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3/19/2020

Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury,
and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, on Budget Results for Fiscal Year 2017
October 20, 2017

View receipts by source
View outlays by agency
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and O ice of Management
and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney today released details of the fiscal year (FY) 2017 final
budget results. The deficit in FY 2017 was $666 billion, $80 billion more than in the prior fiscal
year, but $36 billion less than forecast in the FY 2018 Mid-Session Review (MSR). As a percentage
of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the deficit was 3.5 percent, 0.3 percentage point higher than
the previous year.[1]
Growth in spending outpaced growth in tax receipts for the second year in a row as a result of
historically subpar economic growth. Rising deficits show that smart spending restraint and
pursuing policies that promote economic growth, like tax reform and reductions in regulatory
burden, are critically necessary to promote long-term fiscal sustainability.
“Today’s budget results underscore the importance of achieving robust and sustained economic
growth. Through a combination of tax reform and regulatory relief, this country can return to
higher levels of GDP growth, helping to erase our fiscal deficit,” said Secretary Mnuchin. “The
Administration’s pro-growth policies will create better, higher-paying jobs, make American
businesses competitive again, and bring back cash from o shore to invest here at home. This
will help place the nation on a path to improved fiscal health and create prosperity for
generations to come.”
“These numbers should serve as a smoke alarm for Washington, a reminder that we need to
grow our economy again and get our fiscal house in order. We can do that through smart
spending restraint, tax reform, and cutting red tape,” said Director Mulvaney.
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Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

Summary of Fiscal Year 2017 Budget Results
Year-end data from the September 2017 Monthly Treasury Statement of Receipts and Outlays of

the United States Government show that the deficit for FY 2017 was $666 billion, $80 billion
higher than the prior year's deficit. As a percentage of GDP, the deficit was 3.5 percent, an
increase from 3.2 percent in FY 2016 and above the average of 3.1 percent over the last 40 years.
The FY 2017 deficit of $666 billion was $63 billion greater than the estimate in the FY 2018
Budget (Budget), and $36 billion less than estimated in the MSR, a supplemental update to the
Budget published in July.
Table 1. Total Receipts, Outlays, and Deficit (in billions of dollars)
Receipts
Outlays
Deficit
FY 2016 Actual
3,267
3,852
-586
Percentage of 17.7%
20.9%
3.2%
GDP
FY 2017 Estimates:
2018 Budget
3,460
4,062
-603
2018 Mid3,344
4,045
-702
Session Review
FY 2017 Actual
3,315
3,981
-666
Percentage of 17.3%
20.7%
3.5%
GDP
Note: Detail may not add to totals due to rounding.

Government receipts totaled $3,315 billion in FY 2017. This was $48 billion higher than in FY
2016, an increase of 1.5 percent, below expectations from both the Budget and the MSR. As a
percentage of GDP, receipts equaled 17.3 percent, 0.4 percentage point lower than in FY 2016
and 0.1 percentage point below the average over the last 40 years. The dollar increase in
receipts for FY 2017 can be attributed to higher social insurance and retirement receipts and net
individual income taxes, partially o set by lower deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve.
Outlays grew in FY 2017, but by less than expected in the Budget and the MSR, and decreased
slightly as a percentage of GDP. Outlays were $3,981 billion, $128 billion above those in FY 2016,
a 3.3 percent increase. As a percentage of GDP, outlays were 20.7 percent, 0.1 percentage point
lower than in the prior year, but above the 40-year average of 20.5 percent. Contributing to the
dollar increase over FY 2016 were higher outlays for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and
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Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

interest on the public debt. In addition, one-time upward revisions in estimates of credit subsidy
for outstanding Federal loans and loan guarantees, primarily in the Departments of Education
and Housing and Urban Development, increased outlays relative to FY 2016 by $55 billion.
Lower spectrum auction receipts and higher spending by the Federal Emergency Management
Administration for hurricane relief and recovery also contributed to the increase.
Total Federal borrowing from the public increased by $498 billion during FY 2017 to $14,667
billion. The increase in borrowing included $666 billion in borrowing to finance the deficit,
partly o set by $167 billion related to other transactions that on net reduced the Government’s
financing requirements, such as changes in cash balances and net disbursements for Federal
credit programs. As a percentage of GDP, borrowing from the public declined from 76.7 percent
of GDP at the end of FY 2016 to 76.3 percent of GDP at the end of FY 2017.
Below are explanations of the di erences between estimates in the MSR and the year-end actual
amounts for receipts and agency outlays.
Fiscal Year 2017 Receipts
Total receipts for FY 2017 were $3,314.9 billion, $28.7 billion lower than the MSR estimate of
$3,343.6 billion. This net decrease in receipts was primarily attributable to lower-than-estimated
collections of deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve, other miscellaneous receipts, and
corporation income tax receipts. Table 2 displays actual receipts and estimates from the Budget
and the MSR by source.
Individual income taxes were $1,587.1 billion, $3.2 billion higher than the MSR estimate.
This increase is the net e ect of higher withheld payments of individual income tax liability
of $2.7 billion, lower nonwithheld payments of $1.7 billion, and lower-than-estimated
refunds of $2.2 billion.
Corporation income taxes were $297.0 billion, $5.4 billion below the MSR estimate. This
di erence reflects lower-than-expected payments of 2017 corporation income tax liability of
$3.2 billion and higher-than-estimated refunds of $2.2 billion.
Social insurance and retirement receipts were $1,161.9 billion, $1.0 billion lower than the
MSR estimate. This reduction is the result of lower-than-estimated deposits by States to the
unemployment insurance trust fund of $1.0 billion.
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Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

