The government increased payments to individuals without reducing spending elsewhere in the budget.

Each year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes its Budget and Economic Outlook. The CBO’s deficit projections for the current fiscal year (FY) and the next 10 FYs are widely followed because they provide an assessment of the medium-term budget outlook based on current law and a...

The rise in the national debt... is entirely a consequence of the federal government’s increase of expenditures without an offsetting increase in revenues.