After six budget battles spanning two and a half years, Republicans in Congress, with help from some Democrats, have managed to trim about $2 billion in spending.

Now, $2 billion is no small amount of money. But, considering that total expenditures by the federal government only went down from $3.457 trillion in 2010 to $3.455 trillion today, the reduction isn’t all that much.

Another way to look at it is this: federal spending fell by only 1/20 of 1%.

“For all the brave talk, one single fact has trumped all this great rhetoric. Most of the people who came in saying, ‘We’re going to change Washington,’ simply didn’t understand Washington,” Steve Bell, a longtime Republican staffer who now works at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told The Washington Post.

The budget battles aren’t over, however. Another one—the seventh—is looming, and if Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on a plan by October 1, a government shutdown could take place, followed by a possible national credit default, according to David A. Fahrenthold at the Post.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

After Six Budget Showdowns, Big Government is mostly Unchanged (by David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post)

The Size of the Government Is in the Eye of the Beholder (by Philip Bump, Atlantic Wire)

Despite Administration Claims, Federal Deficit is not Falling (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)