http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=716&e=4&u=/ap/20031218/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_deficitsBush's Goal to Reduce Deficit Criticized
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush goal of halving this year's projected $500 billion deficit by 2009 distracts from the more serious crunch the government faces later as the huge baby boom generation ages, critics say.
"Is it achievable? Yes," said Robert Reischauer, former head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office who is now president of the Urban Institute. "Is it likely to occur? No. Is it sustainable? Probably not, because the world turns worse" at the end of this decade. That is when the 76 million baby boomers will begin drawing on Medicare and other costly income support programs, likely pushing federal deficits ever higher.
Administration officials say they want a deficit in 2009 that is half of this year's level, which White House budget chief Joshua Bolten has said he expects to hit $500 billion. <snip>
White House officials deny talk on Capitol Hill that they might define their goal as halving the deficit's percentage share of the U.S. economy in five years. This year's $500 billion deficit represents 4.4 percent of the economy. That would make their target 2009 deficit 2.2 percent of that year's economy, or about $320 billion, leaving their task $70 billion easier. <snip>
White House officials say Bush will rely chiefly on two strategies. He will propose extending tax cuts that would otherwise expire, which they say will spur the economy, and seek to limit the growth of spending that Congress must approve each year, probably to 4 percent or less. <snip>
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