US deficit widens by $85 billion in December

A cyclist drives past the US Capitol at dusk as the House of Representatives meets to vote on a set of rules for the 118th Congress.

Alicia Wallace, CNN

The U.S. government recorded an $85 billion deficit in December, bringing the overall deficit for calendar year 2022 to almost $1.42 trillion, the Treasury Department said Thursday.

The government, whose fiscal year starts in October, has a $421.41 billion deficit in the first fiscal quarter of 2023, up 12% from the first quarter of 2022, Treasury data shows.

December’s deficit was nearly four times the $21.3 billion deficit recorded in December 2021 as spending rose and revenue fell last month. Revenues were $454.94 billion and expenditures in December 2022 were $539.94 billion.

The Budget Watcher Committee on a Responsible Federal Budget said the total of $1.4 trillion for the calendar year is “staggering, given that the worst of the pandemic and accompanying recession is long behind us.”

“We should not be borrowing $4 billion a day, an obvious debt addiction that hurts the economy and the budget,” CRFB president Maya McGuineas said in a statement.

The House Republican rule package, passed earlier this week, included measures aimed at limiting federal government spending and tax containment.

These measures, some of which have raised concerns even among thrifty Republican lawmakers, are sure to lead to battles later this year with the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden that could have serious consequences.

Failure by both parties to reach an agreement on government funding for fiscal year 2024, which begins October 1, could result in a shutdown. And if the war on spending cuts does not allow Congress to raise the $31 trillion debt limit this summer or fall, it could lead to a U.S. debt default that will shake the national and global economies.

– Tami Luhby of CNN contributed to this report.

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The US mail deficit widened $85 billion in December, first appearing on KION546.

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