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A view of the United States Department of the Treasury in Washington DC, United States on December 30, 2024. The United States Treasury Department was cyberattacked by a Chinese state-sponsored actor in early December.
Cellular Sites | Anatolia | Getty Images
The federal budget sank further into red ink in December, leaving the fiscal first quarter deficit nearly 40% higher than a year earlier.
For the last calendar month of 2024, the gap was $86.7 billion, which was actually a 33% drop from the same period a year earlier, according to the Treasury Department report. However, this brought the three-month fiscal total to $710.9 billion, up $200 billion, or 39.4%, from the comparable period a year earlier.
The increase in financial costs combined with the continued growth of spending and the decrease in tax receipts has caused deficits to rise, and the national debt to over $36 trillion.
While short-term Treasury yields have remained relatively stable over the past month, rates at the longer end of the curve have risen. The benchmark 10-year note recently yielded near 4.8%, or about 0.4 percentage point above where it was a month ago.
At the same time, the expenses made in the first quarter were 11% higher than a year ago and the collections decreased by 2%.
Interest on the national debt is $308.4 billion in fiscal year 2025, up 7% from a year ago. Financing costs will be $1.2 trillion for the full year, which would surpass the 2024 record.
The government spent more on interest payments this year than on any other category, including Social Security, defense and health.
