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White House, Congress projects US record deficits

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-25 23:20

WASHINGTON: The federal government faces exploding deficits and mounting debt over the next decade, White House and congressional budget officials projected Tuesday in rival economic outlooks.

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Both the White House Office of Management and Budget and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted the budget deficit this year would swell to nearly US$1.6 trillon, a record.

But while figures released by the Whit House foresee a cumulative US$9 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, US$2 trillion more than the administration estimated in May, congressional budget analysts put the figure at a lower US$7.14 trillion.

Still, the CBO said in its midsummer budget update, "putting the nation on a sustainable fiscal course will require some combination of lower spending and higher revenues than the amounts now projected."

Both projects see the overall national debt, which now stands at US$11.7 trillion, nearly doubling over the next decade.