$736B national deficit dwarfs 2020 numbers

For the first third of the 2021 fiscal year, the national deficit jumped to $736 billion as coronavirus spending took its toll on the federal government, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday.

The large sum is roughly 89% higher than the same four-month period in 2020, representing the time before COVID-19 reached the United States. January 2021 added roughly $163 billion to the deficit, the majority of which came from Social Security, health expenditures, and income security payments.

In the four months combined, the government spent roughly $435 billion on income security, $372 billion on Social Security, $258 billion on national defense, $256 billion on health-related expenses, and $228 billion on Medicare, in addition to a combined $375 billion on other outlays such as veterans' affairs, transportation, and education. The expenses were partially offset by $579 billion in income taxes, $435 billion in social insurance and retirement, and $85 billion in corporate income taxes, among other sources of revenue.