In researching Cato’s governor report cards, I’ve found that high‐tax states appear to hand out the most special‐interest breaks and subsidies. Let’s look at some supporting data.

To date, the US has committed about $114 billion in Ukraine‐related emergency funding, equivalent to the combined 2023 budget for the Department of Homeland Security and NASA. Should Congress decide to pass additional emergency funding, Ukraine aid plus interest could top $240 billion.

With Congress currently unwilling to seriously address the entitlement spending problem that’s driving the US toward a fiscal cliff, it’s worth evaluating the possibility of more frequent episodes of fiscal dominance and their consequences.

Over the next 75 years, US taxpayers face over $73 trillion in long‐term unfunded obligations. What’s more, this unfunded obligation is entirely driven by only two federal government programs: Medicare and Social Security.

President Biden has released his proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2025 and beyond. The proposal includes a raft of spending increases, including new subsidies for childcare, housing, college, health care, paid leave, refundable tax credits, home care, and many other things. It also includes a bevy of large tax increases, including higher rates on individual income, corporate income, and capital gains.

The Maryland Department of Transportation recently announced yet another delay of the Purple Line’s opening to Winter 2027, five years after its initially planned completion in 2022. The 16.2‑mile light rail project, which will connect New Carrollton and Bethesda in Washington, DC’s northern suburbs is also way over budget.

Over the past 30 years, we estimate that emergency spending has generated almost $2 trillion in interest costs. Congress should reject the allure of costly, short‐term budget thinking and offset new emergency spending.

Legislators and the public tend to underestimate the fiscal costs of emergency spending. Emergency supplemental bills, such as the Ukraine‐Israel foreign aid package, are often billed as one‐time, temporary costs. This framing obscures the tens of billions of dollars in interest costs generated by new deficit spending.