The federal deficit hit a record high of $234 billion in February, the Treasury reported Friday.
The shortfall narrowly eclipsed the previous record of $232 billion, set in February of 2012, when the economy was still recovering from the recession.
The federal government spent $401 billion in February, and brought in only $167 billion.
The Treasury projected that the total deficit for the fiscal year would eclipse $1 trillion. That would be an increase from fiscal year 2018, when the deficit rose to $779 billion, the largest since 2012.
[Related: Federal deficit balloons 77 percent in first third of the fiscal year]
Federal deficits have been rising after Congress and President Trump enacted tax cuts and spending increases. Even before those changes, the government faced a long-term mismatch between spending and revenues.
The Congressional Budget Office expects annual deficits to rise in future years, and for the debt — which represents accumulated deficits — to grow as a share of the economy.
On a month-to-month basis, the federal budget can swing from deficit to surplus, depending on the timing of expenditures and tax payments.
So far in fiscal year 2019, the government is running a deficit of $544 billion.
