Federal spending soared in March when the government sent a third round of stimulus payments to Americans, expanding the budget deficit to a record $ 1.7 trillion in the first half of the fiscal year.
The budget gap, widened by the Covid-19 pandemic and related shutdowns that plunged the economy from March 2020, is now more than double the same period a year ago, the Department of State said on Monday. Treasure.
The deficit was $ 660 million last month, up 454% from the same month a year ago. Revenue rose 13% to $ 268 billion, while spending rose 161% to $ 927 billion, the third-highest total since June and April last year.
Rising government spending has provided some cushioning to the economy after the devastation of the pandemic, but it has also sent federal debt to levels not seen since the end of World War II as a proportion of the economy. Weaker tax revenues have contributed to the lack of budgets.
“While much of last year’s loans were indisputably guaranteed, we are now dangerously insensitive to the billions of debt that are accumulating,” said Maya MacGuineas, chair of the Bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. . “We have to start paying for what we spend. We need a plan to reduce debt. “