CBO predicts deficit of at least $337B

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- The Congressional Budget Office says the federal budget deficit will total $337 billion in 2006.

While the figure is lower than a recent Office of Management and Budget, a White House office, estimate of $400 billion, the CBO is barred from adding expected changes in taxes and spending in its estimate. OMB had predicted a $341 billion deficit, but said it increased because of hurricane damage last fall and spending related to Iraq and Afghanistan

The congressional office said the U.S. economy would grow 3.6 percent this year and more than 3 percent a year though 2011.

CBO, in a release Thursday, also said deficits from 2007-11 would total some $1.1 trillion, adding that the deficit picture improves, assuming Congress will not make current tax cuts permanent as President Bush has requested.

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said, "The Bush administration is accumulating a mountain of debt, a burden for future generations to bear. CBO's estimates still show that we will not just grow out of these deficits, and far from resolving the problem, the Bush administration policies make the deficit worse."