2020 Federal Budget Deficit Forecast To Top $1 Trillion

The Washington Post reports:

The U.S. government’s budget deficit is projected to reach $1.02 trillion in 2020, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as the federal government continues to spend much more than it collects in tax revenue.

A combination of the 2017 tax cuts and a surge in new spending has pushed the deficit wider. This year would mark the first time since 2012 that the deficit breached $1 trillion, a threshold that has alarmed some budget experts because deficits typically contract — not expand — during periods of sustained economic growth.

This year’s deficit would be an increase from 2019, when the government deficit grew to $984 billion. The deficit in 2016, President Barack Obama’s last full year in office, was $585 billion.