In Fiscal Year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022, through Sept. 30, 2023) the federal government spent about $6.2 trillion, or approximately $18,400 per person. This was 8.5% less than the previous fiscal year but 15.9% more than in FY 2019.
Social Security payments totaled $1.4 trillion and Medicare benefits totaled $847.6 billion.
Social Security and Medicare are two of the largest individual programs funded by the federal government. In FY 2023, 22% of the federal budget was devoted to Social Security and 14% was dedicated to Medicare. These programs are part of the government’s “mandatory spending,” which is required by law and is not subject to annual congressional appropriations.
For example, the federal government is required to provide Social Security payments to all eligible beneficiaries at levels specified in the Social Security Act, regardless of cost. Congress does not have the power to reduce mandatory program spending unless it changes the rules or laws regarding the programs themselves.
Almost 67,077,000 people, or about 1 in every 5 U.S. citizens, received a Social Security payment in December 2023. The average Social Security benefit in February 2024 was approximately $1,862 per month, or about $22,344 annually, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute. Social Security is still a self-sustaining program.
In Oklahoma, 838,254 residents – 1 of every 4.8 people in the Sooner State – received Social Security benefits in December 2023, the Social Security Administration reported. That number included 593,586 retired workers, 114,577 disabled workers, 52,955 widows/widowers and parents, 19,726 spouses, and 57,410 children. Of those beneficiaries, 632,897 were aged 65 or older, according to the SSA.
Mandatory spending increased from 45% of the budget in FY 1980 to 62% in FY 2023.
The second type of federal spending is “discretionary.” This type of spending funds programs such as education and defense and is subject to congressional appropriations each year. Congress can increase or decrease discretionary spending each year depending on national priorities. Discretionary spending was 28% of the federal budget in FY 2023. U.S. defense spending that year totaled $1.1 trillion, more than the next nine countries combined.
Meanwhile, 18% of federal spending went to a large grouping of “other” programs, ranging from $31 billion for Pell Grants (federal student aid) to $124 billion for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (often referred to as “food stamps”) and $17 billion for technology infrastructure.
In addition to mandatory and discretionary spending, the federal government also has to make interest payments on the national debt. Net interest is the cost of debt from past borrowing and is not tied to specific programs or policies Congress can adjust each year.
Interest payments on the national debt in FY 2023 amounted to $658.3 billion, which constituted 10.7% of government spending that year.
The federal government spent $6.75 trillion through September 2024. The total accumulated national debt that month was $34.3 trillion, or $102,000 per person.