Tax cut deal pushes deficit to $1.5 trillion, CBO says
Jeanne Sahadi, January 26, 2011
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The federal deficit for 2011 will hit $1.5 trillion, driven higher by the "slow and tentative" economic recovery and the bipartisan tax cut deal passed late last year, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.
The deficit forecast would equal to almost 10% of the economy.
And if lawmakers extend many of today's current policies otherwise set to expire soon, the national debt would likely rise by $12 trillion over the decade from 2012 to 2021. That is about $5 trillion more than would be the case otherwise and would bring total debt to $23 trillion, the CBO said.
More than half of the accumulated debt will be the result of the interest payments.
"Interest will triple in nominal dollars in the next decade, and double as a percentage of GDP," said Douglas Elmendorf, director of CBO. |
