What is the total federal budget for 2025?
Executive summary
The federal government’s fiscal year 2025 budget request published by the White House and companion materials put the President’s proposed topline at roughly $7.3 trillion, while enacted funding and budget outcomes for FY2025 are reported and analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office and Treasury data showing a fiscal-year deficit of roughly $1.8–$1.9 trillion (CBO). The administration’s formal FY2025 Budget documents are on govinfo/GPO and the White House (President’s request) while CBO’s end‑of‑year and monthly reviews provide the outlays, receipts, and deficit totals [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. What “total federal budget” can mean — headline distinctions
When people ask “What is the total federal budget for 2025?” they may mean different measures: the President’s budget request (a proposal), Congressional budget resolutions and appropriations (statutory discretionary caps), actual federal outlays (what the government spent), or the deficit and debt outcomes (how spending compared with receipts). The President’s FY2025 request is a messaging/planning document published via OMB/GPO (available on govinfo), whereas the Congressional Budget Office provides official estimates of actual outlays, receipts and the deficit for FY2025 [1] [5] [4].
2. The President’s FY2025 topline: a $7.3 trillion request
The Biden administration’s FY2025 Budget Request released by the White House and published on govinfo describes an approximate $7.3 trillion topline for the President’s proposals — this is the administration’s requested level and not the enacted, legally binding appropriation for the year [6] [1]. The President’s Budget lays out priorities and policy proposals and serves as the starting point for congressional action [1].
3. Congressional and statutory limits for discretionary spending
Congress manages annual discretionary spending through appropriations and was operating under statutory discretionary caps for FY2025 set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act; committee-level guidance and appropriations work used topline discretionary caps around $1.605–$1.61 trillion for discretionary spending in FY2025 (including a bipartisan agreement on roughly $34.5 billion in emergency spending) [7]. Those numbers refer only to discretionary—non‑mandatory—spending, not the entire federal budget [7].
4. Actual FY2025 results: CBO’s outlays, receipts and deficit
The Congressional Budget Office’s summaries for FY2025 report that federal receipts and outlays produced a fiscal-year deficit of about $1.8 trillion for FY2025 (CBO’s FY‑end summary) and CBO projections earlier in the year cited a projected FY2025 deficit around $1.9 trillion. Monthly CBO reviews show trends such as a large April revenue inflow and monthly deficits; the agency’s Monthly Budget Review and end‑of‑year summary are the best readily available sources for actual FY2025 totals [3] [4] [8].
5. How Treasury and OMB reporting fit together
Treasury’s Fiscal Data portal and Monthly Treasury Statements provide detailed outlays by category and are the raw financial records of what the government paid; OMB’s publications present the President’s request and budget tables. For authoritative enacted spending/outlay totals and daily cash flows, researchers look to Treasury’s data while analysts use CBO for nonpartisan scoring and end‑of‑year deficit comparisons [9] [5].
6. Why different sources give different “totals”
Differences arise because the President’s request (~$7.3 trillion) is a proposed budget (policy choices), statutory discretionary caps (~$1.605–$1.61 trillion) apply only to discretionary spending (not mandatory programs like Social Security or Medicare), and CBO/Treasury report actual outlays and deficits (actual spending minus receipts) that determine the FY2025 deficit (~$1.8–$1.9 trillion). Each number answers a different question: proposal, legal spending cap for part of the budget, or actual fiscal outcomes [6] [7] [3] [4].
7. What reporting does not say (limitations)
Available sources do not mention a single “official total” that simultaneously equals the President’s request, Congressional caps, and CBO/Treasury outlays; the phrase “total federal budget” therefore requires clarification of which metric is intended. Specific line‑item reconciliations and final enacted appropriations for every account are available in the official OMB/GPO and Treasury datasets but are not summarized as one short single number in the sources provided here [1] [5] [9].
8. Bottom line for readers seeking a single figure
If you mean the administration’s proposed total, use the President’s FY2025 Budget Request (~$7.3 trillion) as published by OMB/GPO [6] [1]. If you mean actual fiscal outcomes, use CBO’s final FY2025 accounting: roughly $1.8 trillion deficit with receipts and outlays detailed in CBO’s Monthly Budget Review and summary [3] [8]. For discretionary‑only limits, use the roughly $1.605–$1.61 trillion caps reported to guide FY2025 appropriations [7].