Hardly Ambitious

From Ncpa.org

President Obama's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The budget deficit will quadruple in 2009 to $1.75 trillion, and cutting that level in half would still leave deficits twice as high as under President Bush. Furthermore, three expected developments -- the end of the recession, withdrawal of troops from Iraq, and phaseout of temporary stimulus spending -- would halve the budget deficit by 2013. The President's budget shows deficits averaging $600 billion even after the economy recovers and the troops return home from Iraq. That is not good enough, says Brian M. Riedl a researcher with the Heritage Foundation.