By Martin Crutsinger
The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.
The ocean of red ink is a product of the government's massive spending to try to cushion the impact of a coronavirus-fueled recession that has cost millions of jobs.
The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.
With one month to go in the 2020 budget year, which ends Sept. 30, the deficit could go even higher. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting the deficit this year will hit a record of $3.3 trillion. However, the government often runs surpluses in September so it is possible the final figure for this year could come in just under $3 trillion.
That would still put the deficit well above last year's imbalance of $984 billion. The previous record deficit for a fiscal year was $1.4 trillion in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
A former U.S. diplomat has been arrested and accused of being a secret Cuban spy.
Philadelphia City Council passed legislation to ban ski masks in some public spaces, a measure supporters say will increase public safety amid high violent crime, but opponents argue it will unfairly target people without proof of any wrongdoing.
A federal appeals court ruled that former President Donald Trump won't have presidential immunity in civil lawsuits related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference known as COP28 kicked off in Dubai and major progress is already being made.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis squared off in a very unusual political debate Thursday night on Fox News.
Retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, died Friday, the high court said.
Sen. Rand Paul successfully performed the Heimlich maneuver on fellow Sen. Joni Ernst as she choked at a GOP lunch that she was hosting.
Israeli fighter jets hit targets in the Gaza Strip minutes after a weeklong truce expired on Friday, signaling that the war with Hamas has resumed in full force.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to authorize subpoenas for two prominent conservatives who arranged luxury travel and other benefits for Supreme Court justices, but Republicans planned to object to the legitimacy of the action.
Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarizing political content in an apparent effort to divide the U.S. ahead of next year's elections, Meta said Thursday.
