Obama team makes it official: Budget deficit hits record. By a lot.

[darrels joy]

The Obama administration has released new deficit numbers, and they are not pretty.

The deficit for Fiscal Year 2009, which ended Sept. 30, came in at a record $1.42 trillion, more than triple the record set just last year.

In addition, future deficits are currently projected to total $9.1 trillion in the coming decade.

The political lines are being drawn.

Republicans cited record deficits as another reason to oppose Obama's health care plan and other big projects. "No more spending money we don't have," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., countered that, "today's figures are a result of the policies of the Bush Administration, along with the cost of actions needed to address the recession and prevent even deeper economic problems."

A year ago, as the financial crisis hit and the Bush administration prepared massive bailout plans, the deficit was $455 billion.

The Obama administration's stimulus also contributed to the near $1 trillion higher deficit, as did lower government revenues in the wake of the recession.

"This year's deficit is lower than we had projected earlier this year, in part because we are managing to repair the financial system at a lower cost to taxpayers," said a statement from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

"But future deficits are too high, and the President is committed to working with Congress to bring them down to a sustainable level as the economy recovers."


Budget Director Peter Orszag said: "It was critical that we acted to bring the economy back from the brink earlier this year. As we move from rescue to recovery, the President recognizes that we need to put the nation back on a fiscally sustainable path."

An analysis from the Office of Management of Budget pointed out that the deficit is "roughly 24 percent lower for the year than when the budget first set the forecast for 2009, a fact due largely to the economic stabilization and recovery."

(Posted by David Jackson; photo by Thomas Coex, AFP, Getty Images)

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