Deficit

March 20, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. -- The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today released a report summarizing the recent Fiscal Responsibility Summit. Held at the White House on February 23, 2009, the Summit’s participants focused on ways to address the inherited $1.3 trillion deficit and the long-term fiscal challenges that the nation faces.

To read the full Summit report, follow this link:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/blog/Fiscal_Responsibility_Summit_Repor...

Source: OMB

March 16, 2009 -- Washington, DC – The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) today responded to an inquiry from South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford. The Governor requested to use funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to reduce that state’s deficit instead of for the programs specified in the law.

The letter from OMB Director Peter Orszag is reproduced below (pdf):

EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20503
THE DIRECTOR

March 16, 2009

The Honorable Mark Sanford
Governor of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29211

Dear Governor Sanford:    » read more »

March 10, 2009 -- In advance of the G20 summit in April, a new Council Special Report, Global Imbalances and the Financial Crisis, urges governments to tackle one of the root causes of today’s global financial crisis: imbalances between savings and investment in major economies, which have led to large current deficits and surpluses.    » read more »

FACT SHEET: Reforming Government Contracting

March 4, 2009 -- Upon taking office, the Obama Administration inherited a fiscal disaster: a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion. This burden is compounded by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. As we get our economy moving again through the Recovery Act, it’s also important that we turn the page on an era of irresponsibility in which taxpayer dollars were used to line contractors’ pockets or maintain projects that do not work. To that end, the President today signed a Presidential Memorandum that reforms how the government does business and that will save taxpayers billions of dollars each year.    » read more »

February 26, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today issued the following statement after the General Assembly completed legislative action on a deficit mitigation plan for fiscal year that ends June 30:

“I am pleased the Legislature has finally taken action. Given the economic problems that continue to burden both our nation and our state, the deficit for this current fiscal year is likely to continue to grow – so every dollar saved is critical.    » read more »

Increase Underscores Urgency of Mitigation Plan, Governor Says

February 20, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that her budget office now estimates the shortfall in the current year’s state budget at about $944 million, up about $22 million from its estimate last month. Governor Rell on Thursday delivered a deficit mitigation plan to the Legislature that would cut $1.1 billion in state spending, more than closing that gap without resorting to layoffs or new taxes.    » read more »

Proactive Plan to Address Deficit Does Not Include Use of Potential Federal Stimulus Funding or Rainy Day Reserves

February 3, 2009 -- New York Governor David A. Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today announced a plan to fully close the State’s current-year $1.6 billion deficit. The agreement does not include the use of either potential federal stimulus funding or resources from the State’s rainy day reserves.    » read more »

January 20, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that her budget office now estimates the deficit for the current fiscal year at nearly $922 million – even after the latest round of budget cutting – because income tax, business tax and sales tax collections have fallen dramatically below expectations.

The most recent deadline for quarterly estimated income tax payments was January 15. Those payments were 20 percent below projections, and if these trends continue income tax revenues for the entire year will likely fall $665 million – nearly two-thirds of a billion dollars – below projections, Governor Rell said.    » read more »

August 12, 2008 -- Chicago, IL -- Statement from Jason Furman, Obama Campaign Economic Policy Director, on the new trade deficit numbers:

"While Senator McCain may believe that the small reduction in the trade deficit represents great progress in an economy he thinks is doing just fine, Barack Obama believes that America can do better than a $693 billion trade deficit over the last year.

"Barns for Obama": Photo by Barack Obama campaign (CC)

We cannot afford another four years of the massive trade deficits we've had under President Bush - trade deficits that Senator McCain's economic policies would only make worse.    » read more »

June 10, 2008 -- Chicago, IL - Senator Barack Obama released the following statement today in response to the news of the trade deficit increase.

"Today we learned that the trade deficit jumped to its highest level in 13 months. This is not an accident. This is yet another sign of the failed economic policies of the Bush administration that John McCain seeks to extend – policies that reflect unprecedented fiscal irresponsibility and borrowing from abroad.

Rather than get America's fiscal house in order, Senator McCain is proposing $300 billion more in tax breaks and loopholes for big corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and he hasn't explained how he'd pay for them.    » read more »

Governor's Budget Fixes Broken System, Fully Funds Education Without Raising Taxes

05/14/2008 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today submitted his revised 2008-09 state budget plan to the legislature. It is a budget that includes a combination of some necessary cuts, some new revenues and some creative solutions to address California's $17.2 billion budget problem.

California Governor Schwarzenegger announces gudget: Photo courtesy California Governor's office

It fully funds education under Proposition 98, does not raise taxes and establishes a rainy day fund to address California's chronic budget problem.    » read more »

April 22, 2008 -- Today the Wall Street Journal details how disastrous John McCain's economic plans would be. Though he has proposed tax cuts that would either "cause the federal deficit to explode" or require huge cuts to critical programs like Social Security, he has yet to explain where those cuts would come from or how he would pay for his plan. Experts agree that McCain's numbers just don't add up.

Heading towards November, McCain's failure to articulate a credible economic plan will no doubt hurt him with voters who don't want a third Bush term of disastrous economic policies that have hurt America.

The following are excerpts of the story:

McCain Tax Cuts Would Bloat Deficit Or Take Huge Spending Curbs
Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler
April 22, 2008    » read more »

April 21, 2008 -- John McCain says that if he became president he would be "changing the way we do business in Washington" and put us "on a path to a balanced budget." But in reality, a McCain presidency would give us four more years of the same fiscal recklessness we got with the Bush Administration.

John McCain: Photo by Why Tuesday (CC)    » read more »

Governor introduces comprehensive, long-term solution to deficit; Six Bills to reform the State’s income tax, lower property tax, and legalize slot machines

ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 26, 2007) – Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley today submitted six pieces of legislation to the Maryland General Assembly as part of his comprehensive, long-term solution to the State’s $1.7 billion structural deficit. Governor O’Malley introduced the legislation in advance of next week’s special session of the General Assembly.    » read more »

August 23, 2007 -- "Today's deficit estimate release by the Congressional Budget Office is good news for American taxpayers. Like the estimates put forward by the Office of Management and Budget, it shows that our government is on a path to meeting the goal I set forth of putting the budget into surplus by 2012. Balancing the budget requires keeping the economy strong, keeping tax rates low, and keeping spending in check.    » read more »