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09/04/2020

This Year, the U.S. Deficit Will Triple to $3.3 Trillion

Contributing greatly is the government’s annual budget deficit

For the first time since World War II, the U.S. government’s debt will roughly equal the nation’s gross domestic product by the end of this year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Contributing greatly to CBO’s projections is the government’s annual budget deficit, which will triple this year from 2019 to $3.3 trillion. The deficit expanded dramatically with Congress’s response to the pandemic.

“That increase is mostly the result of the economic disruption caused by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and the enactment of legislation in response,” CBO said. “At 16.0 percent of gross domestic product, the deficit would be the largest since 1945.”

The skyrocketing deficit is fueling opposition among some Republican legislators to a larger COVID-19 relief package, though most congressional Democrats have argued that the needs of Americans impacted by the pandemic outweigh immediate concerns about federal spending being too high.

This article was provided to OSAE by the Power of A and ASAE's Inroads.

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