The
federal deficit
was $460 billion through the first four months of the fiscal year, the
Treasury Department
reported Friday, a 78% increase from the same period a year before.
Revenues, or the amount of money the government raised through taxes, were $1.47 trillion, or 3% lower than during the same period, October through January, last year, while spending was $1.9 trillion, or 9% higher.
They show that the budget deficit is now rising after declining last year as pandemic emergency spending programs ended, a development about which President Joe Biden has boasted. The widening deficit raises fears that the United States needs to get its budget under control and comes at a time of
uncertainty about the debt ceiling
, which was hit last month.
The U.S. borrowed $39 billion this January alone, while January last year saw a $119 billion surplus, a difference of 133%.
“Today’s Treasury numbers confirm that, when it comes to unsustainable borrowing, our nation is quickly reverting to type. In just the first third of the fiscal year, we’ve already borrowed $460 billion, or $3.8 billion per day,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
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After the U.S. hit the debt ceiling last month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced that the Treasury would take “extraordinary measures” to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its obligations, but the Treasury only has a few months before those measures are exhausted.
Those “extraordinary measures” essentially amount to shifting money around government accounts to pay incoming bills without issuing new debt. The measures have been used at least 16 times since first being deployed in 1985.
The U.S. has never defaulted on its obligations in the history of these fiscal showdowns. Republicans see the deadline as an opportunity to exact concessions from the Biden administration and Democrats.
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“If we truly want to address our fiscal situation, as we should, policymakers should put all their cards on the table, abandon their demagoguing, and come together for the good of the American people,” said MacGuineas on Friday.
