Budget deficit $85.47 bln, record for March

Looks like the Bush administration is on its way to another year of running up the national credit card debt. From Yahoo News:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government posted an $85.47 billion federal budget deficit in March -- its highest in history for that month, the U.S.
Treasury Department reported on Wednesday.

The March shortfall between government income and spending was up from a $71.21 billion deficit in March 2005. While it was a record for any March, it was less than the February 2006 monthly deficit that was a record for any one-month period at $119.20 billion.

The March deficit figure easily outstripped Wall Street economists' forecasts for a $73 billion shortfall.

Department officials said March spending was exceptionally large because some benefit payments that normally would occur in April were made in March.

"Half of the growth in outlays is attributable to a $15 billion calendar shift in the timing of certain monthly recurring benefit payments (for example, Medicare) that accelerated April 2006 payments into March 2006," a department official said in an email.

March outlays jumped to a record $250.03 billion from $219.97 billion in March 2005, while receipts were $164.56 billion, up from $148.76 billion in March a year ago.

The cumulative deficit for fiscal 2006, which began October 1, was $302.99 billion so far, above the $294.63 billion deficit in the first six months of fiscal 2005.

On March 3, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the U.S. budget deficit for the full fiscal 2006 year, which ends on September 30, will hit $371 billion.

That would be up from a $318 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2005 and would put the deficit at 2.8 percent of gross domestic product compared with 2.6 percent last year, CBO said.