The Center for a Responsible Federal Budget has compiled a
year-end list of the 2015 “fiscal follies” in Washington and has concluded that
the ultimate folly is a Congress that continues to claim it is pushing for a reduction
in the deficit.

CRFB found that the House and Senate, Republicans and
Democrats, took actions in 2015 that will add nearly $1.2 trillion to the
national debt over the next 10 years. And they managed all that while holding
the line on spending in nearly every category and holding the defense budget to
a level that causes grumbling at the Pentagon.

With the debt already around its highest level as a share of Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), other than in the World War II era, and estimated to grow with no end in
sight, the CRFB noted that the least one could have hoped for from lawmakers
would be to stop digging the hole deeper.

But 2015 proved that rather low bar was too lofty a goal for
Capitol Hill.

“Instead, 2015 will go down as a banner year for fiscal
irresponsibility,” CRFB said in its year-end roundup.

By far the largest contributor was the December deal on
tax extenders, which was rolled together with the must-pass omnibus
spending bill. Essentially, Congress agreed to extend the life of dozens of tax
breaks that were set to expire without offsetting the long-term cost of
ignoring previous policy that called for an end to these lucrative tax credits
in 2015.

The tax cut portion of the deal cost a total of $680
billion before interest, and the spending side included about $35
billion in spending gimmicks. The unpaid-for “Doc Fix” deal
from April, which maintained steadily increasing Medicare reimbursements for
physicians, also significantly increased deficits, adding about $140 billion
before interest over 10 years.

The graphic above shows everything policymakers did this
year to add to the debt.