US deficit spikes to record $3.1 trillion in 2020 amid pandemic spending

The deficit would not be as big if it weren't for the Trump/republican big tax cut for the super-rich.

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/521426-us-deficit-spikes-to-record-31-trillion-in-2020-amid-pandemic-spending

By Niv Elis - 10/16/20 02:31 PM EDT

The federal deficit surged to a record $3.1 trillion in fiscal 2020, according to Treasury Department figures released Friday.

That figure is more than 2 1/2 times the previous record, which came in at $1.4 trillion in 2009 during the height of the Great Recession.

The deficit was already on track to surpass $1 trillion for the first time in eight years before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, prompting a gargantuan fiscal response from Congress to prop up the economy.

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Budget hawks have been critical of President Trump, who oversaw a significant spike in deficit spending during a years of strong economic growth before the pandemic. His signature tax cuts in 2017 are expected to add an estimated $1.9 trillion to the deficit over a decade, and he pushed for increased defense spending at the same time.

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The nation's accumulated debt is estimated to have surpassed 100 percent of gross domestic product in recent months for the first time since World War II and is on a trajectory that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says is "unsustainable."

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