US govt posts $96.33 bln budget deficit in Feb
Thu March 20, 2003 03:39 PM ET
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The U.S. government saw a budget shortfall of $96.33 billion in February, the Treasury said on Thursday, adding to an expected record annual deficit even before the costs of the war with Iraq are tallied.
In its monthly budget statement, the Treasury said the budget gap for the first five months of the fiscal year, which began in October, totaled $193.94 billion, up from $67.68 billion in the same period in the 2002 budget year.
The Bush administration has projected a deficit of about $304 billion for the full budget year, well ahead of the record $290 billion seen in 1992. The Congressional Budget Office has projected a more conservative gap of $246 billion.
Neither of those estimates include extra spending for the war with Iraq. The administration has not given a firm estimate of war costs, a stance that has brought criticism from Capitol Hill Democrats as they debate the 2004 budget.
February's budget gap was bigger than Wall Street expectations of a $92.44 billion shortfall, but a bit less than the CBO's $98 billion estimate.
The gap was the largest monthly shortfall on record, according to Treasury.
On Thursday, Democrats alleged Republicans were trying to push through President George W. Bush's massive tax cut plan before giving an estimate of the cost of the war.
"It appears to me that maybe there's a rush to go through with the budget because maybe people are going to start asking questions about how much this war is costing," said Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Sen. Harry Reid in a speech on the Senate floor.
But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said the Senate would finish action on the budget this week, saying: "The nation's business must be kept going."
Aside from war costs, also looming on the fiscal horizon is the issue of the government debt ceiling. On Wednesday, a Treasury official said the government could run out of room to avoid piercing the Congressionally-set $6.400 trillion debt ceiling in April.
The budget situation has deteriorated sharply after posting four straight years of surpluses around the turn of the century. That trend turned into a $157.79 billion gap in 2002.
Individual and corporate tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2002 have eaten into revenues, as well as the recession in 2001. Increased spending for national security and the military have also put pressure on the outlays side.
Through the first five months of the budget year, federal revenues were down 8.2 percent, while spending has increased by 7.6 percent, according to Treasury data. |
