WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. budget deficit rose to 2.54 trillion U.S. dollars for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2021, the Treasury Department reported.
Federal revenue for the 10-month period till July rose to 3.3 trillion dollars, while total outlays rose to nearly 5.9 trillion dollars, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement released Wednesday.
The report came a day after the U.S. Senate approved a 1.2-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, with 550 billion dollars in new federal spending for roads, bridges, drinking water and other projects.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would add 256 billion dollars to the federal budget deficit over 10 years, with just more than half of the new infrastructure spending to be offset by pay-fors.
Meanwhile, Democrats are pushing a 3.5-trillion-dollar budget plan through the Congress without Republican support, in an attempt to enact most of President Joe Biden's social-spending agenda, which would boost investment in childcare, education, health care and climate policy.
Democratic senator Joe Manchin, a moderate from West Virginia, said Wednesday that he had "serious concerns" about his party's big budget plan, which could push the national debt to record highs.
According to a recent estimation by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a budget watchdog group, the two spending plans will, in reality, require nearly 1 trillion dollars of direct borrowing and set the stage for roughly 2.9 trillion dollars of total borrowing over the next decade.
This cost would lift debt to 115 percent of gross domestic product -- as opposed to 106 percent -- by 2031, the group noted.
"It is commendable that policymakers have called for fully offsetting new spending and tax breaks," the group said. "But rather than rely on gimmicks and a sleight of hand to achieve this, they should either scale back the proposals, identify the necessary tax increases and spending reductions to cover the full costs of their proposals, or both."
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