CBO: Surging Federal Debt Under Obama Unsustainable
(Worthy News) – The U.S. budget deficit is likely to fall by $60 billion in 2015 due to strong revenue gains, the Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday, enabling the government to stave off default without a debt limit hike perhaps through early December.
The CBO said it now estimates a $426 billion deficit for fiscal year 2015, down from its $486 billion forecast made in March. It also forecast a fiscal 2016 deficit of $414 billion, a reduction of $41 billion from the previous 2016 estimate.
The new forecast would bring the deficit to its lowest dollar amount since 2007, and as a 2.4 percent share of U.S. economic output, it would be below the 50-year average.
The deficit peaked at $1.4 trillion in 2009 and shrank to $485 billion in 2014. [ Source ]
CBO: Debt ceiling to be hit in mid-November or December
Congress has until mid-November or early December to raise the debt ceiling before the Treasury runs out of cash to pay the government’s bills, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday.
The debt ceiling projection came as part of the nonpartisan official budget agency’s updated budget and economic projections published Tuesday.
The CBO’s projection of the expected date at which the government will have trouble paying its bills is later than some previous estimates from the Treasury. The shift is largely because tax revenue has been higher than expected. [ Source ]