Obama pledged that his administration would cut the federal budget deficit in half by the end of his first term.
But according to the Congressional Budget Office, even if Obama meets that goal – the deficit would go down, but only to a level higher than that seen during most of the Bush administration.
Obama’s policies will cause the federal government to run deficits of more than $1 trillion through fiscal year 2010, meaning that any deficit-reduction measures he enacts simply will be returning federal spending to levels seen during the administration of Bush.
Obama "inherited a $1.3 trillion deficit – the largest in our nation’s history – and our efforts will add to it in the short term.”
But according to the Congressional Budget Office, the projected deficit for 2009 was pegged at $1.2 trillion – even before the passage of Obama’s $787 billion stimulus and his pledge of $75 billion in mortgage relief spending.
Now, with the stimulus and mortgage plans in place, 2009’s deficit will be approximately $1.5 trillion, the CBO said – and further spending would push that figure higher. The 2010 deficit, which had been pegged at $703 billion, will balloon to $1.1 trillion, due to Obama’s stimulus package.
Cutting even the $1.3 trillion figure in half, as pledged by Obama, would still leave the budget with $650 billion of red ink.
By contrast, in 2006, the deficit stood at $248.2 billion; in 2007, at $162 billion; in 2008, at $410 billion, as calculated by the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Graphic source: The Long War Journal
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