The U.S. budget deficit ballooned in the first nine months of its fiscal year, both because of a sharp increase in government spending and a significant drop in tax revenues.

• The Treasury Department announced that the budget gap from October through June was nearly $1.4 trillion — a 170% increase from the same period a year earlier.

The ballooning deficit continues to spark political fights.

• Congressional Republicans have rejected any call for tax increases, while the White House has fought proposals to cut spending on major programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
• “We’re running off the rails at an alarming rate,” says the President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. “We need to do better.”

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