Wednesday, August 27, 2003US Sinks in Sea of Red Ink
Congressional Deficit Estimate May Exceed a Half-Trillion
The Congressional Budget Office has already alerted lawmakers that it will try two different approaches in estimating those costs, which are currently running at about $4.9 billion a month, just under $60 billion a year.
The first method will assume no special war costs at all, because existing laws make no allowance for spending in Iraq beyond this fiscal year. Nobody suggests that this approach is realistic, but it complies with the Congressional Budget Office's legal requirement to base estimates only on existing laws.
The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update-August 2003
Estimate for '04 Deficit Is Increased to $480 Billion
The federal government is in store for at least eight more years of budget deficits, including a record $480 billion shortfall in 2004, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday.
The Congressional Budget Office also warned that the numbers will become more dire if the White House gets its way on tax cuts and Congress fails to rein in spending.
They said the budget outlook ``has worsened substantially'' since its last review in March, when it put next year's deficit at $200 billion. Much of that is the result of subsequent acts of Congress to cut taxes and increase spending for defense and the war in Iraq, it said.
The CBO, a nonpartisan group, said the budget will edge back into the black in 2012 and 2013, but will record an accumulated deficit of almost $1.4 trillion in the 2004-2013 period. In March, it predicted a surplus of $891 billion in that period.
Democrats seized on the report as proof that the Bush administration policy of cutting taxes while demanding more for defense and homeland security was threatening the nation's economic viability.
"I think this is a moral problem more than an economic problem,'' said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
He said the administration was draining the government's ability to pay for Social Security and Medicare at a time when 77 million baby boomers are approaching retirement, while saddling future generations with repayment of a national debt that could double to $7 trillion by 2013.
- Posted by Gary Secondino - 12:42:16 PM - trackback []
The Congressional Budget Office has already alerted lawmakers that it will try two different approaches in estimating those costs, which are currently running at about $4.9 billion a month, just under $60 billion a year.
The first method will assume no special war costs at all, because existing laws make no allowance for spending in Iraq beyond this fiscal year. Nobody suggests that this approach is realistic, but it complies with the Congressional Budget Office's legal requirement to base estimates only on existing laws.
The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update-August 2003
Estimate for '04 Deficit Is Increased to $480 Billion
The federal government is in store for at least eight more years of budget deficits, including a record $480 billion shortfall in 2004, congressional budget analysts said Tuesday.
The Congressional Budget Office also warned that the numbers will become more dire if the White House gets its way on tax cuts and Congress fails to rein in spending.
They said the budget outlook ``has worsened substantially'' since its last review in March, when it put next year's deficit at $200 billion. Much of that is the result of subsequent acts of Congress to cut taxes and increase spending for defense and the war in Iraq, it said.
The CBO, a nonpartisan group, said the budget will edge back into the black in 2012 and 2013, but will record an accumulated deficit of almost $1.4 trillion in the 2004-2013 period. In March, it predicted a surplus of $891 billion in that period.
Democrats seized on the report as proof that the Bush administration policy of cutting taxes while demanding more for defense and homeland security was threatening the nation's economic viability.
"I think this is a moral problem more than an economic problem,'' said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, top Democrat on the House Budget Committee.
He said the administration was draining the government's ability to pay for Social Security and Medicare at a time when 77 million baby boomers are approaching retirement, while saddling future generations with repayment of a national debt that could double to $7 trillion by 2013.
- Posted by Gary Secondino - 12:42:16 PM - trackback []
