WASHINGTON — Congress' official budget analyst projected Tuesday that this year's federal deficit will drop to $426 billion, the lowest shortfall of Barack Obama's presidency.
But the annual summertime update by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also contained words of warning. It cautioned that without action by lawmakers, a graying population and growing health care costs will push annual federal deficits upward again later this decade, rising back above $1 trillion in 2025.
The budget office released its figures two weeks before lawmakers return to the Capitol from a summer break steering toward a budget clash. The Republican-led Congress has approved a blueprint that uses spending curbs on Medicare, Medicaid and other programs to claim a balanced budget in a decade, a plan Democrats have derided as harsh and unrealistic.
Read Wednesday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.