US budget deficit will hit $702 billion this year: White House
The White House has predicted that the American budget deficit will hit the staggering figure of $702 billion this year, which is $99 billion higher than was predicted in late May.
The estimation was made in a report issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The report also suggested the deficit for the fiscal year of 2018 will increase by $149 billion to $589 billion. Budget deficit last year was $585 billion.
But the Republican-controlled Congress is already working on spending bills that promise to raise the budget deficit figure even higher by adding to Donald Trump's military spending proposal and ignoring many of the president’s cuts to domestic programs.
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The government agency report put the blame on the fault lies with “the failed policies of the previous administration.”
“The rising near-term deficits underscore the critical need to restore fiscal discipline to the nation’s finances,” said White House budget director Mick Mulvaney.
“Our nation must make substantial changes to the policies and spending priorities of the previous administration if our citizens are to be safe and prosperous in the future,” he added.
The OMB study comes shortly after an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office, a federal agency that provides budget and economic information to Congress, rejected White House claims that its budget would balance the federal ledger within a decade.
The new OMB report doesn't repeat those claims and instead just make updated projections for two years.
Trump released a budget plan in late May in which he proposed harsh cuts to domestic programs and vowed to balance the budget within ten years.
The plan also made wishful predictions of economic growth leading to a surplus in 2027.
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