Federal spending for FY2024 will be 'largest' ever outside a crisis, CBO data shows

The latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projections show that federal spending for fiscal year 2024 will be "the largest it’s ever been outside a crisis – far exceeding pre-pandemic levels," according to an analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

"Spending has grown from 20.9 percent of GDP in FY 2019 to an estimated 23.9 percent of GDP in 2024," read the analysis released on Friday. "Most of this recorded spending growth is due to the rising cost of interest payments on the national debt and non-health, non-Social Security mandatory spending."

CBO projections show that federal spending will total 24.1% of GDP over the next 10 years, which is "significantly higher than the 21.0 percent of GDP average over the last 50 years," according to the CRFB's analysis. 

"Spending this year is estimated to total 23.9 percent of GDP, which is 14 percent and 3.0 percentage points of GDP higher than it was in 2019. It is also 2.4 percent of GDP higher than projected in CBO’s January 2020 baseline, suggesting this increase was largely unanticipated," CRFB also said.

The national debt has "grown from 79 to 99 percent of GDP over this time, while the 3-month Treasury yield has increased from 2.2 to 5.2 percent and the 10-year yield from 2.5 to 4.5 percent."