GOP to Increase Deficit

Written By: Thomas R. Eddlem  |  Posted: Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

      Congressional and White House negotiators reached a deal in the early morning hours of April 9 to keep the federal government open one more week until Congress can pass a year-end appropriations compromise that would increase - yes, increase! - the annual deficit from last year's $1.29 trillion to $1.58 trillion for fiscal 2011. Republican and Democratic leaders touted the "cuts" in the bill because the proposed $1.58 trillion deficit in the compromise is lower than the $1.65 trillion deficit that would have resulted from passage of the White House budget proposal.

      The one-week measure, H.R. 1363, which would fund the Department of Defense through the end of the year and the rest of the federal government for one week, passed the Senate by voice vote. The House passed the measure 338-70, with 28 House Republicans and 42 Democrats voting no. If the compromise becomes law, the federal government would spend $284 billion more in fiscal 2011 than in  2010. In the minds of most people, that would qualify as a spending increase. But because the compromise proposal calls for spending  $78.5 billion less than the President's budget request, the compromise proposal is viewed as a cut in the political lexicon that holds sway in Washington, D.C.

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