U.S. posts $284.1 billion budget deficit for October

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is starting the 2021 budget year the way the old year ended, with soaring deficits.

The Treasury Department reported Thursday that the federal government ran up a record October deficit of $284.1 billion, nearly double the red ink of the same month a year ago, as revenues declined while spending to deal with the impact of the coronavirus soared.

The October deficit was almost double the $134.5 billion deficit logged in October 2019. It smashed the previous October record of a $176 billion deficit set in 2009, when the government was spending heavily to lift the country out of a deep recession caused by the 2008 financial crisis.

The deficit for the 2020 budget year, which ended Sept. 30, totaled a record $3.1 trillion, breaking the old mark for an annual deficit of $1.4 trillion set in 2009.

The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that this year’s deficit will surpass the 2020 mark, hitting $3.3 trillion.