WASHINGTON -- The US government in April posted its first monthly budget surplus since September 2008, the Treasury Department said Thursday, as tax receipts climbed and spending on education, Medicare and certain defense programs fell.
The surplus of $59 billion is the first of Barack Obama's presidency, and lands at the outset of a presidential-election campaign expected to be fought largely over the issues of government spending, taxes and jobs.
The surplus in September 2008, the month Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, was $46 billion.
The government spent $260 billion in April, $70 billion less than in the same month in 2011. Receipts in April were $319 billion, up $29 billion from a year ago.
The surplus is likely to be heralded by Democrats and the White House as Obama seeks to gain the upper hand over Mitt Romney in the battle for the presidency this fall.
Yet the long-term fiscal picture remains cloudy. For the full fiscal year, Treasury is projecting another deficit of more than $1 trillion. For the fiscal year to date, the deficit is $720 billion.
In April, spending on education programs fell by 51 percent to $2 billion and Medicare outlays dropped by 48 percent to $31 billion.
Receipts of individual withheld taxes rose by 8 percent to $147 billion, and corporate tax receipts climbed six percent to $33 billion.
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Barack Obama, Treasury Department, Medicare, government spending, tax receipts, Lehman Brothers, education programs, surplus, Mitt Romney
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