US government sees record deficit

WASHINGTON — The federal government piled up a record deficit in April, traditionally a month of big budget surpluses.

The sea of red ink is being created by a drop in revenue and a massive increase in spending to fund efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

The Treasury Department said Tuesday the government racked up a shortfall of $737.9 billion last month. That was more than three times larger than the previous record monthly deficit of $235 billion set in February. The deficit for the fiscal year that began Sept. 1 climbed to $1.48 trillion.

Treasury normally runs surpluses in April as revenue swells due to the annual April filing deadline for taxes.