Bush, Congress Face Historic Deficits

[Seldona]

<snip>

WASHINGTON - Federal deficits are setting records as President Bush (news - web sites) and Congress plunge into the election year's budget work and both parties wonder if the red ink will prove to be a campaign issue.



The Congressional Budget Office (news - web sites) planned to release its annual winter budget and economic outlook on Monday. It was expected to be a bit better in the short term than the CBO's last update in August, when it projected shortfalls of $480 billion for this year and $341 billion for 2005.


"Even if in a small way, this could be the first good news budget report we've had in some time" because the growing economy should make deficit projections smaller for the next two years, said Hazen Marshall, Republican staff director of the Senate Budget Committee.


The August report also envisioned deficits totaling $1.4 trillion over the decade ending in 2013, assuming lawmakers make no changes in tax law and spending grows only at the rate of inflation. Analysts said they expected the update by Congress' nonpartisan fiscal analysts to have a similar 10-year projection.


The deficit hit $375 billion in 2003, the highest in dollar terms ever. The previous record was $290 billion in 1992.

<snip>

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040126/ap_on_go_pr_wh/budget_deficits

MAY become a campaign issue?

We need to trumpet this insanity before the American people 24/7.

Outrageous!

[leftyandproud]

1. Bush has us TRAPPED though....

I heard tonight that dumbya is going to propose a pathetic 1% increase in non defense spending...If he can get Delay and the other pubs on board with this, they will make the dems look like "tax and spend" liberals again when our guys demand a more fair increase on domestic spending. I guarantee you this will happen...He will have ads running saying "Myself, and the Republicans have tried to hold spending down to a 1-2% increase, but the big government libruls want to spend more of your hard earned money on welfare, etc etc"

Seriously...our guys are NOT going to take such a tiny 1% increase...and as a result, will be easy targets for so-called "deficit hawk" GOP ads against them...and our party in general.


get ready for it

[RC]

2. Nail them with the "Defense" spending and all the money that

has "disappeared" into Iraq.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. Even Republicans are seeing through this sham, though

I've met several who plan to vote Democratic, some for the first time in their lives. Their main beef is the deficit. They know where the money is going, and they don't like it one bit. Let Bush spin his lies-only die-hard neo-cons are going to believe it.

[stickdog]

5. Where was Bush on this issue for the last three years?

I say give him EXACTLY what he wants.

[snippy]

4. There is a lot of evidence that government spending grows more slowly

when there is divided government. Most of that evidence is at the state and local level but if fiscally conservative republicans really want to slow the growth of government spending they should vote for the democratic presidential candidate (assuming republicans are going to keep control of both the House and the Senate).

[stickdog]

6. Dean is perfectly positioned to attack Bush from the right on this issue.

None of our other candidates can even come close.

[indepat]

7. But, but, but, didn't Cheney say deficits don't matter?

[Festivito]

8. Borrow $1000/person, taxpaying or not, for a $300 tax break.

How S-T-U-P-I-D !!!!

[JoblessRecovery]

9. It just makes me sick, sick, sick

how quickly he managed to deliberately squander a record surplus into a record deficit. We cannot afford another 4 years of this.