The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the federal government spent $100 billion more than it received in revenues in October, the first month of fiscal year 2019 that is expected to see a $1 trillion budget deficit.
Treasury said federal budget receipts totaled nearly $253 billion in October, while spending exceeded $353 billion, for a budget deficit of $100.49 billion.
The Trump administration was already expecting 2019 to end with a budget deficit of more than $1 trillion, and Treasury’s monthly statement on the situation confirmed that view still holds.
The statement said it anticipates a $1.085 trillion deficit when the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, 2019. That’s on par with estimates from the Congressional Budget Office and the White House Office of Management and Budget, both of which also foresee a $1 trillion deficit.
The national debt sits at $21.6 trillion, and the government is free to borrow as much as it wants until the debt ceiling takes effect again in March. At that time, the debt is expected to exceed $22 trillion.
