CBO Estimates $710 Billion Deficit for First Three Months of FY 2025

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, January 10, 2025 - The United States borrowed $710 billion in the first three months of Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, including $85 billion in the month of December, according to the latest Monthly Budget Review from the Congressional Budget Office. This ends the 2024 calendar year with a total of $2.0 trillion in borrowing.  

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget: 

As we start the new year ushering in a new administration and a new Congress, we must not lose sight of the fiscal challenges ahead. In the 2024 calendar year, we borrowed an astounding $2.0 trillion – not to mention we are only three months into the fiscal year and we have already borrowed $710 billion.  

Our unsustainable debt isn't something we can just shy away from, as 2025 is packed full of fiscal deadlines. This year we face the return of the debt limit, the end of discretionary spending caps, large parts of the 2017 tax cuts expiring, and reconciliation on the horizon. So far we’ve heard much about how lawmakers plan to spend more and tax less; we’ve heard much less about the opposite. But with these deadlines comes the opportunity for the incoming administration and 119th Congress to start the new year on the right foot.  

A great start would be committing to no new borrowing and guaranteeing all tax cuts and spending increases are fully offset. If lawmakers start the year working to improve our nation’s fiscal situation, then our future challenges won’t be so daunting.  

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