The federal budget deficit through the first half of fiscal year 2015 totaled $430 billion, the Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday, $17 billion more than at the same point in fiscal year 2014.
Both revenues and spending were up roughly 7 percent over the same time last year.
The total deficit for fiscal year 2014 was $483 billion, according to the Treasury, the lowest shortfall of President Obama’s tenure.
The Congressional Budget Office, which prepares budget analyses for Congress, projected in March that the deficit for 2015 will be slightly higher, at $486 billion.
Through the first half of 2015, tax revenues were $1.4 trillion, led by increases in payroll taxes.
But those added incoming revenues were outstripped by spending growth. Total spending was $1.85 trillion, up $115 billion over last year.
A large part of that increase in spending, $46 billion, came from lower payments to the Treasury from the bailed-out mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The two government-sponsored enterprises recorded high one-time revenues in 2014, including revenues related to decreased tax liabilities and payments from financial crisis-era lawsuits over faulty mortgages resolved in favor of the two companies. The payments made to the Treasury by Fannie and Freddie show up as decreased spending by the federal government.
Government spending also increased on healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and on Social Security benefits.
Those increased outlays by the government were partially offset by decreased spending on interest payments on the debt, unemployment benefits, and on defense programs.
