benefits]] | 325.6 | | 500 Education, Training, Employment & Social Services | 304.6 | | 400 Transportation | 137.1 | | 450 Community & Regional Development | 87.8 | | 300 Natural Resources & Environment | 56.9 | | 150 International Affairs | 56.4 | | 250 General Science, Space & Technology | 41.6 | | 370 Commerce & Housing Credit | 35.6 | | 350 Agriculture | 34.7 | | 800 General Government | 29.7 | | 270 Energy | 13.8 | | 950 Undistributed Offsetting Receipts | −146.7 | | **Total** | **6,734.9** | ## Outlays by agency (cash basis) Who actually spent the money in FY2024, $ billions — net outlays, cash basis, from the Treasury Monthly Treasury Statement (Table 5). The companion to the by-function table: functions answer *what for*, agencies answer *by whom*. | Agency | FY2024 | |---|--:| | Health & Human Services | 1,720.6 | | Social Security Administration | 1,519.7 | | Treasury (incl. ~$1,133B interest) | 1,316.9 | | Defense — Military | 826.3 | | [[Department of Veterans Affairs]] | 325.0 | | Education (inflated by student-loan reestimate) | 267.9 | | Agriculture | 203.4 | | Transportation | 117.4 | | Office of Personnel Management | 126.2 | | Homeland Security | 89.3 | | Labor | 65.0 | | Housing & Urban Development | 52.0 | | Energy | 49.3 | | Justice | 44.0 | | Undistributed offsetting receipts | −330.6 | | All other agencies (net) | 290.0 | | **Total** | **6,734.9** | The standout is **Education at $268B** — a one-time accounting spike from the upward student-loan cost reestimate booked that year, which reverses in FY2025 (down to $35B). It is an artifact, not a real program of that size. ## The RWKB read The 6.3%-of-GDP deficit in a non-recession year became a core conservative indictment of the Biden record and the rationale for the [[DOGE]] experiment and the [[Rescission and Impoundment]] push that followed in 2025. But the math is mostly mandatory: see [[Discretionary vs Mandatory Spending]]. ## Sources - CBO, *Monthly Budget Review* FY2024 / Summary FY2025 (totals, net interest). - U.S. Treasury, *Combined Statement* FY2025 (FY2024 comparative column) — function table. - U.S. Treasury, *Monthly Treasury Statement* Table 5 (Outlays by Agency), final FY2025 (FY2024 prior-year column) — agency cash table. - GAO, *Schedules of Federal Debt* FY2024. ## Related - [[Federal Budget FY2023]] · [[Federal Budget FY2025]] · [[Budget Hub]] - [[Federal Deficit and National Debt]] · [[Inflation Reduction Act]]