The federal government posted a budget surplus for December, 2005 for the first time since 2002, according to the Treasury Department. A surge in corporate tax revenues pushed total federal revenues for the month to $241.88 billion, while government spending rose at half the rate of revenues to $230.9 billion.

Despite this positive sign, budget forecasters are still expecting the annual deficit to rise for FY 2006 by anywhere from $50 billion to possibly over $100 billion by the end of the fiscal year. This is mostly due to increased federal spending after Hurricane Katrina, but also because of a continuation of tax cuts, mostly benefiting the wealthy.