The U.S. budget deficit in fiscal 2022 fell by half from a year earlier to $1.38 trillion, due to less spending to address the coronavirus pandemic and record revenues as the economy picked up, Treasury Department data showed Friday.
The $1.40 trillion dive in the deficit for the fiscal year through Sept. 30 is the largest one-year drop in U.S. history, the department said.
With the U.S. midterm elections looming on Nov. 8, Democratic President Joe Biden used the release of the data to pitch his administration's efforts to help improve the country's fiscal health, while attacking Republicans for having done little to tackle deficits.
"Congressional Republicans love to call Democrats 'big spenders,' and they always claim to be for less federal spending. But let's look at the facts," he said in a speech at the White House. "The federal deficit went up every single year in the (former President Donald) Trump administration."
Total outlays were $6.27 trillion for fiscal 2022, down 8.1 percent from a year before.
Total revenues stood at $4.90 trillion, up 21.0 percent from the preceding year, with the Treasury Department attributing the increase partly to higher individual and corporation income tax collections.