Excise taxes were $83.8 billion, $3.7 billion below the MSR estimate.
Estate and gi taxes were $22.8 billion, $0.4 billion below the MSR estimate.
Customs duties were $34.6 billion, roughly equal to the MSR estimate.
Miscellaneous receipts were $127.7 billion, $21.5 billion below the MSR estimate. Lowerthan-expected deposits of earnings by the Federal Reserve accounted for $10.3 billion of
this decrease relative to the MSR. The remaining decrease was attributable to lower-thanexpected collections of various fees, penalties, forfeitures, and fines.
Fiscal Year 2017 Outlays
Total outlays were $3,980.6 billion for FY 2017, $64.7 billion below the MSR estimate. Table 3
displays actual outlays by agency and major program as well as estimates from the Budget and
the MSR. The largest changes in outlays from the MSR were in the following areas:
Department of Defense — Outlays for the Department of Defense were $568.9 billion, $9.9
billion lower than the MSR estimate. This di erence is mostly due to lower-than-expected
outlays for operation and maintenance, which were $7.8 billion less than the MSR estimate.
Operation and maintenance disbursements were less than anticipated for Army contracts from
FY 2016 and prior years, reimbursements from the Coalition Support Fund, and Defense Health
Program and counter-ISIL “train and equip” contracts. Additionally, outlays were lower than
expected by $1.5 billion for Army military personnel, $1.4 billion for revolving and management
funds due to lower-than-expected fuel costs, and $1.0 billion for disbursements against aircra
procurement contracts. These di erences were partially o set by $2.2 billion of higher-thanexpected outlays for research, development, test and evaluation.
Department of Education — Outlays for the Department of Education were $111.7 billion, $1.8
billion higher than the MSR estimate. This di erence was driven by outlays for higher education
programs. In the Pell Grant program, outlays were $0.9 billion higher than projected in the MSR,
due to faster-than-expected disbursement patterns. For the Federal Direct Student Loan
program, because of changes in the mix of activity in direct student loans, $0.7 billion more in
positive subsidy outlays for the FY 2017 loan cohort were recorded in FY 2017 than estimated in
the MSR.
Department of Health and Human Services — Outlays for the Department of Health and
Human Services were $1,116.8 billion, $11.8 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Outlays for
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Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

Medicaid spending were $3.8 billion less than projected at MSR, driven primarily by lower
benefit expenditures than was anticipated during the second half of the year. National Institutes
of Health (NIH)'s outlays were $1.5 billion lower than projected, due in part to lower-thanexpected disbursement for research grants in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. The Service
and Supply Fund (SSF) outlaid $0.9 billion less than expected at MSR. SSF expected higher
outlays in FY 2017 mainly due to an anticipated increase in contracts serviced; however many of
these contracts will be outlaid starting in FY 2018 instead. Outlays for the Public Health and
Social Services Emergency Fund (PHSSEF) were lower than expected due to procurements that
occurred much later in the fiscal year than originally planned.
Department of Homeland Security — Outlays for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
were $50.5 billion, $2.2 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Outlays in a number of DHS
components were below the MSR estimates. Outlays for Customs and Border Protection were
$1.4 billion below the MSR estimates, due to slower-than-expected spending for procurements
and construction for customs enforcement and border protection infrastructure projects.
Outlays for the National Protection and Programs Directorate were $1.2 billion lower than the
MSR estimate, due to slower-than-expected outlays of the agency’s cyber budget. Outlays for
the Transportation Security Administration were $0.9 billion lower than the MSR estimate, due
to slower-than-expected outlays from obligations for airport security construction projects.
Partially o setting these decreases, outlays for the Federal Emergency Management Agency
were $2.0 billion higher than the MSR estimates because of response activities related to
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Department of Justice — Outlays for the Department of Justice were $31.0 billion, $3.4 billion
lower than the MSR estimate. This di erence is primarily due to payments from the Assets
Forfeiture Program being $2.3 billion less than estimated in the MSR. Also contributing to the
overall di erence was higher-than-expected receipts from fines and penalties, which were $0.7
billion higher than the MSR estimate. Outlays were $0.5 billion lower than the MSR for programs
within the O ice of Justice Programs partially due to pending litigation. Outlays were also lower
across many other programs due to delayed action on FY 2017 appropriations.
Department of Labor — Outlays for the Department of Labor were $40.1 billion, $3.6 billion
lower than the MSR estimate. Nearly $2 billion of this di erence is attributable to lower-thanprojected unemployment insurance benefit outlays because the actual unemployment rate was
lower than assumed in the MSR economic forecast. Another $1.5 billion of the di erence is
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Joint Statement of Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, and Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, …

