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Showing posts from September 10, 2008

Next president faces swelling U.S. debt | csmonitor.com

Next president faces swelling U.S. debt | csmonitor.com Washington - The US is about to end this fiscal year with a $407 billion budget deficit that is more than double what it was in 2007 – and the red ink is projected to flow on. Even before the full cost of the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is calculated, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the nation will add more than $2.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. This updated CBO report, released Tuesday, is the latest sign that the next president will face tough fiscal choices early on in a new administration. But it's already prompted even tougher rhetoric in Congress – and on the campaign trail – over who is to blame for all the red ink. "This Democratic Congress really does deserve the name "Do Debt, Do Deficit, and Do Nothing," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R) of New Hampshire, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee in a briefing after the release of t