Biden’s dangerous deficit

Published June 21, 2024 3:04pm ET



BIDEN’S DANGEROUS DEFICIT. Just a few months ago, in February, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the federal budget deficit for 2024 would be $1.5 trillion. That is bad enough, but the CBO has revised its forecast: The 2024 deficit will now be $1.9 trillion. That is a 27% increase in the gap between federal government spending and revenues in a very short period of time. “Since [February], CBO has increased its projection of outlays in 2024 by $363 billion and decreased its estimate of revenues by $45 billion,” CBO said in a new report.

What accounts for the change? The biggest single factor, according to CBO, is President Joe Biden‘s unilateral forgiveness of student loans. Biden couldn’t get Congress to do it, and he couldn’t get the courts to approve it, so now he is just doing it in big chunks on what he says is his executive authority alone and daring anyone to stop him. From CBO: “A $145 billion increase in projected outlays for student loans stems mostly from revisions that the administration made to the estimated subsidy costs of previously issued loans and from the administration’s proposed rule to reduce many borrowers’ balances on student loans.”

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