US borrowed $1 trillion in five months
The US government has borrowed some $1 trillion in the five months since October, adding to the ballooning federal deficit, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has reported.
The estimates have come amid media reports claiming that the US military burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of its assault on Iran.
On Monday, the CBO released its monthly budget review, according to which the US government’s debt grew by $308 billion in February alone. Among the factors contributing to the trend are higher interest payments to service public debt, as well as increased government spending, including by the US Department of War.
In just five months, the Treasury forked out a total of $433 billion to service public debt, which is now nearing $38.9 trillion.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a bipartisan fiscal watchdog, has warned that “this cannot be sustainable.” She called on policymakers to reduce deficits, proposing a 3% deficit-to-GDP ratio as an initial target.
In its latest report, the think-tank claimed that the US “is almost certain to enter the next shock more indebted than we have ever been before.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Washington Post, citing anonymous officials, reported that the US military fired $5.6 billion worth of munitions during the first two days of its strikes on Iran alone. According to the newspaper, the administration of President Donald Trump is expected to send Congress a supplemental defense budget request in the coming days, which could reportedly run as high as $50 billion.
Democratic lawmakers have increasingly voiced concerns over an apparent lack of clear objectives in Trump’s military campaign against Iran as the president has been sending out mixed messages on the matter.
Last week, Politico claimed that the Pentagon was expecting the conflict to last for at least another 100 days, or even through September, a stark contrast to Trump’s original four-week timeline.
