U.S. deficit at $208.7 billion in March

WASHINGTON — The federal government recorded a budget deficit of $208.74 billion in March, an increase of more than $32.5 billion from a year ago as revenue slipped and expenditures climbed.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the February deficit was 18.4 percent higher than a year ago, largely due to increased expenditures on benefits for the military, veterans and recipients of supplemental security income as well as higher Medicare payments because April expenses were paid in March.

For the first five months of the current budget year, which began Oct. 1, the federal budget deficit has totaled $599.71 billion. This is an increase of 13.8 percent from the same period a year ago.

Outlays over the first five months of fiscal 2018 totaled $2.01 trillion, up 4.8 percent from the same period a year ago. Revenue totaled $1.5 trillion, up 1.6 percent over the same period last year.

With the new tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump, the Congressional Budget Office now estimates this fiscal year’s overall deficit will hit $804 billion, up almost $140 billion from last year. The deficit is projected to reach $981 billion in 2019. It would then exceed $1 trillion annually for the foreseeable future.

Rising federal debt loads stemming from the $1.5 trillion worth of tax cuts over the next decade could provide a brief boost to economic growth, but the costs of servicing the debt could also be a drag on growth in the long term and possibly make it harder for the government to respond to an economic downturn.

“Such high and rising debt would have serious negative consequences for the budget and the nation,” Congressional Budget Office Director Keith Hall said Monday. “In particular, the likelihood of a fiscal crisis in the United States would increase.”

The national debt, which now exceeds $21 trillion, is expected to soar to more than $33 trillion by 2028. By then, debt held by the public will almost match the size of the nation’s economy, reaching 96 percent of gross domestic product, a higher level than any point since just after World War II and well past the level that economists say could court a crisis.

The new Congressional Budget Office projection is the first since Trump signed the tax cut legislation which is expected to cost the government nearly $1.9 trillion over 11 years and then signed legislation to significantly boost military and domestic spending over the next two years.

The government’s mounting debt has seemed of little consequence on Capitol Hill in recent months as Republicans in Congress successfully worked to pass a sweeping package of tax cuts.

But in a sign that Republicans are growing concerned about the political liability of soaring deficits, the House is scheduled to vote today on a constitutional amendment to require balanced budgets. Since such constitutional amendments require twothirds of the House and Senate to agree, it is unlikely to pass Congress, let alone be ratified by the states.