US federal government runs smaller deficit in October

The US federal government registered a budget deficit of about 91.6 billion US dollars in October, the first month of the 2014 fiscal year, the US Treasury Department reported Wednesday. The deficit is about 24 percent lower than the year-ago level. The federal government raked in a revenue of 198.9 billion dollars last month, an increase from 184.3 billion dollars in October 2012, while spending totaled 290.5 billion dollars, compared with 304.3 billion dollars a year earlier. As revenue increased and spending dwindled, the deficit of the U.S. federal government fell to 680 billion dollars for the 2013 fiscal year ending September, the smallest in five years. The combined deficit accounted for 4.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product, more than halving the ratio in 2009. The federal government underwent a 16-day partial shutdown in early October, due to partisan wrangling over the spending and the debt ceiling. As part of the agreement struck by both parties to reopen the federal government and lift the debt ceiling, a 29-member bipartisan, bicameral committee has been established to be tasked with finding common ground on government spending and deficit reduction. Lawmakers have to reconcile their differences and present a plan for considerations by both chambers of Congress by Dec. 13, or the country is likely to face another fiscal stalemate as new deadlines come in mid-January for government spending and early February for debt limit.