News - National
$1.3 trillion deficit to be second highest of all time
Posted: Sep 13, 2010 12:21 PM by Greg Boyce
Updated: Sep 14, 2010 1:21 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal government is on track to record the second-highest deficit of all time with one month left in the budget year.
The Treasury Department says that through August, the deficit totaled $1.26 trillion. That's down 8.1 percent from the same period in 2009, when the government recorded a record $1.4 trillion deficit. But it is on pace to total $1.3 trillion - the second-largest deficit on record.
Soaring deficits have become a major issue with voters heading into the midterm elections. Republicans have highlighted the deficits to illustrate how government spending is on the rise under Democrats.
The deficit to gross domestic product ratio has been higher twice in history, during World War I and World War II.
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