Deborah Koff Ross: “I thought we would go through a few other charts that we have here and talk a little bit more about this entire…”

“I thought we would go through a few other charts that we have here and talk a little bit more about this entire discussion about the projected surpluses becoming huge deficits. When the administration took office in 2001, it had an advantage no administration in recent times has enjoyed, a 10-year projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. The administration has replaced that surplus with recurring deficits and a record debt. When the cost of items omitted from the mid-session review are included, the deterioration in the budget between 2002 and 2011 is about $8.5 trillion. Although these numbers are more positive than the administration's February forecast, which some would argue they inflated again so they could boast now about not having the largest deficit in our Nation's history, but rather having the fourth largest deficit in our Nation's history, they unfortunately do not represent any significant improvement in the long-term budget picture. Even the administration's 5-year forecast, which omits the cost of certain planned policies, never shows a deficit smaller than $123 billion. You can see here in 2000 we had a real, actual surplus of $236 billion. In 2001, we had a projected surplus of $281 billion, which in the end result ended up being $128 billion.…”