CBO Reports $667 Billion Deficit for First 6 Months of Fiscal Year

The United States borrowed $667 billion in the first six months of fiscal year 2022, with a $191 billion deficit in March, 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:

We’re halfway through the fiscal year and we’ve already borrowed two-thirds of a trillion dollars. Think about that: in the first six months of this fiscal year, we borrowed an average $3.5 billion per day. And we’re supposed to consider that low given how high deficits reached when the pandemic was at its peak.

With deficits this high, a mounting debt, and inflation at a faster pace than it has been in the last 40 years, it’s time to wake up. The fiscal insanity needs to come to a stop.

The President has signaled that he’d like to pivot towards deficit reduction, so let’s do it. Congress should work together to restore fiscal responsibility by reducing wasteful spending, reining in health care costs, fixing our nearly insolvent trust funds, raising revenue, and putting debt on a downward sustainable path. We owe it to not only ourselves in helping tamp down inflation, but also to future generations so they don’t get stuck with our bills.

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For more information, please contact Kim McIntyre, Director of Media Relations, at mcintyre@crfb.org