Budget Deficit Down In Year’s First 10 Months
The Associated Press/Washington Post: US Government Reports Budget Deficit Down 37.6 Percent Through First 10 Months Of Budget Year
Still, looming budget fights in Congress are complicating the picture. When lawmakers return from their recess in September, they will need to increase the government's borrowing limit. They will also have to approve a spending plan for the budget year that begins Oct. 1. Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on both measures. Republicans want President Barack Obama to accept deeper cuts in domestic government programs and in expensive benefit programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Obama has argued that Republicans must be willing to accept higher taxes on the highest-earning Americans (8/12).