Fiscal year 2026 is over, and the books are closed. The Congressional Budget Office puts the deficit just shy of $2 trillion: $218 billion more than the year before, in a year with no pandemic and no recession.

Spending grew twice as fast as revenue. Outlays rose $386 billion to $7.4 trillion. Revenue rose $169 billion to $5.4 trillion. Corporate tax receipts fell 16 percent even as corporate income went up. And net interest on the debt hit $1.14 trillion, now the second-biggest line in the federal budget behind only Social Security. That works out to about $3.1 billion a day.

Host Steve Ellis is joined by TCS Director of Research and Policy Josh Sewell to close the books: what came in, what went out, and who left the tab open. They dig into why the promised tariff windfall turned into roughly $130 billion in refunds after the Supreme Court ruling, why cutting IRS funding costs more in lost collections than it saves, and what higher Treasury rates do to the interest bill. Then a year of receipts: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s deficit promises, GAO’s review of DOGE’s “Wall of Receipts,” roughly $4 billion paid to offshore wind developers to walk away from their leases, and the $810 million pocket rescission that closed out the fiscal year.

Plus: Josh turns the tables on Steve. Is this a both-parties problem or a 119th Congress problem? And what belongs on the lame-duck to-do list before the December 11th deadline.

The books on fiscal year 2026 are closed. The tab is still open.