U.S. Treasury Reports 67% Yearly Surge in December Budget Deficit to $145 Billion

The assessment is 'likely_true' with high confidence based on consistent evidence across multiple sources, despite variations in their authority. The core claims of the statement are twofold: 1) a December budget deficit of $145 billion, and 2) a 67% year-over-year increase. The $145 billion figure is supported by a moderately authoritative news publication, Transport Topics, which explicitly cites the Treasury Department as its source. This provides strong, direct evidence for the first part of the claim. This figure is also corroborated by two lower-authority financial news services, First Squawk and The Kobeissi Letter. The 67% increase is explicitly stated by both First Squawk and The Kobeissi Letter. While these are lower-authority sources, their reporting is identical and consistent. The fact that the dollar figure they report is confirmed by a more traditional news source lends credibility to their reporting on the percentage increase.Crucially, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a highly authoritative source, is listed as having published a 'Monthly Budget Review: December'. The existence of this primary source report, which directly analyzes the monthly deficit, strongly suggests that these figures originate from an official government analysis, even though the report's specific contents are not detailed in the provided summary. There is no conflicting evidence among the relevant sources. Other high-authority sources like the St. Louis Fed and the BEA are either irrelevant or address different economic metrics (total debt, trade deficit). Therefore, the consistency of the reporting, with partial confirmation from a credible news source and the backing of an official CBO report, makes the full statement highly probable.