An explosive report has uncovered the extent of misuse of government funds. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a viral report this weekend detailing how the federal government spent over half a trillion dollars on programs that expired last year without proper authorization.
The report revealed that approximately 2,500 expired appropriations accounted for the $516 billion in spending. From the CBO: “CBO identified 1,264 authorizations of appropriations that expired before the beginning of fiscal year 2024 and 251 authorizations of appropriations that were set to expire by the end of fiscal year 2024.”
The CBO further stated: “CBO estimates that $516 billion was appropriated for 2024 for activities with expired authorizations, which the agency identified for each House and Senate authorizing committee (Table 1) and appropriations subcommittee (Table 2).”
Of the $516 billion, 24 laws were responsible for $470 billion. Notably, 21 of these 24 laws also accounted for the majority of funding in 2023 for expired authorizations. Some of these laws date back as far as 40 years.
The situation is expected to worsen, as additional authorizations are set to expire this year, including $892 billion in defense spending.
Upon learning of the report, Elon Musk responded with a raised eye emoji, highlighting concerns about government accountability.
Source: Congressional Budget Office
