Next president gets $500 billion deficit

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- If the next U.S. president decides to keep President George Bush's tax cuts in place, the federal budget deficit will swell, officials say.

The Congressional Budget Office says if either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain extends some or all of Bush's signature tax cuts, annual deficits could grow to as much as 5 percent of the economy, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Already, the U.S. budget deficit is expected to reach a near-record $407 billion when the budget year ends this month, The Christian Science Monitor reported.

"As we have said over and over in the past, the nation is on an unsustainable long-term fiscal course driven primarily by rising healthcare costs," said budget office Director Peter Orszag said. "And that does need to be addressed before a crisis hits."

The newspapers reported congressional budget analysts project the next president is likely to face a $500 billion shortfall in January. Last year's shortfall was $161 billion.

Democrats blamed Republicans for the bleak outlook.

"So they're fully responsible for the increase in the deficit," said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D. "All of this happened on their watch, under their president."