Budget Office Projects Growing Deficits And Massive Debt During Trump Administration

Propelled by the Republican tax-cut plan and increased government spending favored by both parties, the nation's deficit will top $1 trillion by 2020 and its debt burden within a decade will approach rates not seen since the aftermath of World War II, the Congressional Budget Office said Monday.

The budget deficit next year will rise to $804 billion, or $139 billion higher than the estimates made before the $1.5-trillion tax plan and $1.3-trillion spending bill were signed into law by President Trump in December and March, respectively.

The national debt will rise from nearly $16 trillion at the end of 2018 to almost $29 trillion by 2028, the nonpartisan office said.

"The bigger the debt, the bigger the chances of a fiscal crisis," CBO Director Keith Hall warned Monday, noting that debt as a percentage of the gross domestic product in 2028 will be the highest since 1946.

He said that the expansion of debt was particularly troublesome during a time of economic growth, rather than in response to a recession, such as after the 2008 financial collapse.

"We're quite a few years off a recession and we have very high deficits," Hall said.

The last CBO report issued during the Obama administration said that after a $587-billion deficit in 2016, the shortfall was expected to break the $1-trillion mark in 2023, rising to $1.4 trillion in 2027. The total budget deficit over the 10-year span beginning in 2017 was projected to be $9.4 trillion.

The new report said the shortfall will now hit $12.4 trillion over the span ending in 2028, after breaking the $1-trillion mark in 2020. That's three years earlier than expected, because of the tax cut and spending plans.

Learn more at L.A. Times