The federal budget deficit totaled $509 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, CBO estimates—$87 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
The federal budget deficit totaled $509 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. That amount is $87 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year: Although revenues this year were $83 billion (or 8 percent) higher, outlays rose more—by $170 billion (or 12 percent).
Shifts in the timing of certain federal payments affected the budget both in fiscal year 2023 and in fiscal year 2024. Outlays in the first quarter of each year were reduced by shifts of certain payments that otherwise would have been due on October 1, which fell on a weekend. (Those payments were made in September 2022 and September 2023, respectively.) Partially offsetting those reductions, some outlays that would have occurred on January 1, a holiday, were shifted into December of each year. If not for both sets of shifts, the deficit thus far would have been $553 billion, $94 billion more than the shortfall for the same period in fiscal year 2023.
