MarketWatch
WASHINGTON — The federal government ran a budget deficit of $137 billion in November, the Treasury Department reported Monday, keeping its finances in the red in the second month of the fiscal year.
The government spent $290 billion in the month and took in $152 billion, pushing the fiscal year-to-date deficit to $236 billion.
For the first two months of the year, the U.S. is running a deficit 19 percent smaller than it did in the first two months of last fiscal year.
The Treasury continues to project a deficit for fiscal 2012 of nearly $1 trillion, however, a number certain to be seized on by politicians of both parties as they grapple with taxes and spending.
The deficit in the last fiscal year was $1.3 trillion.
Monday’s report from Treasury was the first monthly budget statement since the congressional supercommittee imploded last month. The 12-member panel’s task was to cut at least $1.2 trillion from the next 10 years of spending.
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©2011 MarketWatch
