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Deficit, receipts and outlays were record highs for

November

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Adjusted for calendar shifts, November deficit would have

shrunk

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FEMA payments up, interest costs flat in October and

November

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. government

posted a $367 billion budget deficit for November, up 17% from a

year earlier, as calendar adjustments for benefit payments

boosted outlays by some $80 billion compared to the same month

in 2023, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

The Treasury Department said that without the acceleration of

December payments for the Medicare and Social Security programs

into November, the deficit last month would have been about $29

billion, or 9% lower than last year.

The health care and pension programs for seniors are two of

the government's largest expenditure items.

But as reported, the November deficit was a record high for

that month. Receipts and outlays also were record highs for the

month of November, with receipts up 10% to $302 billion, and

outlays up 14% to $669 billion.

The deficit for the first two months of the 2025 fiscal year

also was a record high for that period - higher than the

deficits of the COVID-19 era - reaching $624 billion, up $244

billion, or 64%, from the same period a year earlier. The

government's fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.

Those deficits were also inflated by calendar-related benefit

shifts as well as higher receipts in October and November of

2023 due to the expiration of tax payment deferrals tied to

California wildfires and other weather-related disasters that

year.

Year-to-date receipts as reported were down 7% from a year

earlier to $629 billion, while year-to-date outlays were up 18%

to $1.253 trillion.

The outlays for the first two months of the fiscal year

included a $4 billion, or 30%, increase in Department of

Homeland Security spending to $19 billion, largely reflecting

Federal Emergency Management Agency spending related to recent

hurricanes.

But the Treasury's interest cost on public debt for the

fiscal year's first two months was flat at $169 billion, despite

a $7 billion increase for November.