On Wednesday, The Daily Signal reported:

The U.S. government posted a $95 billion budget deficit in January, down $34 billion, or 26%, from a year earlier as revenue gains, including customs duties, outpaced growth in outlays, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Adjusting for routine calendar shifts in benefit payments due to holidays, weekends, and other factors in both years, the Treasury said the January deficit would have been $30 billion, a decline of $52 billion, or 63%, from January 2025.

January receipts totaled $560 billion, up $47 billion, or 9%, from a year earlier, while outlays totaled $655 billion, up $13 billion, or 2%.

A $95 billion deficit is not a good thing; however, it is better than it was a year ago. If America is going to survive as a country, we need to elect people who will give us budget surpluses–not budget deficits.

The article concludes:

Helping to drive both January and year-to-date results were sharply higher net customs receipts due to President Donald Trump’s tariffs. These totaled $27.7 billion in January, about the same level as December and slightly below the $30 billion monthly pace late last year. Customs duties in January 2025, the month that Trump took office and well before his tariff announcements, totaled $7.3 billion.

Fiscal year-to-date net customs duties were $117.7 billion, up from $28.2 billion a year earlier.

Also, cutting the deficit was a rare $12 billion decline in Treasury interest outlays on the public debt to $72 billion for January. The Treasury official said this stemmed from downward adjustments to payments on inflation-linked securities that were delayed by last year’s government shutdown and publication of consumer price index data.

Year-to-date Treasury debt interest totaled $426 billion, a record for the period, up $34 billion, or 9%.

The tariff income is a wonderful thing. My fear is that as fast as it comes in, Congress will find a way to spend it.