The U.S. Deficit for Fiscal 2017 Through July

The graph below tracks the deficit of the U.S. government for this fiscal year, which ends September 30, in comparison to the monthly deficit for Fiscal 2016. For the first 10 months of the year, the cumulative deficit is $568 billion; $54 billion more than last fiscal year. 

Since July 1, 2017 fell on a Saturday, the federal government made a number of payments in June, that would traditionally be recorded in July. As a result of this timing difference, the June 2017 deficit was much larger, and the July 2017 deficit was less. When combined, the June and July 2017 monthly deficits are $30 billion more than the same two months of 2016.

The deficit for all of Fiscal 2016 was $587 billion. Since the federal government has already overspent by $568 billion for the first 10 months of this fiscal year, it's all but certain the Fiscal 2017 deficit will be higher than Fiscal 2016. This is significant because the deficit was initially projected to decline in Fiscal 2017 and Fiscal 2018, before starting a rapid increase in Fiscal 2019. Since the current year deficit will be higher than last year, the cycle of ever increasing deficits may have already started and will continue indefinitely unless Congress does something to move towards a balanced budget.

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