Record budget deficit

WASHINGTON, March 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. government in February spent $211 billion more than it took in, setting a record budget deficit for a month.

The U.S. Treasury released data Wednesday saying figures from last month indicate the federal government will probably pass the annual deficit record of $1.4 trillion set in the last fiscal year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a House of Representatives subcommittee the deficit spending is aiding economic recovery efforts but also is "unsustainably high."

The current fiscal year is five months old and the government is showing a budget deficit of $651.6 billion, nearly $53 billion more than the same fiscal 2009 time period.

The accounting for February was marginally better than $223 billion deficit the Congressional Budget Office forecast last week.

Monthly government revenues were up 23 percent over February 2009 -- the first increase in that category since April 2008, the Treasury said -- but spending was up 17 percent to $328.4 billion.

The CBO's report of last Friday said next year's budget plan submitted by U.S. President Barack Obama would end up adding more to the deficit than White House projections indicated.