As reported, federal receipts for October were down 19% or $77 billion to $327 billion compared with October 2023, while October outlays were up 24%, or $114 billion to $584 billion.
Outlays for Social Security, Medicare and military spending rose, but one bright spot was a $7 billion or 8% decline in the Treasury's public debt service costs to $82 billion, the first year-on-year decline since August 2023, when interest rate increases began to mount.
Debt interest costs topped $1 trillion for the first time last year, making it the government's largest expense after Social Security.
The Treasury official said that the reduction in October's debt service costs were driven by a $12 billion reduction in payouts for inflation-protected securities due to lower consumer price index inflation.
But net interest on public debt was $80 billion for the month, a $4 billion increase from the prior October, the official said, as it will take time for lower rates to impact overall costs.
However, since Trump's victory, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield has risen nearly 15 basis points due to market worries about Trump's tax cut plans adding trillions more dollars to federal deficits over a decade.