The federal budget deficit was $522 billion for the first six months of fiscal year 2017, the Congressional Budget Office estimates—$63 billion more than the shortfall recorded during the same span last year. But that result was affected by shifts in the timing of certain payments that otherwise would have been due on a weekend. If not for those shifts, the deficit for the first six months of fiscal year 2017 would have been $2 billion smaller than that recorded for the same period last year.