The U.S. government spent $136.65 billion more than it took in last month, according to the Treasury Department.
November’s increase in the budget deficit was largely due to a quirk in the calendar, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Government data shows the federal deficit in November was more than three times what it was in October. In October, the federal government’s budget deficit was $44.19 billion.
The federal monthly deficit is more than twice the $64.55 billion deficit for November 2015. Federal spending rose 25 percent above November 2015 levels “when some scheduled benefit payments had been recorded instead in October 2015 because Nov. 1 fell on a Sunday,” WSJ reports.
Federal receipts are down 2 percent from November 2015 while spending rose 6 percent — once the Treasury Department adjusted for the calendar quirk. The federal deficit for fiscal year 2017 is already $180.84 billion.
What’s more is the federal budget deficit is starting to rise after falling for a few years after the $831 billion stimulus package, passed in 2009, was fully spent.
WSJ reports:
More broadly, the federal budget deficit has started to rise after years of marked decline. The deficit totaled $587.33 billion in the 2016 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, or roughly 3.2% of gross domestic product. That was up from 2.5% of GDP in the prior year.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in August estimated that the deficit would be 3.1% of GDP in the 2017 fiscal year and rise over the next decade as spending growth outpaces revenues, reaching 4.6% of GDP in 2026.
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