BUDGET/NATIONAL DEBT: “The Congressional Budget Office estimates President Donald Trump’s budget proposal would shrink deficits by nearly a third over the coming decade, but not nearly as much as the White House projects.
Under the Trump budget, the federal deficit would total $720 billion by 2027, compared with a $16 billion surplus estimated by the White House, the CBO said in an analysis of the president’s budget released Thursday [7-13-17].
The deficit could fall to between 2.6% and 3.3% of gross domestic product over the next 10 years, the CBO said. The report also estimates that debt held by the public would total 80% of GDP by 2027, 11 percentage points below the CBO’s projection under current policy, due in large part to significant proposed cuts to government spending.
But its estimates of the deficit are larger than the White House’s estimates in every year over the next decade, primarily because the administration assumes the budget will generate much higher revenues, stemming from faster economic growth than the CBO assumes. The CBO said it also didn’t have enough information about many of the president’s economic policy proposals to calculate their effects on the budget.”
-Kate Davidson, “Trump Budget Would Not Balance in 10 Years, CBO Says,” The Wall Street Journal online, July 13, 2017 12:15pm