US government sees record monthly deficit of $737.9 billion
The federal government piled up a record deficit in April, traditionally a month of big budget surpluses.
The sea of red ink is being created by a drop in revenue and a massive increase in spending to fund efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the government racked up a shortfall of $737.9 billion last month. That was more than three times larger than the previous record monthly deficit of $235 billion set in February.
The deficit so far for the fiscal year that began Sept. 1 climbed to $1.48 trillion.
Treasury normally runs surpluses in April as the government revenues swell because of the annual April filing deadline for tax payments. But this year, among the many measures the government has taken to try to cushion the blow ...