The federal government ran a $173 billion deficit in August, bringing the total deficit to $2.7 trillion so far this year, according to Congressional Budget Office data released Thursday.
"We’ve borrowed $247 billion per month so far this year – a staggering amount that would have previously been unthinkable. A lot of that debt was justified in light of the COVID crisis, but with CBO projecting the national debt to hit a new record, it’s time to take stock of our fiscal situation," Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said in a statement.
"Policymakers can’t keep heading down an unsustainable path. Short-term thinking is what left us with so much debt before the pandemic, as lawmakers freely cut taxes and hiked spending during the economic expansion while failing to address the rising costs of health care and retirement programs," she also said.
MacGuineas said legislation such as the Democrats' $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation bill is going to make the country's financial situation worse.
