COVID-19 hurt the financial performance of the U.S. federal government in fiscal year 2020, by causing a modest drop in revenue and a big increase in spending.
The federal government posted a deficit, or loss, of $3.1 trillion for 2020 on $3.4 trillion in revenue, compared with a loss of $1 trillion for 2019 on $3.5 trillion in revenue.
Big pandemic response programs contributed to total spending increasing to close to $6.6 trillion in 2020, from $4.5 trillion the year before.
Originally, before COVID-19 came along, officials in the administration of former President Donald Trump had hoped to hold fiscal year 2020 federal government spending to $4.8 trillion.
Overall U.S. gross domestic product, or national income, fell 2.3%, to $21 trillion.
The Budget Documents
Officials at the federal Office of Management and Budget, an arm of the White House, posted the fiscal year 2020 results in connection with the release of President Joe Biden's budget proposal for fiscal year 2022.
The federal government's 2020 fiscal year 2020 ended Sept. 30, 2020, and the government's 2021 fiscal year started Oct. 1, 2020.