This Aug. 24, 2020 file photo shows Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin at the White House in Washington. The U.S. government’s deficit in the first three months of the budget year was a record-breaking $572.9 billion. The Treasury Department reported Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021 that with three months gone in the budget year, the deficit was $216.3 billion higher than the same October-December period a year ago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
By Martin Crutsinger
The U.S. government's deficit in the first three months of the budget year was a record-breaking $572.9 billion, 60.7% higher than the same period a year ago, as spending to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic surged while revenue declined.
The Treasury Department reported Wednesday that three months into the budget year, the deficit was $216.3 billion higher than the same October-December period a year ago.
The deficit reflects an 18.3% jump in outlays to $1.38 trillion, a record for the period, while revenues fell 0.4% to $803.37 billion. The red ink results from the difference between revenue collections and outlays.
For just the month of December, the deficit totaled a record $143.6 billion.
The shortfall for the 2020 budget year, which ended Sept. 30, climbed to an all-time high of $3.1 trillion. Beginning in the spring, Congress passed trillion-dollar-plus spending measures to combat the harm being done to the economy from a pandemic-induced downturn.
The recession, which has seen millions of Americans lose their jobs, has also meant a drop in tax revenues at a time when the demand on government support programs such as unemployment benefits and food stamps has risen.
The report showed that outlays in December were a record $489.7 billion, while receipts were $346.1 billion.
The spending figure did not include the $900 billion relief package Congress finally passed after months of wrangling because it was not signed into law until the end of the month. President Donald Trump delayed signing the bill, which he called a “disgrace,” because it included only $600 in direct payments to individuals.
President-elect Joe Biden has endorsed boosting the direct payments by another $1,400. He has said that higher amount will be included in another round of relief payments he will ask Congress to approve once he takes office on Jan. 20.
In addition to direct payments, the December relief bill extended two special unemployment benefit programs aimed at cushioning the pandemic’s blow. The unemployment benefits have totaled $80 billion from October through December, up from $5 billion during the same period in the last budget year.
The Congressional Budget Office has forecast that this year's deficit will total $1.8 trillion and the deficit will remain above $1 trillion each year though 2030. The CBO forecast for this year was made before the December relief package was passed and also does not take into account any extra spending that Congress may pass after Biden takes office.
Updated on January 13, 2021, at 3:28 p.m. ET with the latest information.
Emily Hoeven, newsletter editor at CalMatters, joins Cheddar News to discuss California Governor Gavin Newsom's gun law modeled after Texas's abortion law.
Chuck Rocha, host of 'Nuestro' podcast and opinion contributor at The New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Democrats are losing Hispanic voters.
More businesses are requiring workers to return to the office, but there is concern that many employees in the middle class, especially women and people of color, need remote work options for reasons including childcare and financial security. Joan Williams, director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, joined Cheddar to discuss why office mandates could be detrimental to the middle class. She noted that while companies claim a return to offices would help foster more collaboration and efficiency, reports show that they are successfully able to do their jobs from home.
The U.S. postal service has confirmed that it secretly developed and tested a blockchain-based mobile voting system ahead of the 2020 election. Susan Greenhalgh, senior advisor on election security, Free Speech for People, joins Cheddar News to discuss the cybersecurity complications of a mobile voting system.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled to allow the controversial Texas abortion law to remain in effect, banning abortion at six weeks and allowing any private citizen to sue a person or doctor aiding or abetting someone seeking an abortion. Outraged at this decision, California Governor Gavin Newsom is working to draft a proposal in line with the law as it relates to guns. Shawn Hubler, California correspondent at the New York Times, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Even as tech giant Google implements a vaccination mandate, charging its employees to declare their vaccine status within a time frame or risk dismissal, the federal government is tangled up in the court system trying to impose one of its own. Cindy Cohn, the executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Harry Nelson, founder and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman LLP, joined Cheddar to debate the ethics, efficacy, and legality surrounding the issue. While Cohn noted that she thinks the federal mandate might be legally sound, her organization is also concerned with a separate question of privacy. "At EFF what we're most interested in is the digital surveillance that's going along with some of these attempts to try to track and confirm whether people are vaccinated or not," she said.
