Bessent Says Budget Deficit Will Near 7 Percent of GDP This Year, Blames ‘Blowout’ Spending Under Biden

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers Wednesday that the U.S. budget deficit for the current fiscal year will reach between 6.5 and 6.7 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), a historically high level he attributed to a spending surge in the final year of President Joe Biden’s administration.

“What we are seeing here is a blowout in the spending,” Bessent said during testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee on June 11. “The last fiscal year is something we have never seen before. We have never seen a deficit-to-GDP this large” outside of major crises like pandemics, recessions, or wars, he said.