the numbers the federal government ran a budget deficit of 119 billion in january compared with a deficit of 163 billion in the same month last year the treasury department said thursday key details spending in january was 346 billion while receipts totaled 465 billion the agency said for the fiscal year to date the deficit was 259 billion compared to 736 billion last year big picture the deficit looks relatively tame during the first four months of the fiscal year mainly because last year the government had kept open the spending floodgates in 2021 to battle the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy for the first four months of the fiscal year the us borrowed 259 billion according to the congressional budget office the gross national debt surpassed 30 trillion for the first time last month federal reserve chairman jerome powell has said that the us budget outlook is unsustainable over the longer term market reaction the yield on the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y rose sharply thursday in the wake of the strong consumer price inflation data higher yields on government debt will make borrowing more expensive down the road