This year has seen the U.S. government’s debt interest costs exceed $1 trillion for the first time, marking a significant financial milestone. Up to the end of August, with one month still to go in the fiscal year, the total interest paid reached $1.05 trillion, reflecting a 30% increase from the previous year, as announced by the Treasury Department on Thursday. This occurrence marks the first instance of interest expenditures surpassing the trillion-dollar mark.
Contrary to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s statements regarding efforts to curb the budget deficit, figures released on Thursday illustrate a 24% jump in the deficit during the first 11 months of this fiscal year, in comparison with the same timeframe last year.
For the month of August alone, the Treasury reported a federal budget deficit of $380 billion. This contrasts with last year, when the government reported a surplus for the same month, following a Supreme Court decision that halted a proposed shift of student loan debts from individuals back to the public purse.
As the fiscal year progresses, the cumulative budget deficit has now reached $1.9 trillion.
