Debt ceiling talks could hinge on budget cuts. Here's where the U.S. spends its money.

A key element of the debt ceiling negotiations in Washington, D.C., are demands from Republican lawmakers that the nation chop federal spending, including outlays that ballooned during the pandemic. 

The push for cuts comes as the U.S. has spent more each year than it receives in taxes and other revenue since 2001, when President Bill Clinton left the White House. During the pandemic, spending and deficits surged, thanks to a double-whammy of President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts as well as spending on emergency measures like stimulus checks and unemployment aid. 

Government spending spiked to a high of $7.2 trillion annually in fiscal-year 2021, the year that Trump left the White House, or about 78% higher than the nation's spending just four years earlier, according to data from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since then, federal outlays have dropped, but the nation is still spending trillions more annually than it did prior to the pandemic.