CBO: Deficit to Hit Record $1.5T

Thanks to tax cut, unemployment extensions
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 26, 2011 10:29 AM CST
CBO: Deficit to Hit Record $1.5T
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. questions Congressional Budget Office Douglas Elmendorf, on Capitol Hill.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

New budget estimates released today predict the government's deficit will hit almost $1.5 trillion this year, a new record. The daunting numbers mean that the government will have to borrow 40 cents for every dollar it spends. The latest figures are up from previous estimates because of bipartisan legislation passed in December that extended Bush-era tax cuts, unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless, and provided a 2% payroll tax cut this year. That measure added almost $400 billion to this year's deficit, CBO says.

The CBO analysis predicts the economy will grow by 3.1% this year, but that joblessness will remain above 9% this year. Dauntingly for President Obama, the nonpartisan agency estimates a nationwide unemployment rate of 8.2% on Election Day in 2012. "The fiscal challenge confronting us is enormous. To solve this problem, it will require real compromise and a great deal of political will," said Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad. "We need to have both sides, Democrats and Republicans, willing to move off their fixed positions." (More budget deficit stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X