February 4, 2014 4:37PM 

# New CBO Budget Report 

By [Chris Edwards](https://www.cato.org/people/chris-edwards) 

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The CBO released its [new budget outlook](http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45010) today. The chart below shows total federal spending since 2000. Spending was way up under Bush and the first two years of Obama, and roughly flat since then.

Note for wonks: I’ve taken TARP out of the data to remove a distortion in the historical trend. CBO included $151 billion in TARP outlays for 2009, and then reversed out most of it from reported outlays in later years. Without this adjustment, CBO shows a $151 billion spending spike in 2009 that did not actually occur.

![Media Name: 201402_blog_edwards41.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/201402_blog_edwards41.jpg?itok=OoAsl2Ac) 

##### Related Tags 

[Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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