The U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15, 2023.
Nathan Howard | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Biden administration rang up a budget deficit topping $1.8 trillion in fiscal 2024, up more than 8% from the previous year and the third highest on record, the Treasury Department said Friday.
Even with a modest surplus in September, the shortfall totaled $1.833 trillion, $138 billion higher than a year ago. The only years the U.S. has seen a great deficit were 2020 and 2021 when the government poured trillions into spending associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
The deficit came despite record receipts of $4.9 trillion, which fell well short of outlays of $6.75 trillion.
Government debt has swelled to $35.7 trillion, an increase of $2.3 trillion from the end of fiscal 2023.
One aggravating factor for the debt and deficit picture has been high interest rates from the Federal…
