Under the president’s proposed budget for Fiscal 2017, the federal deficit would decline in 2017 and 2018 but would grow after that, according to an analysis released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Under the President’s plan, CBO estimates, “the deficit would total $529 billion in 2016. It would fall to $433 billion in 2017, fall further to $383 billion in 2018, and then increase in most subsequent years, eventually growing to $972 billion in 2026.”
The budget office says this plan would mean smaller deficits than those in its baseline projections, which largely assume current tax and spending laws will remain unchanged.
Under the President’s budget, CBO estimates, the cumulative deficit from 2017 to 2026 would total $6.9 trillion, or $2.4 trillion less than CBO’s baseline projection. Most of that difference would result from increasing revenue.
The report says that under the President’s plan, federal debt held by the public “would equal 75 percent of GDP this year and next, dip to 74 percent for the following few years, and then start rising again.” By the end of 2026, it would total 77 percent.
Congressional Republicans have already registered intense disapproval of the President’s proposed budget. Even before it was released Feb. 9, Republicans — in a troubling break with tradition — said they would not invite the White House budget director to testify before the House and Senate budget committees.
External links:
Analysis of the President’s 2017 Budget
