CBO Estimates $255 Billion Deficit for First Month of Fiscal Year 2025

The United States borrowed $255 billion in the first month of fiscal year 2025, according to the latest Monthly Budget Review  from the Congressional Budget Office.

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

While final votes continue to be counted in races across the country, today’s deficit projections make one thing abundantly clear: there’s a fiscal storm on the horizon, and President-Elect Trump and the Members of the 119th Congress will soon need to confront it. With a deficit of $255 billion in just the first month of the fiscal year and borrowing $8 billion per day, this should be a reminder that our borrowing isn’t letting up on its own.

Elections bring with them new priorities, shifting policies, and a new fiscal landscape in Washington. But what remains consistent is the massive underlying burden of our national debt. In the next two years, debt will exceed its all-time record share of the economy; in less than ten years, Social Security beneficiaries face automatic benefit cuts if policymakers continue to do nothing to fix it.

There will be incredible temptations on the road ahead, with powerful interests pushing policies designed to fulfill agendas rather than address our fiscal health. But these are ultimately generational challenges affecting you and I as well as our children and grandchildren. Tackling the upcoming negotiations over raising the debt ceiling and extending expiring tax provisions isn’t an obstacle; it’s an opportunity to finally get this nation moving in the direction of a responsible federal budget.

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For more information, please contact Matt Klucher, Assistant Director for Media Relations, at klucher@crfb.org.