The U.S. and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Deficit

AP U.S. Government and Politics

Under the recent spending bill passed by congress and signed by the president, what will happen to the U.S. budget deficit over the next two years?

AP U.S. Government and Politics

Critical Questions

1. How accurate was your prediction?

2. What does budget deficit mean?

3. What is the difference between deficit and debt?

4. What is the big story this chart tells?

5. Explain whether you think this is good news.

6. What is one major cause for the expanding budget deficit?

7. What is one major consequence of an increasing budget deficit?

8. If the budget deficit continues to grow, what will happen to the overall U.S. debt?*

9. How does military spending versus non-military spending compare in the current spending bill the president just signed into law?**

10. On Thursday, February 8 the U.S. government shut down because one U.S. senator held the floor and would not allow the Senate to vote on a funding plan that would have kept the government open. Is this a good way to run a government?

11. What role does Congress play in spending and funding the government?

12. What role does the President play in creating budgets?

13. What does the brief government shutdown tell us about checks and balances?

14. What do you think the framers of the Constitution would think about our current debt?

Visual Extension

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Learning Extension

Check out the U.S. national debt clock in real time!!!!

Action Extension

Contact your congressional representative, share a link to the U.S. debt clock and tell them what you think about the deficit that we are adding to the U.S. debt.

T-Rextension