The federal budget deficit will be $1.6 trillion in fiscal 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday, and annual shortfalls will grow over the next decade as the country faces a fiscal reckoning.

The $1.6 trillion figure is down slightly from fiscal 2023’s deficit of $1.7 trillion. That is in part because of last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act, a bipartisan deal that capped discretionary spending as part of the debt limit negotiations. While that is a decrease, the budget deficit is still historically high.