attributable to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), due to both gross outlays
being less than expected and o setting receipts being greater than expected. The majority of
the change in outlays is related to lower-than-expected payouts in the single employer program.
PBGC also anticipated a substantial investment loss in FY 2017, but experienced a profit, leading
to much higher o setting receipts than anticipated in the MSR.
Department of State — Outlays for the Department of State were $27.1 billion, $3.0 billion
lower than the MSR estimate. Outlays were lower than expected for Department of State foreign
assistance programs by $1.6 billion, mostly due to lower-than-anticipated spending for Global
Health Programs, which was driven primarily by a delay in lump sum payments to the Global
Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The delay was necessary due to a shortfall in
confirmed statutorily required matching payments from other donors. In addition, lower-thanexpected outlays for capital-intensive programs such as new overseas facility construction and
delayed payments for contributions to international organizations and peacekeeping were
primarily responsible for the remaining di erence of $1.3 billion from the MSR estimate.
Department of Transportation — Outlays for the Department of Transportation were $79.4
billion, $2.2 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Nearly $0.9 billion of this di erence is due to
lower-than-expected outlays for highways and transit programs. Most of the remaining
di erence is an accumulation of lower-than-expected spending across a number of programs.
Late-year congressional action on FY 2017 appropriations delayed grant-making and hiring
activity across the agency.
Department of the Treasury — Outlays for the Department of the Treasury were $546.4 billion,
$17.3 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Virtually all of the di erence is due to interest on the
public debt, which was $16.4 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Interest on the public debt is
paid to the public and to trust funds and other Government accounts. The di erence is the
result of lower-than-projected interest paid to the public on inflation-indexed securities and
other marketable Treasury securities, as well as lower-than-projected interest paid to
Government accounts.
International Assistance Programs — Outlays for International Assistance Programs were
$18.9 billion, $4.1 billion lower than the MSR estimate. This di erence is largely due to net
outlays for Department of State Foreign Military Sales that were more than $3 billion lower than
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the MSR estimate due to higher-than-anticipated receipts received from foreign governments for
weapons purchases.
Social Security Administration — Outlays for the Social Security Administration were $1,000.8
billion, $1.7 billion lower than the MSR estimate. The di erence, which is relatively small in
comparison to total program outlays, is primarily attributable to lower-than-expected outlays
for the Disability Insurance Trust Fund and Supplemental Security Income programs.
United States Postal Service — Net outlays for the United States Postal Service were -$2.2
billion, $5.5 billion lower than the MSR estimate. Outlays were lower than the MSR estimate due
largely to the failure of the Postal Service to make required payments for health and pension
contributions.
Railroad Retirement Board — Outlays for the Railroad Retirement Board were $5.2 billion, $1.7
billion lower than the MSR estimate, due largely to the National Railroad Retirement Investment
Trust’s unrealized gains and losses on investments. Actual returns to the Trust were much higher
than projected in the MSR due to favorable market conditions in the last few months of FY 2017.
Undistributed O setting Receipts — Undistributed O setting Receipts were -$236.9 billion,
$6.6 billion higher than the MSR estimate. Net outlays for interest received by trust funds were
$3.0 billion higher than the MSR estimate (lower net collections). The di erence is due largely to
the interest earnings of the Military Retirement Fund, which were $4.2 billion lower than the
MSR estimate, partly o set by higher-than-projected interest earnings in some other programs.
This intragovernmental interest is paid out of the Department of the Treasury account for
interest on the public debt and has no net impact on total Federal Government outlays. In
addition, receipts for employer share, employee retirement were $2.5 billion higher than MSR
estimates (lower net collections) primarily due to the failure of the Postal Service to make
required accrual payments to the Postal Service Retiree Health Benefit Fund.
___________________________
[1] The estimates of GDP used in the calculations of the deficit and borrowing relative to GDP
reflect the revisions to historical data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) in July
2017. GDP for FY 2017 is based on the economic forecast for the President’s 2018 Budget,
adjusted for the BEA revisions.
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