CBO Report Shows Debt Headed Toward Uncharted Waters

For Immediate Release

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released updates to its budget projections this afternoon.

Under current law, CBO projects debt will rise from 78 percent of the economy today to 92 percent by 2029. Under CBO’s Alternative Fiscal Scenario, which assumes the continuation of current policies, debt would reach 105 percent of the economy by 2029. The report projects that trillion-dollar deficits will emerge in 2022 under current law and by next year under the Alternative Fiscal Scenario.

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

How many more dire warnings will it take before our leaders address the nation’s dismal fiscal picture? Rather than addressing the rapid growth of health and retirement costs, the last Congress cut taxes and increased spending by a combined $2.4 trillion. Now we’re talking about $2 trillion more of spending, and as much as $2 trillion on top of that for infrastructure, with virtually no word of how we will pay for them. At some point, the fiscal recklessness has to stop.

Today’s report shows clearly that debt is headed toward uncharted waters, and the ultimate consequences of continuing on this path could be severe.

Rather than continuing to make a bad situation worse, policymakers must put policies in place to stabilize our debt and ultimately put it on a downward path relative to the economy. The sooner we act, the easier it will be.

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For more information contact Patrick Newton, press secretary, at newton@crfb.org.