The federal budget deficit totaled $601 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2026, the CBO estimates. That amount is $110 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year. Revenues rose by $141 billion (or 13 percent), and outlays were $31 billion (or 2 percent) higher.
That change in the deficit was marginally influenced by the timing of outlays. Certain payments due each year on January 1, a holiday, are made in December, and the resulting increases in first-quarter outlays for fiscal years 2025 and 2026 were similar. If not for those shifts, the deficit so far in fiscal year 2026 would have been $112 billion less, rather than $110 billion less, than the first-quarter shortfall last year.
