The numbers: The U.S. budget deficit has grown to $1.202 trillion, and the government is now two-thirds of the way through its current fiscal year. This is partly because interest payments on the national debt are going up.
Wednesday, the Treasury Department said that the deficit for May was $347 billion, which is 44% more than the deficit for the same month last year. Treasury officials say that the increase was only 5% when you take into account the fact that some benefit payments were made earlier in May because June 1 was a holiday.
The fiscal year for the federal government is October to September.
Important facts: Tax money the government got in May went up by 5% to $324 billion.
It cost the government 22% more in May, to $671 billion.
In the past few years, the government has paid a lot more in net interest because of large deficits and high interest rates.
Through the first eight months of fiscal year 2024, $601 billion was paid in net interest. That was more than the $576 billion spent on national defence.
“Loans are going up like the temperature,” Maya MacGuineas, president of the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement. “Lawmakers should be feeling the pressure to bring it down.”
“With only four months left in the fiscal year, the US has borrowed $1.2 trillion, which is an unbelievable $4.9 billion every day,” she said. “It’s clear that we need to manage our money quickly, before things get even worse.”
