Obama Budget Proves Unique in Accounting for $3.8 Trillion
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President Barack Obama’s budget outlines his ideas for how the government may spend $3.8 trillion in fiscal 2013. There’s no similar document accounting for where taxpayers’ money actually goes.
At least three federal sources tally spending, each following its own rules to produce a different total. For the 15 Cabinet-level agencies and Social Security, the White House Office of Management and Budget put expenses at $3.18 trillion in fiscal 2010, the last year for which data are complete. Ask the Census Bureau, and the amount rises by $13.1 billion to $3.19 trillion. USASpending.gov, a website Obama championed as a senator, accounts for $2.23 trillion of spending.