The U.S. budget deficit for the first five months of fiscal 2025 has soared to a staggering record $1.147 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. This new deficit figure includes a significant $307 billion deficit reported for February, which marked President Donald Trump's first full month in office, reflecting a 4% increase from the same month in the previous year.

This latest deficit total surpasses the previous record of $1.047 trillion recorded from October 2020 to February 2021, a period heavily influenced by COVID-19 relief spending and constrained revenues from the pandemic. The February deficit alone rose by $11 billion compared to February 2024, driven largely by rising outlays for debt interest, Social Security, and health care benefits, which overshadowed the growth in revenue.

The Treasury noted that February's revenue receipts totaled a record $296 billion, increasing by 9% or $25 billion from last year, while overall spending in February reached $603 billion, also a record high for that month, marking a 6% increase, or $36 billion, from the previous year.

Calendar adjustments reveal that the adjusted deficit could have reached $311 billion, matching February 2021's record budget deficit. The financial watchdog Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget reported that government borrowings in fiscal 2025 work out to about $8 billion a day, highlighting the urgent need to address escalating national debt. "We have done nothing in the way of making progress toward getting our skyrocketing debt under control," said Maya MacGuineas, the committee's president.

Fiscal year-to-date receipts have increased by 2%, or $37 billion, amounting to a total of $1.893 trillion, while spending surged by 13%, or $355 billion, reaching $3.039 trillion. Including adjusted calendar shifts, the year-to-date deficit remains a record at $1.063 trillion, which is a 17% increase or $157 billion from the previous year.

Trump's administration has begun implementing tariffs on imports, including a 10% tariff on Chinese goods initiated on February 4, 2025, which has yet to significantly affect customs receipts. Net customs receipts for February totaled $7.25 billion, slightly down from January yet higher than the $6.21 billion recorded in February 2024.

In efforts to streamline government expenditure, Trump's initiatives through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is informally guided by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, did not lead to substantial overall reductions in outlays. For instance, the Department of Education's spending dropped to $8 billion from $14 billion year-over-year, attributed to cuts in elementary and secondary education programs.

Despite attempts to minimize expenditures, key areas such as interest on public debt, Child Tax Credit payments, and a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security have driven up spending. By the end of five months, Treasury's interest payments on the public debt totaled $478 billion, up about 10% or $45 billion from a year prior, significantly exceeding military expenditures of around $380 billion. Social Security payments also increased by 8% to approximately $663 billion.