President Trump has touted his 2018 budget as a plan that would balance the budget in 10 years and reduce the national debt from 77 percent of GDP to 60 percent.
The Congressional Budget Office offered its own prediction on Thursday – and it wasn’t quite as rosy.
Under the President’s proposals, budget deficits from 2018 through 2027 would total nearly one-third less than those in CBO’s baseline projections, ranging between 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent of GDP, down from 3.6 percent in 2017.
A summary of the numbers:
Trump estimate of Trump budget: $16 billion surplus in 2027.
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) July 13, 2017
CBO estimate of Trump budget: $720 billion deficit in 2027.
The White House is likely to take the CBO projection of Trump’s budget proposal with a grain of salt. On Wednesday, the administration’s official Twitter account slammed the office for repeatedly failing to provide accurate health care projections.
The CBO has consistently failed to accurately predict how legislation will impact health insurance coverage: https://t.co/qC6yImjanL pic.twitter.com/YQh01jud8i
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 12, 2017
The initial CBO score of the Senate GOP's health care plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, predicted that 22 million more Americans would be without insurance, yet reduce the deficit by $321 billion over the next decade. The CBO is expected to release a new score soon in which they will grade Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) amendment that would allow states to offer any plan they like, as long as one complies with Obamacare.
