**Title: U.S. Budget Deficit Surges to $1.8 Trillion Amid Rising Interest Expenses**

The Biden administration reported a significant budget shortfall for fiscal year 2024, with the deficit reaching over $1.8 trillion. This figure marks an increase of more than 8% from the previous year and represents the third-largest deficit on record, according to the Treasury Department.

Despite achieving record receipts of $4.9 trillion, the federal government's spending of $6.75 trillion led to a substantial discrepancy. This growing deficit is compounded by a notable increase in government debt, which has surged to $35.7 trillion, up $2.3 trillion from the end of fiscal 2023.

One major factor contributing to the rising deficit is the escalating interest expense. For the first time, interest expenses topped the trillion-dollar mark, totaling $1.16 trillion for the year. After accounting for interest earned on government investments, the net interest expense was a record $882 billion. This amount was only surpassed by spending on Social Security and health care.

In September, the government did manage to achieve a surplus of $64.3 billion. However, this was partially due to calendar effects that shifted benefit payments into August, resulting in a $380 billion deficit for that month—the largest monthly shortfall for the year.

As a proportion of the overall U.S. economy, the deficit is running above 6%, significantly higher than the 3.7% historical average over the past 50 years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) anticipates that deficits will continue to rise, projecting they will reach $2.8 trillion by 2034. On the debt front, the CBO expects the debt-to-GDP ratio to increase from the current level near 100% to 122% by 2034.

The elevated interest expenses are partly attributed to the Federal Reserve's series of rate hikes aimed at combating inflation, with the average interest rate on all government debt climbing to 3.32% in 2024 from 2.97% in the previous year.