According to the latest figures from the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government will spendĀ $1.2 trillionĀ more than it takes in this year. The government, in other words, will have to borrow nearly a third of the roughly four trillion dollars ($4,000,000,000,000) it spends. The extra trillion-plus dollars the government borrows will have to be repaid, with interest, by Americans who have not been born yet.