The U.S. federal budget deficit reached $866.8 billion in the first 10 months of the fiscal year 2019, up by 27% from the same period the previous year, the Treasury Department said on Monday.
The 10-month deficit, from October to July, has already surpassed the full-year figure of 779.0 billion dollars for the last fiscal year, according to data from the Monthly Treasury Statement.
The top three outlays for the 10 months were $868 billion on social security, $568 billion on national defense, and $540 billion on Medicare.
Federal expenditures increased to $3.73 trillion in the period, up by 8.0% from a year ago, while revenue grew to $2.86 trillion, up by 3.4%.
The federal budget deficit in July totaled $119.7 billion, with total outlays reaching $371.0 billion, up by 22.8% from the year before, and total revenues $251.3 billion, up by 11.6%.
The White House has projected a 1-trillion-dollar budget deficit for the fiscal year 2019, the highest since 2012, Office of Management and Budget said in its recently released Mid-Session Review.
Earlier this month, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the "Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019," which boosts discretionary spending limits and suspends the public debt limit for the next two years.
The budget deal will lift the budget cap for discretionary spending to $1.37 trillion in 2020 and $1.375 trillion in 2021, expanding defense outlays, demanded by Republicans, and boosting domestic spending, including health care for veterans, sought by Democrats.
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