That said, the budget figures for the fiscal year just ended were little affected by the fiscal policy response to the recent hurricanes. Only a small portion of the emergency federal outlays budgeted for hurricane relief were actually spent in September, the last month of the fiscal year.
The bulk of the hurricane-related spending and tax relief will show up in the budget accounts in the current and next fiscal years. Moreover, the total magnitude of the federal response is still unknown, adding to the uncertainty associated with the fiscal outlook. Viewed from a longer-term perspective, the financial position of the U.S. federal budget has oscillated dramatically over the past ten years.