The federal budget deficit totaled $2.0 trillion in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026, the CBO estimates. That amount is $6 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
The federal budget deficit totaled $2.0 trillion in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2026, the Congressional Budget Office estimates. That amount is $6 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
That comparison is affected by shifts in the timing of certain payments. Payments that otherwise would have been due on September 1, 2025, which fell on the Labor Day holiday, were shifted into August of that year. If not for those shifts, the deficit thus far for fiscal year 2026 would have been $82 billion more than the shortfall for the same period in fiscal year 2025.
