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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

What’s Driving Projected Deficits?

| By CBPP

Kathy Ruffing and Jim Horney have just issued an update of their 2010 analysis on what contributes to the large budget deficits that are projected for the rest of this decade.

This updated analysis examines the sources of projected deficits from 2009-2019 – a period that spans the beginning of the Obama Administration and extends past the economy’s anticipated recovery — to show the lasting harm done by policies that President Obama inherited.  It should provide much-needed and relevant context to the coming budget debates.

"Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010. But, the fact remains: the economic downturn, President Bush’s tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years."

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View the full updated analysis:
https://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3490
https://www.cbpp.org/files/5-10-11bud.pdf (10pp.)