WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th February, 2020) The US federal government ran a $33 billion deficit in the first month of 2020, bringing the year-to-date fiscal deficit to more than $389 billion, the Treasury Department said in its monthly statement on Wednesday.
The Treasury's monthly budget statement put the fiscal deficit from October through January at $389.185 billion.
In his semiannual testimony before Congress, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday that it might be a good time now to try and reduce the federal budget deficit, with the United States on track to a record 11th year of growth.
"Putting the federal budget on a sustainable path when the economy is strong would help ensure that policymakers have the space to use fiscal policy to assist in stabilizing the economy during a downturn," Powell said, delivering his semiannual testimony and monetary policy report to the US Congress.
Powell's remarks came as the Trump administration's projected spending look to set to expand the US federal budget deficit to beyond the $1 trillion mark this year.
The budget deficit aside, the broader US federal debt has also expanded by about $3 trillion since President Donald Trump came to office.
On Monday, President Donald Trump unveiled a $4.8 trillion budget for 2021 which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates could add another $5 trillion in debt over the next decade. The CBO, a watchdog on the administration, has warned that the federal budget is currently on an "unsustainable trajectory."
