Congress is barreling toward another missed budget deadline, marking a stunning 29 years of fiscal fumbles.
Just The News reported that the story is as predictable as it is frustrating: lawmakers are on the brink of failing to pass all 12 appropriations bills by September 30, 2025, risking a government shutdown while deficits soar and borrowing balloons, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB).
This isn’t just a one-off slip-up; it’s a decades-long pattern of dysfunction. The CRFB notes that Congress hasn’t passed a genuine budget resolution in a full decade. That’s ten years of dodging the hard work of prioritizing the nation’s needs over political posturing.
Let’s talk numbers, because they don’t lie. The federal deficit for the current fiscal year, FY2025, has already hit $1.9 trillion through August, outpacing last year’s figure of $1.8 trillion for the same period. Borrowing, too, is up, with the government taking on $1.9 trillion in debt since September 2024, per Congressional Budget Office data.
August 2025’s monthly deficit did dip slightly to $360 billion from $380 billion the prior year, but don’t celebrate yet. Federal spending for the month climbed by $17 billion compared to August 2024, even as tax revenue rose by a respectable $37 billion to $344 billion. It’s a small win drowned in a sea of red ink.
Over the past 12 months, nominal revenue reached $5.2 trillion, up from $4.9 trillion previously, but spending surged to $7.1 trillion from $6.9 trillion. The CRFB pegs the rolling FY2025 deficit at roughly 6.4% of GDP, nearly matching last year’s alarming level. Clearly, the math isn’t mathing.
“We’re less than a month away from a possible government shutdown, and lawmakers are once again finding themselves without a plan,” warns CRFB President Maya MacGuineas. If that doesn’t scream incompetence, what does? This isn’t a surprise party; it’s a yearly ritual of neglect that threatens essential services.
“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,” MacGuineas adds. Twenty-nine years! That’s longer than some congressional staffers have been alive, and yet the cycle of failure rolls on without consequence.
“This is just another sign that the budget process is completely broken,” MacGuineas continues. She’s not wrong—Congress often skips budgets entirely or cooks the books with unrealistic figures to push partisan agendas. It’s fiscal theater, not governance, and taxpayers foot the bill.
Public frustration is palpable, and who can blame them? Gallup’s latest survey shows just 24% of Americans approve of Congress’s job performance, a slight uptick from last year’s dismal 19%. That’s still a failing grade in any classroom, reflecting a deep distrust in Washington’s ability to handle the basics.
Adding insult to injury, the President hasn’t even submitted a full budget for Fiscal Year 2026. As MacGuineas quips, “Going through the process of crafting a budget around the nation’s priorities now sounds like a fairytale.” It’s hard to argue when leadership treats fiscal responsibility as optional homework.
Then there’s the debt burden, which is crushing. Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX CEO and former head of the Department of Government Efficiency until May 2025, revealed that interest payments on the national debt surpassed the entire Defense Department budget in FY2024. That’s a sobering reality check for anyone who thinks endless borrowing is sustainable.
Musk didn’t mince words about the mess, stating, “The government is basically unfixable.” It’s a grim assessment from someone tasked with trimming waste, and it underscores the uphill battle against entrenched inefficiency. Yet, his tenure showed that identifying wasteful spending is possible if the will exists.
MacGuineas offers a path forward, urging lawmakers to cut both defense and non-defense spending below current levels and extend discretionary spending caps for deficit reduction. She also cautions against piling on more debt through unfunded tax or spending changes in appropriations bills. It’s sensible advice, but will Congress listen, or just kick the can down the road again?
The clock is ticking toward September 30, 2025, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. A government shutdown looms as deficits grow, borrowing mounts, and public patience wears thin. If Congress can’t get its act together after 29 years of misses, it’s time for Americans to demand real accountability—not more excuses.
