Treasury reported an August deficit of $117 billion, more than three times the July figure of $36.4 billion, as the timing of a holiday artificially inflated Social Security expenses. August receipts were $166.5 billion, down from $170.4 billion in July, while outlays for the month rose to a fiscal 2007 high of $283.52 billion from July’s $206.9 billion.

The August outlay for Social Security was $84.4 billion, up from $49.1 billion in July, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement. Social Security Administration had to shift some payments due Sept. 3 to Aug. 31 because of the holiday.

The Congressional Budget Office on Sept. 7 said the government will realize a “substantial surplus” in September, stemming from quarterly payments of estimated income taxes and lower-than-normal outlays that month for Social Security. Fiscal 2007 began on Oct. 1, 2006.

The biggest fiscal 2007 expense through the end of August has been the Department of Health and Human Services, which administers Medicare and Medicaid. The outlay for HHS was $627.3 billion from Oct. 1, 2006, through Aug. 31, 2007. The second- and third-biggest expenses were Social Security, with an outlay of $600.4 billion, and then Pentagon military activities, with an outlay of $485.9 billion.

The U.S. spent more on its fourth biggest expense so far in fiscal 2007, gross interest on Treasury debt securities, than its combined outlays for the departments of Agriculture, Education, Transportation, Labor, Homeland Security, HUD and VA, and NASA. In the first 11 months of fiscal 2007, gross interest on Treasury debt securities cost $410.8 billion.

Other outlays for departments and agencies in the same period included Agriculture, $78.40 billion; Education, $60.64 billion; Transportation, $55.24 billion; Labor, $44.04 billion; HUD, $41.68 billion; Homeland Security, $35.89 billion; VA, $69.5 billion; and NASA, $14.1 billion.