The federal deficit for fiscal 2019 reached close to $1 trillion for the first time since 2012, according to final Treasury Department figures released Friday.
In the final accounting, the deficit came in at $984 billion, more than $200 billion, or 25 percent, higher than last year and the same figure the Congressional Budget Office projected earlier in the month.
The deficit, which is projected to grow in 2020, has only surpassed $1 trillion four times in the nation’s history, during the four-year stretch following the 2008 global financial crisis.
View the complete October 25 article by Niv Elis on The Hill website here.