Deficit Will Hit Record $427B (1 Viewer)

[Schweddy]

Source: Yahoo News

WASHINGTON -

The White House says its drive to halve federal deficits by 2009 remains on track, though it projects that the cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will help drive this year's shortfall to a record $427 billion.

The figure, provided by a senior Bush administration official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, was among a flood of numbers released Tuesday that underscored a gloomy budget picture.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said projected deficits for the decade ending in 2014 had grown $503 billion worse than it calculated in September, excluding war costs. The deterioration was chiefly due to tax cuts and hurricane aid enacted since then.

The congressional analysts projected that this year's deficit would hit $368 billion, excluding war expenses, and about $400 billion with them.

The highest deficit ever was last year's $412 billion. The administration official said the White House's 2005 projection of $427 billion showed progress because it was less than last year's gap when compared with the size of the growing U.S. economy — a key measure of the deficit's potency.

"By working with Congress to exercise responsible spending restraint" and cutting taxes to spark economic growth, "we've got a plan to cut the deficit in half over the next five years," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

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[heyjoeo]

What ever happened to the Republican party to be the party of fiscal responsibility?