The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) revealed the federal government under President Biden has run a near-$1 trillion federal deficit in the “first seven months of fiscal year 2023.”
CBO’s report dropped on Monday, giving lawmakers insight into the current state of the federal deficit.
The nonpartisan agency found that in the first seven months of FY2023 alone, the federal government has racked up $928,000,000,000.
“The federal budget deficit was $928 billion in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$568 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same period last year,” CBO wrote on Monday.
“Revenues were 10 percent lower and outlays were 8 percent higher from October through April than they were during the same period in fiscal year 2022,” the agency continued.
CBO wrote that shifts “in the timing of certain payments affect that comparison.”
“Outlays this fiscal year were reduced by the shifting of certain payments—totaling $63 billion—from October 1, 2022 (the first day of fiscal year 2023), into fiscal year 2022 because October 1 fell on a weekend,” the agency wrote.
“Also, outlays in the first seven months of fiscal year 2022 were $65 billion higher than they otherwise would have been because several federal payments that were due on May 1, 2022, a Sunday, were paid in April 2022. If not for those timing shifts, the deficit in the first seven months of fiscal year 2023 would have been $991 billion, compared with a $295 billion shortfall during the same period in 2022—an increase of $696 billion.”
The high spending numbers come as Biden enters into his 2024 re-election campaign.
The economy will likely be a major factor in 2024 as Biden will likely have to face questions on high inflation and other economic issues facing his presidency. A new ABC News/Washington Post survey found that 54% of American adults believe Trump did a “better job” handling the economy during his administration, compared to 36% who said Biden is handling the economy better.
Last month, Biden received a “bottomless Pinocchios” rating from the Washington Post for repeatedly touting “misleading” claims on the deficit.
Earlier this week, Biden told a group union workers that in his first two years in office, he “lowered the deficit by a record $1.7 trillion,” a claim Kessler gave “three Pinocchios” in September.
“Yet he keeps saying it over and over,” Kessler wrote Friday. “By our count, at least 30 times since June he’s taken credit for reducing the budget deficit by $1.7 trillion.”
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Jessica Chasmar contributed reporting.