Monthly deficit hits record $234B

The federal deficit hit $234 billion in February, according to new data from the Treasury Department, an apparent record for a one-month time period.

According to Bloomberg, the previous monthly record was set seven years ago, at $231.7 billion.

{mosads}Five months into the fiscal year, which began in October, the deficit has already surpassed a half-trillion dollars, reaching $544 billion.

The record deficit comes as the government paid back more corporate taxes than it took in, losing $669 million. Overall, corporate taxes for the year were down $14.3 billion in comparison to the same period last year.

The GOP tax law, which went into effect last January, has been projected to cost $1.9 trillion over a decade. 

Spending, in the meantime, was up by $145.6 billion in comparison to the same five-month period last year, following a bipartisan agreement to boost both defense and nondefense discretionary spending.

The Congressional Budget Office has warned that rising deficits mean that the national debt is on track to hit 93 percent of GDP in a decade, the highest level since just after World War II.

Last month, the debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history.