Congress close to missing 'basic' budget deadline for 29th year, watchdog group says

Congress is on its way to missing a "basic" budget deadline for the 29th year in a row, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Meanwhile, the deficit so far into the current fiscal year is larger than the same period last year. 

"We’re less than a month away from a possible government shutdown, and lawmakers are once again finding themselves without a plan to keep the government funded," said Maya MacGuineas, CRFB's president. "If all 12 appropriations aren’t signed into law by September 30, it will be the 29th year in a row that they failed to meet the most basic deadline in budgeting. That’s not a streak to be proud of."

MacGuineas said that the current spending showdown is the latest example of how broken the budgeting process is in Washington.

"This is just another sign that the budget process is completely broken. Congress hasn’t passed a real budget resolution in 10 years. Often, they pass no budget at all. And when they do pass one, it’s either full of fantasy math, simply an excuse to facilitate the passage of partisan reconciliation bills, or both," she said. "Going through the process of crafting a budget around the nation’s priorities now sounds like a fairytale – in fact, the President hasn’t even bothered to submit a full budget for Fiscal Year 2026."

The federal government has borrowed $1.9 trillion so far into FY2025 from September 2024 through August 2025, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data. The borrowing is slightly higher than the same time period of fiscal year 2024.

However, the monthly deficit for August is lower than last year. 

The deficit was $360 billion in August 2025, which is down from $380 billion in August 2024. 

According to CBO data, federal tax revenue for August 2025 was $344 billion, which is a $37 billion increase compared to August 2024. 

Spending in August 2025 was $17 billion higher than August 2024.

In total, the deficit so far into FY2025 is $1.9 trillion compared to $1.8 trillion during the same time period of FY2024.

The CRFB estimated that the FY2025 rolling deficit is about 6.4% of GDP, which is close to FY2024.

"Over the past 12 months, total nominal revenue was $5.2 trillion compared to $4.9 trillion over the same period prior. Nominal spending was $7.1 trillion over the past 12 months compared to $6.9 trillion the same period prior," read a CRFB analysis.

MacGuineas suggested that lawmakers should work to avoid a shutdown and improve the fiscal situation of the country at the same time. 

"In light of our massive debt, they should reduce both defense and non-defense spending levels below their current levels and extend the expiring discretionary spending caps to enforce additional deficit reduction," she said. 

"They should also avoid adding to the debt under the appropriations bill through coupling it with unpaid-for tax or spending changes, reducing needed program-integrity funding, or waiving budget enforcement such as the Statutory PAYGO sequester," she added.

The latest Gallup polling shows that 24% of the public approves of the way Congress is handling its job as an institution. Last August, that number was even lower at 19%. 

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who ran President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency through May, recently said that the federal government is beyond repair.

Musk was tasked with reducing the federal budget by finding wasteful government spending and ways to improve efficiency at agencies. 

"The government is basically unfixable," Musk said, adding that the interest payments on the national debt exceeded the entire Defense Department budget in FY2024.